Iron Sharpens Iron

Recently I was in a leadership meeting at church and one of the ministry heads was talking about being frustrated with the way things were going to the point of questioning whether they were really called to the ministry and should they continue as a leader. We can all have this type of frustration in our lives in the church regarding ministry and at home in our personal lives as well. I believe it all originates from the same place.
When we have full lives serving God, raising families, and performing on a job we tend to get on automatic pilot. We are confident in God and our relationship with him, we are confident in ourselves and the decisions we make that impact the family, and we are even confident on the job. If you are anything like me you can get so caught up in performance that you sometimes forget to invite God into the process. There was a time when I would start any ministry project or any endeavor in my personal life with the asking of help from God. I would first consult Him and pray for wisdom and discernment.
As I became more experienced I began to assume God would just bless what ever I put my hands to and provide the help I needed. Over time I began to realize that by not communicating with him first my love relationship began to grow cold and I began to take his presence and divine favor for granted.
The Lord wants a relationship with us more than anything else. I was behaving like the church at Ephesus in Rev 2. I was doing good works for God but I forgot my first love. I then start to minister under my own power and I wonder why I feel tired and spent.
I can never neglect my quiet time alone with God in prayer, meditation and study of the word. I began doing things with God in the first place because I would feel his presence so strongly when I did. That is what I love! When I communicate with God I feel good.
If you find yourself getting weary in well doing, or ministry has lost its luster, and aspects of family life have become a burden or whatever it is get back to your first love. Get alone with God and worship him. When I get back to basics doing what worked so well for me in the past and got me to where I am today with my focus on God all other areas of my life improve and the joy of my salvation returns.

Clif

I am not even going to get into whether to have New Years resolutions or not but I do think there are a few things we can do to start off our year focused and with some good habits in place.

1. Have a quiet time with the Lord. Find a time of preference and a devotional you like based on the Bible which contains a scripture with a meditation. I have my time in the morning because by inviting Christ into my day early it starts my day off right, but it works for many in the evening also so just do it.

2. Join some type of Christian based bible study small enough so that you can share openly and honestly and have a level of accountability. If you are not accountable to at least a few good men you are really asking for trouble and my experience say’s that you are compromising your ethics. When we try to go it alone we tend to modify our self discipline and give ourselves a pass on unacceptable behavior. If we shared the knowledge of this behavior choice with another brother he could help us to see it for what it really is unacceptable.

3. Do something social with Christian friends every week. It could be a cup of coffee or sports activity, lunch or doing an act of community service. When we work and play together friendship grows and the next thing we realize in a time of trouble is we have a large network of support that will help carry us through.

I realize for some of you this is a new way of thinking but I am not telling you something I do not do myself. I have one men’s bible study that I have participated in for 17+ years so I can tell you it works. By the way this is over and above my fulltime job, family, and ministry responsibilities. These are the things I do just for me! These three things can save you a lot of guilt, shame and remorse.

By the way a good inexpensive devotional is the Utmost for His Highest. You can get it for less that $10.

Take care of you! I am sure there are people depending on you.

Jesus is Faithful

Clif