Prepare the Way
Before you go on a hike, preparation is key. Depending on the specific journey, you will need to pack the right equipment, wear appropriate clothing, and carry enough food and water, all while keeping your backpack as light as possible.
The start of the trail is often fueled by excitement and adrenaline. It begins pretty easy, but as you continue for hours, fatigue and even pain may start to kick in. You race against the clock to get there within a certain timeframe and return before it gets dark, hoping the weather cooperates, but we all know weather.
Hiking in the mountains, the weather can shift from blue skies and sunshine, wearing only a light jacket, to snow filled trails requiring full winter gear for warmth. This doesn’t stop you though because you have prepped and packed all the things you’ll need in your backpack. Better yet, you know how to use everything in your backpack! No matter how fatigued you are, you keep going because you know the destination is only so far away.
When you finally reach the summit, your mindset shifts from going, going, going to a sense of relief, accomplishment, excitement, and awe. You take a deep breath and soak in the beauty and splendor of God’s creation. You refuel, rest, enjoy the moment and then….you keep moving.
You don’t stay there.
Everything you do in life, whether it’s going to the grocery store, taking the kiddos to the park, walking the dog, going to work, getting ready for a birthday party, or meeting someone for coffee, there is always some type of prep work. From the simplest task of brushing your teeth, to making a grocery list, packing snacks for the kids, or buying the perfect gift for the birthday party, you prepare.
Your ministry is no different.
The cool thing about your ministry though is that God has already given you everything you will need for this journey in life. Everything you will ever need has already been bought for you by the precious blood of Jesus and is waiting for you in your backpack.
The day you chose to accept Jesus in your heart to be the LORD and Savior of your life is the day He made EVERY GIFT available to you. Are you curious about those gifts? They are incredible gifts like adoption as a daughter of the Almighty God, Maker of the heavens and the earth and Sustainer of all life. What an incredible gift, and it belongs to you! Along with this gift of identity come a host of other benefits.
You have been granted a glorious inheritance, far greater than anything you could ever hope for or imagine. You have in your sack acceptance, authority, rest, holiness, favor, comfort, mercy, joy, wisdom, healing, righteousness, patience, self-control, freedom, redemption… Sister, the list just goes on and on.
While the backpack and everything in it is yours, it is your divine, God-given responsibility to unpack the bag, discover what it contains and learn how to use it. A tool is only as useful as the skill level of the one using it. Take time, pulling one item out at a time and educate yourself about it. Immerse yourself in it. Become skillful at using it. Eventually each of these gifts will become as natural to you as brushing your teeth. You will integrate them into your muscle memory and will retain what you learn so it will be helpful when the time comes to employ it.
Just as you wouldn’t expect to see the mountain peak from your first step on the trailhead, reaching your ministry’s final destination doesn’t happen immediately either. The truth is, it doesn’t happen until you take your last breath where you will hopefully be met with, “Well done, My good and faithful servant, enter into the rest of your LORD.”
Your ministry is a journey. In the New Living translation, Jesus says in Luke 8:15 that honest and good-hearted people:
Hear the Word
Cling to the Word
Patiently produce a huge harvest
The NIV says those with a noble and good heart:
Hear the Word
Retain it (retain = continue to have something)
By persevering, produce a crop
You MUST KNOW the WORD of GOD in order to continually have it available and ready for use, because when, not if, a storm comes (John 16:33), if you don’t know how to use your equipment and gear, fear and anxiety will start to creep in and consume you. The enemy now has an open door. You can choose to journey through this life unprepared. You can choose to go through life alone, but that is NOT how God intended it.
Who would sacrifice their kid for nothing?
Jesus’ sacrifice opened the door for you to BOLDLY go right into the presence of God (Hebrews 10:19-22). You get to choose. Will you choose Him?
When you choose Him, you are called His child and He identifies as your Heavenly Father. His presence is with you always, as He will never leave you or forsake you (Matthew 28:20, Hebrews 13:5-6). Run to Him with confidence trusting Him, not because you want something from Him, but because you love Him.
Remember that He first loved you (1 Jn 4:19), and He has called you by name. By CHOICE, You are His (Isaiah 43:1). HE chose YOU. YOU are His daughter (Eph 1:4-8) and there is absolutely NOTHING that can separate you from His LOVE that is in Jesus (Rom 8:37-39).
The destination for YOUR PERSONAL MINISTRY is the exact same destination for all who believe on the name of Jesus Christ as their personal LORD and Savior:
“As a result of their ministry, they will give glory to God.”
2 Corinthians 9:13
Your ministry never ends.
You are to keep moving. You will journey through many different seasons. There will be seasons of rest and refueling, followed by seasons of extreme fatigue and pain, but if you let Him, in each season, in each situation, no matter how good or bad it may seem, He will use it to better you, to grow you, and the end result will ALWAYS be glory to Him.
GET in the Word, STAY in the WORD, so you can RETAIN the WORD.
All those gifts, that beautiful backpack FULL of gifts, are WHO YOU ARE in CHRIST! They were freely given, not earned. You HAVE the victory through Christ, so start acting like it (Romans 8:37).
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests.”
Luke 2:14