Tag: Service

Service in the Pit

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The last thing I’m thinking of doing when I’m in a place I DO NOT want to be, is get comfortable or acquainted with anything or anyone related to that place.

I’m here
But only passing by
I’m not building a nest
I’m not making friends
I’m not making any permanent moves
And the rant goes on… 

But just as you ramble on about how fast you want the hardship to pass, I must share an important message with you: 

God has a bigger purpose for you in that pain –
So just be quiet and listen. Be attentive and obey. 

Let us take a look at the story of Joseph in the bible; when he was thrown into prison, he served his way through. Without a doubt, there may have been days when he was fed up, irritated, and down, but he did not allow this to stop him from moving when he was called to. Today I encourage you to allow God to direct you in every single season of your life, as this enables His full glory to manifest in ways unimaginable. 

While there’s a bigger back story to Joseph, let us skip to Genesis 39, as that’s our focus for today. Here we’re told about when Joseph is thrown into prison based on false accusations. (Genesis 39:19-20). 

Some of us have found ourselves in positions where we feel cheated, treated unjustly, and completely undeserving of the misfortune that has come upon us. But what we must hold on to, is that even though we are in a place that we really do not believe is for us, God is still right there in that pit with us. The very next verse we read gives us proof of this as it says ‘But the Lord was with Joseph in the prison and showed him His faithful love.’ (Genesis 39:21).
You must remember this at all times as a key fact – that no pit or prison or negative circumstance will ever be big enough to separate you from the perfect, reckless love of God. (Romans 8:31-39, song – Reckless Love). 

As we read on in this story, we’re enlightened that not only does God’s love saturate Joseph, but God also covers him with His perfect favour, thus causing him to find favour in the eyes of man; 

‘And the Lord made Joseph a favorite with the prison warden. Before long, the warden put Joseph in charge of all the other prisoners and over everything that happened in the prison. The warden had no more worries, because Joseph took care of everything. The Lord was with him and caused everything he did to succeed.’ (Genesis 39:21-23)

Let this story speak to you – God’s favour upon you will make a way in every wilderness of your life (Isaiah 43:19). What I mean by this is that even when you, and everyone around you least expects it, God will still create avenues to show forth that He is holding you up INTENTIONALLY, with a master plan at work (Jeremiah 29:11), despite the muddiness of your situation.

Now, having outlined the unwavering faithfulness of God our Father, I want us to look at the part of this topic encompassing the key word in the title;  S E R V I C E. 

You see, what Joseph did not do, is reject the opportunity to be in charge of all the other prisoners. He did not allow anger or bitterness of his circumstance to hinder the various ways God was still showing His grace upon him in his situation.
In fact, when we go further in this story, there came a time when Joseph’s gift was required and he willingly put it to good use.
(Paraphrased, so please read Genesis 40 fully in your own time) Pharaoh became angry with two of his officials and threw them into jail. They each had dreams which Joseph had the gift to interpret and so he did, and everything happened just as he had interpreted. 

The lesson I am drawing out here is that we must be attentive to opportunity and keep a gracious heart even when we are in that undesired place. Most definitely this is easier written/read/said than done, however at least if we keep it as a mindful prayer point, Christ will indeed enable us to adopt this positive outlook.
If God can uphold His faithfulness to us wherever we are in life, then we too should be determined to uphold our diligence of serving and honouring God and showing forth His love to our neighbours, even if things in our lives are a little sour. Regardless of what our circumstance looks like, the world around us still has great need of what God has planted inside of us. Therefore it is not good enough for us to think we can just hang up our duties for God’s kingdom because we’re angry or dissatisfied with our present situation. As children who were created to fulfil a purpose on this earth, we must never allow our hurt or pain to stop us from doing God’s work.

Why is this important?
Well apart from the fact that it demonstrates a wholehearted desire to please and worship God at all times, it’s also because you just never know which part of your actions, service and obedience to God’s instructions will pave a way in time to come.
Just as the bible tells us that our gifts will make room for us (Proverbs 18:16), so it did in the case of Joseph. And so it could be for you too!
When the time was right in accordance with God’s will, the chief cup-bearer remembered Joseph’s service when Pharaoh required an interpretation of his own dream. (Please read Genesis 41 fully for this section of the story). 

You must realise the magnitude of the effect of Joseph’s simple action to serve in jail, as one that is HUGE! His ability to be patient in affliction (Romans 12:12) and to willingly serve in a time of trial, rather than throw a strop and despise God’s work, is what elevated him to the highest position he would ever reach in his lifetime (which he could then use to save an entire generation of people). (Genesis 41:41-44).

Today I’m encouraging you to please stay faithful to the work God has called you to, regardless of the ‘mess’ you are in.
I completely understand that initially you may not want to; you may feel disappointed, abandoned, let down and even neglected by God for permitting the hardship to take place. However, take example from Joseph and just see this pit as an important part of your journey to the highest position in your life. Ask Christ Jesus to soften your heart, keep you gracious and make you able to maintain a positive attitude, thus enabling you to operate in love towards everyone you encounter. 

Whilst the pit is indeed not your destination, there is still an important reason for it in your life, so change your perspective of how you view it!
By no means am I asking you to get comfortable and build a home there, however I am reminding you to shake off any negative emotions that may hinder you from fulfilling your purpose in that season. A diligently served season of strife, will surely pave forward the way of victory in time to come – remember every single detail of your life has been carefully orchestrated by an All-knowing God, who makes no mistakes (Romans 8:28).
So put to death all the doubt and negative emotions of the flesh, and be alive in your spirit-man/woman – yielding to the direction of the Holy Spirit every step of the way to surely get you to that promised greater future.  

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:8-9)

“But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:5)

Keep the Faith, Don’t Stop Believing

Idols?

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What or who are they in your life?

A lot of us within the body of Christ have the false belief that because we don’t look up to graven images and we don’t physically bow down to shrines or symbolic statues or figures, that we aren’t idolators…

But we’re so wrong.

Take a look at the list below and let’s rank these things – and I want you to be very very honest with yourself.

In your life, where is God’s true position amongst the following things/people?
(And please let this be a genuine assessment of where He really comes in the mix of things and not where you’d like Him to be in an ideal world…)

  • Job/Career
  • Business
  • Spouse
  • Partner (boyfriend or girlfriend)
  • Child/children
  • Education
  • Home care and chores
  • Socialising
  • Food
  • Bills
  • Fitness
  • Any other activities and people we fill our days with

Where is He?
Lower than you expected?

You see, every single thing/person that you allow to take a greater weight, value or importance in your life than your pursuit of God and His will and His word –
is an I D O L.

And please bear in mind that this is not always done consciously…
You mean no harm or insult to God when you do it, but to name a few:

  • You look at your phone and check that social media news feed ten times more than you even think of meditating and conversing with Your Maker.
  • Your tithe and offering is often short because you had other things to pay for.
  • You just want to quickly do the washing up first, then you’ll pray.
  • You just need to cook for the family first, then you’ll read the Word.

Very easily, He’s fallen a couple or even a good number of places in the ranking…
But we didn’t mean for it to be so.

Now don’t get me wrong, a very select number of things in our lives are actually ‘that important’ and in fact God does not undermine their importance either. However the problem of idolatry arises when we prioritise these things above God, and often it becomes a repeated habit.

What many of us have done is just about ‘fit God in’ and made Him work around everything else that we have going on, rather than the other way round. This is not only in terms of spending time with God, but it is also applicable in terms of what we do with our finances and other resources in which He has given us clear instructions about how to use them to serve Him.
We have put things so far above God and made Him last on our list. We rush and are eager and take so much more pleasure in engaging ourselves with all the things of the world; but we forget that we ought to be working out our salvation with fear and trembling. (Philippians 2:12-13).

Sound like idol worshipping yet?

One of our favourite luxuries being children of God, I’m sure is G R A C E.
But that very gift that God has given us freely, is what many of us are abusing and it’s the reason why we’ve become so lax in our service and worship to the Creator of Heaven and Earth.

We seem to have forgotten that God comes first!
(Matthew 6:33, Matthew 22:37-40).

How about we flip it, and start to do it right.

-Prayer and worship should be intentionally scheduled into your daily routine, not just as and when you remember.

-Your tithes should be the first thing intentionally set aside from your 100% on payday, not just scraped together after you’ve dealt with everything else.
I understand this can be sensitive for some who are struggling, but I really encourage you to activate your faith in doing this, and then watch for the fruits of your obedience – the Lord Himself says ‘Test Me…’ – God will never fail you! (Please see related scripture here: Proverbs 3:9-10, Leviticus 27:30-34, Malachi 3:8-12).

-Church services – to fellowship with others, and render a service before God, take precedence over work and social events etc.

Again, that’s only to name a few – we all know the things we need to adjust in our lives, so let’s not neglect what needs to be changed.

I must say though – I get it… A lot of the time when we’ve put God on the back burner, our main justification is because it’s in order to do stuff ‘we HAVE to do’ – it’s when we’re tending our flock – so God understands, right?
I’ll put my hands up and say I’ve done it too – mainly with my education – surely God doesn’t want me to fail, right?

But let us remember the word in Ecclesiastes 3:1 that says there is a time for everything, thus we must create order, structure and discipline in our lives and ensure that drawing nearer to God is at the top of our plans.
Retrain your mind to know and understand that God who gave you all these things will surely help you take great care of it all, but not at the expense of your worship and relationship with Him.

Father,
Today we call our hearts back to You in Jesus’ Name. We ask for Your perfect forgiveness to cleanse us and renew us for every single way we’ve made things and people in our lives god above You.
We ask that You enable us to consecrate our lives back unto You and revere and honour You as we ought to.
We don’t want Your wrath O God, we want Your smile and we want to make You happy, therefore help us get our worship and service right in order to please You. And help our hearts to truly chase and long after You in Jesus’ Mighty Name

Restore us unto You Father, let us be close to You,
in Jesus’ Mighty Name we pray.
Amen.

Keep the Faith, Don’t Stop Believing.

 

My Gift; My Service

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Let’s read:

“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.  If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.”
[1 Peter 4:10-11] 

Okay, so let’s pick this apart a bit.
A few things stood out to me when reading this;
Gift
Service
God.

Gift

So a gift (according to the Oxford dictionary definition) is;

  1. a thing given willingly to someone without payment,
  2. a natural ability or talent.

God has willingly given each of us a gift (or even multiple gifts [plural]), without us paying a single penny for it, and He graciously and carefully designed these gifts when He was creating us, therefore we find that they are things we naturally flourish in and are talented in.

Now look at this, though many of us may have a gift that seems the same on the outside e.g. the ability to sing/dance/draw etc. – it is still a very different and unique gift that God gave to YOU for a reason!
So I guess that’s the first thing we should address – we should never see our gifts as something un-special, or common, or something that someone else can easily do!
We have to realise that in being fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14), God has knitted us together purposefully, knowing exactly what qualities and abilities He has put in us that will complement our gift in order to make it Different and Great!
No one will ever use your gift like you can, and for that reason I need you to know and believe that it is Special, Unique, and most importantly NEEDED!

Service 

Your Gifts Birth your Service on this earth.
And as mentioned above, friend, the service that your gift brings, is Needed.

“…just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
[Matthew 20:28]

One of Jesus’ names is ‘The Son Of Man’, it describes the fact that Jesus came to earth to serve, therefore in being like Christ, service to others is a major part of our lives!
It is therefore very important for us to truly tap into the talent that we have, no matter what it is.
The only way we can truly thrive on this earth, and be ‘in our element’, and fulfil the purpose of God for our lives, is by using our God-given gifts and using them well!
The bible tells us that we ought to be ‘stewards of God’s grace, in its various forms’ – so this says two things;
1 – That our service is important because we represent God in our communities and in whatever we are doing.
2 – That God’s grace can be displayed in ‘various forms’, therefore we must appreciate that we each have something different, and something authentic to offer with our gifts.

You see, many of us bury the talent or the skills we have because we feel like the field is already occupied or overpopulated!
But this is definitely the wrong idea, if we read Matthew 25:14-30, we see that the servant who buried his talent ended up losing it, because he displayed an irresponsible and ungrateful attitude!
None of us want to lose what God has given us.
So stop thinking about others, be thankful for the gift He has graced you with, and step forth with your gift and begin to serve with it.

If you sing, you better do re mi away.
If you’re a poet, please word play till kingdom come!
If you’re a make-up artist, friend you better decorate those faces like your life depends on it!

Pardon my dramatic sentences, but I just want us to appreciate how important it is for us to NOT be afraid, and NOT compare ourselves to others, and just go for it, because the world needs what we have inside of us.

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” 
[Matthew 5:14-16]

God 

Let us thank Him everyday for our gift and ask Him to refresh and revive it and increase our anointing in Jesus’ name!

The verse we read at the beginning talks about ‘the strength God provides’ and this is one of the most important things to remember.
Our help and our strength comes from the Lord God Almighty – it is He who enables us to use our Gifts in the best way possible.
Therefore we shouldn’t ever try to do it all on our own, neither should we do it for personal praise or recognition.
The gift that we have is one that should be offered back to God, for Him to bless it, and direct us at all times to know exactly how we should put it to use, so that in all things His may be praised.

I pray that you will enjoy your gifts, and keep them alive by using them as much as you can to bless and impact others.
Friend, I encourage you to Love your gift; love the fact that God has given it to you, and love the fact that God has given you the opportunity to use it (that special thing), no matter how unorthodox, to Glorify His name, through Christ Jesus.

Please Please, don’t ever stop using your gift, God has given me this message for you, saying;
‘Do the best you can do with it, and watch how I myself will build and improve You.’

Remember, the Gift wasn’t given by mistake.

Keep the Faith, Don’t Stop Believing
God Bless you.