Today, I have a simple question that can make a profound difference in your ministry — Are you ministering from the reserves of your life or from the overflow? The difference can be between burning out and dropping out of the ministry or thriving. Let me explain what I mean.
Sometimes Pastors get so busy doing the work of the ministry that end up neglecting their own spiritual lives. One of the first things to go when Pastors get too busy is their quiet time or devotional time with God. The problem with this is that our source of strength and power in the ministry comes from our intimate relationship with God. If we don’t spend time alone with God on a regular basis, we quickly run out of spiritual power and we end up drawing on our spiritual reserves. The problem, of course, is that our spiritual reserves run out pretty quickly and we soon find ourselves ministering in the flesh and not in the power of the Holy Spirit. If we are honest, we all would have to admit that we end up ministering in the flesh far more often than we would like to admit.
There is no fruit produce when we minister in the flesh, therefore, we need to learn to constantly maintain our intimacy with God. This is what I call ministering from the overflow of your life. When you spend time alone with God on a daily basis and draw from His divine resources you end up ministering from the overflow of your life. This is the key to both effectiveness and longevity in the ministry. Tomorrow we will look at some practical ways to do this.
Related articles
- Escaping the Idolatry of Ministry (joebuchanan.wordpress.com)
- When Ministry Becomes and Idol Pt. 1 (joebuchanan.wordpress.com)
- When Ministry Becomes an Idol: Pt 3 (joebuchanan.wordpress.com)
- God Never Called You to Do It Alone (joebuchanan.wordpress.com)
- Pastors Need to Learn How to Accomplish More By Doing Less (joebuchanan.wordpress.com)
