Enabled to Minister

A grown-up Christian can be enabled by God to minister. Jesus tells us that a seed of the Gospel should develop until a crop is produced. Until the seeds produce they are a failure to the purpose of their life. If a Christian does not minister to others they have failed their purpose in life. Many church people say that they don’t have the ability to spiritually produce a crop. They are totally correct. No person can produce spiritual fruits until they are enabled by the Spirit of God. It seems obvious that we must allow the Spirit to work through us.

Paul was a man that was used to minister in a great way. He stated it this way: I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength to do his work. He considered me trustworthy and appointed me to serve him, 1 Timothy 1:12 (NLT). We should note that God completely trusted Paul to be reliable and honest about the Gospel message that he carried to other people. Immature people cannot be trusted to possess priceless items. People must pass many tests before they can be relied on to minister the Gospel correctly.

To be empowered by God is a great responsibility. The best known example of empowerment was given in the Old Testament. The Bible says: Then Samson prayed to the LORD, Sovereign LORD, remember me again. O God, please strengthen me just one more time… Judges 16:28.  When the Spirit of God came upon Samson he became a superman. Samson did a poor job of being responsible and he ended his own life. Paul and Samson were very different men but when the spirit of God worked through them great things happened.

Believers today have a huge advantage. We have the Spirit of our Savior living inside of us. Our spiritual life is guided by divinity. Paul said: I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Philippians 4:12-13 (NLT). He was being empowered by what the Savior had done on the cross some years before. We also must find this holy power if we ever want to produce a crop for the Lord.

The idea of continually planting the seed but never seeing a harvest is being accepted as routine today. This is not acceptable to God and we must ask him to change our hearts and our behavior. To remain this way is surrendering to unbelief. We should have the kind of faith that Abraham had: Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. Romans 4:20-21 (NLT).

God is able to fulfill anything easily. But when it comes to dealing with people God’s plan is to engage us in his work through our individual faith. Christians must step forward and say “use me because I have faith in your empowerment”. When the new nation of Israel was told to fight the giants, all but two said we can’t do it. God was so unhappy with them that he sentenced all of them to die in the desert of unbelief. My friends don’t die in the desert of unbelief. Instead, ask for the faith to die doing anything that God has for you.