“And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry
which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it.”
Colossians 4:17
Pay attention to the ministry you have received in the Lord….this verse is a challenge. Are you paying attention to the ministry that God has given you, the gift(s) that you have been entrusted with? If you are not, you cannot accomplish your ministry or your calling.
This issue has come up many times in my own life in the area of writing. You see, God has called me to minister, specifically through writing and speaking, but I have a tendency to neglect writing and editing for ministry. I easily get distracted with my life: with responsibilities and weekly demands that I don’t pay attention to what God wants me to do. All of us can relate to this because we all have areas in which we know that we are to do something, yet we don’t. Maybe the Holy Spirit has been dealing with you to talk to a certain person, but you keep avoiding it or maybe it’s something like my writing—something that you have to discipline yourself to do on a regular basis, but just haven’t gotten around to it.
I know one thing and that is that I don’t want to keep living a life of discouragement and defeat. I don’t want to keep on neglecting what God has entrusted to me. Let’s Pray:
Dear Lord, forgive me today for not paying attention to the ministry that You have give to me. Help me to pay attention to it. God, I don’t like displeasing You and putting off what You have called me to do, I admit that I am the one that has done wrong and sinned by disobeying Your call through delayed obedience. Please forgive me and help me to walk forward in a new light, to be transformed and not go back to this pit of sin where condemnation festers and discouragement rages. Thank You for forgiving me and for sending Your Son, Jesus, to die for me so that I can live life to the full in You. In Jesus name, amen.
“The wise in heart will receive commandments:
but a prating fool shall fall.”
Proverbs 10:8
How often I have chatted my mouth away and created disasters, stirred myself to worry, or felt sinful! It is because in the multitude of words there wanteth not sin (Prov. 10:19)! Lord, forgive me for my sin, my foolish chattings away, talking on and on when I know deep down that it is wiser and better for me to be silent and let my words be few.
….but the wise in heart accept commands….I have seen that proved true many times as well. As a 17-year-old young man, I listened to my elders and heeded my parent’s counsel. I sought the Lord, but also waited for the confirmation of my parents. I began to order my steps with the wisdom of those in authority over me and O how many troubles it did save me and O how many problems and unnecessary struggles were avoided because of it. Lord, I thank you for giving me a wiser heart than I used to have, one that accepts commands and listens intensively to my parents. Praise be to You, Jesus, my Lord!
Lord, thank You for Your Word and for the truths that it contains. Thank You that as I have sought You, that You have transformed my life, ordered my steps, and kept me from so many troubles. Lord, may I never forget where I have come from—sinful nothingness—and where I am going—Heaven; living for the will of God, the Kingdom.
“For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him…”
2 Chronicles 16:9
I first recall having this verse click when Vincent Newfield came and shared a devotion with my Ranger group one Wednesday evening. One of the verses he shared was this one: that “the eyes of the Lord range (search) throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him… (parenthesis added, NIV1984).” That verse built my faith—as long as I was fully committed to my God, HE would strengthen me. It was a promise that I grabbed to stand on. Are you fully committed to the Lord? The Lord is looking about, yea searching, for those who are.
Lord, thank You for sending this verse into my life through the hand of Your servant Vincent Newfield. Lord, I pray that all who read this will have the Holy Spirit illuminate the true condition of their heart and that they will walk away with a heart that is fully committed to You. Father, I know that I have forgotten this great moment and verse that You gave me the privilege of experiencing in the past and I pray that You will help me to remember it and share it so that others may see Your greatness and be en-couraged by Your great Word as well. Amen.
“And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee. . . .”
1 Chronicles 28:9
David left Solomon with some wise advice: serve God wholeheartedly! In this one verse is a lot of meat.
God judges every motive of mine and searches my heart. O Lord, may I have a devoted heart and a willing mind, may I not turn to my own comprehension or my own way. But most of all, Lord, may I seek You . . . for then, I will be found by You.
“What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.”
Matthew 10:27
What we hear in the secret place, we are to make known to others. The Holy Spirit will teach us as we immerse ourselves in the Word and the Lord’s presence, and out of those sweet times should come our personal ministry. We preach the themes that have been birthed in our hearts through time with the Lord.
O Lord, forgive me for at times simply declaring a message without pressing in to time with You. Lord, please help me to continue the rest of my days on this earth to declare the messages that You tell me. In Jesus Name, amen.
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”
Psalm 51:17
Humility. Remember that phrase for it sums up having a broken spirit before the Lord. I remember one day in 6th grade DVD school that my teacher, Mr. Howe, taught us a little about brokenness. He said that we needed to be careful when we pray for brokenness in others lives. Brokenness is painful for you must be broken apart; however, it does yield precious fruit. Amidst brokenness, we often experience our most intimate times with the Lord. We feel His loving hand and hear His gentle voice much more clearly. We are drawn to His heart.
Living a life humbly before God where you are an open book, always willing for the Holy Spirit to transform you so that you can be more conformed to the image of Christ is a great desire to have. If that desire is fulfilled, you will probably have to experience brokenness.
O Lord, help me to offer the sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart to You, O Lord. Help me to be humble and not to pridefully and willfully exalt myself. Help me to be contrite, Lord. In Your Son’s Name, amen.
“Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.”
Matthew 13:52
As we are instructed in the Kingdom of Heaven, we have the opportunity to accept Christ. Once Christ is accepted, He gives us Living Water so that we shall never thirst. And this water, turns into a springing well, which we can pour upon others. In the same way, what we have learned we are able to bring out as a treasure: new things and old.
Lord, help me to bring forth treasure, both new and old, out of the deposits You have built in me through the work of the Holy Spirit.
“For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and
not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come,
it will not tarry.”
Habakkuk 2:3
Habakkuk 2:3 declares a great principle for those of you whom God has given a dream, a vision to accomplish: “For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”
Lord, instill in me a desire for Your vision for my life and help me by Your Holy Spirit and Your people to tarry and wait for Your perfect timing for its fulfillment. And Lord, if it be not accomplished in my lifetime, but passed on to someone(s) else, I pray that I may rest content that I have fully fulfilled my end and not be ashamed. In Jesus Name, amen.