Ministry can be simply described as the pursuit of God-given vision. Ministry is running a divine errand or carrying out a divine assignment of mandate.
As it is concerned with the divine assignment, natural abilities and skills are necessarily not going to be enough – as the divine power must be added.
Although this sounds like an obvious thing; but its also a reality that many of us today still want to do the will of God just by mere human abilities and talents, which I am well persuaded that it is too weak to fulfill a divine will.
Until a man receives a divine power; divine will will never be attractive, and divine mandate (ministry) will never be accomplished. I am of the opinion that passion or zeal alone will not help you in ministry, and neither will your human skills alone help you: For ministry is not exactly like "pursuing ladies around the streets!", Ministry is running with and after (for) a divine vision.
So, why did I mention that? When you're busy chasing ladies around, trying to woo ("deceive") them, you're not a threat in any form to the devil; and in fact, you're simply doing his will, but when you're preoccupied with making the will of God done in your home, workplace, school, group, church, community and nation – then, you've surely become a strong enemy of the devil, and you must really know what you're doing – otherwise you will be dead.
Therefore, without the power of God in operation in a man's life, ministry will only be a TRAP for his downfall.
SO, HOW CAN I RECEIVE THIS DIVINE POWER?
"Then Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized
by John. But John tried to talk him out of it, "I am the one who need to be
be baptized by you", he said, "so why are you coming to me?"
But Jesus said, "It should be done, for we must carry out all that God
requires." So John agreed to baptize him.
After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens were
opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and settling
on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my loved Son, who brings me great joy."
(Matthew 3:13-16) – (NLT)
Friends, those verses are really filled with enough secrets to help each of us fulfill our ministry.
Let me start by identifying certain "prerequisites" that must be satisfied before the REAL power of God can be released on a man for effective ministry.
– Jesus was HUMBLE enough to seek to be under the ministry of someone who has gone ahead of Him in ministry. He submitted literally to the ministry of John for the release of God's power on His life and ministry under John's (prophetic) ministration.
– Even though John tried to talk Him out of it (baptismal experience or process), by "stirring His ego"; He still remained calm and humble – For He knew who He was and what He must do. Even though His sense of personal pride was appealed to, He still remained Himself.
– Jesus followed through to the end: He endured or persevered to the end. For Scriptures says, "After his baptism, as Jesus came up out of the water, …" That shows me that Jesus was PATIENT enough to finish His baptismal process – He did not run out of the water, He waited in the water till the end. Really, ability to endure every phase in ministry (especially the early phases) is highly essential for the reception of God's power.
Now, let me state here clearly, the Spirit of God is not a dove, but He came in a bodily shape like a dove and rested on Jesus.
See something here, God wanted to something – He had a purpose to fulfill on the earth in the life of His Son (Jesus), and so, His Spirit filled a dove so much that, the dove located Jesus by the Jordan River, and settled upon Him. This shows me that God used that experience to explain what shall be evident soon on the earth – as men and women shall be enforcing the will of God on the earth, in the power of God through the Spirit of God dwelling inside them.
The dove carried out the divine mandate because it was filled ("possessed") by the Holy Spirit; and so shall you and I carry out our divine mandates in the power of the Spirit of God dwelling inside of us.
However, we must always note that the reason the dove could hold the Holy Spirit is because of its pureness – for only a pure heart of man can HOUSE the Holy Spirit of God.
So friend, don't just talk about that VISION that God gave to you, seek for the power of the Holy Spirit by making your life (heart) clean for Him to reside.
And to achieve that, you must be VERY SURE of your salvation and you must be humble enough to serve others in ministry.
BEHOLD, THAT MINISTRY YOU HAVE BEEN CALLED INTO BY THE LORD, SHALL BE FULFILLED
BY THE POWER OF GOD IN OPERATION IN YOUR LIFE IN JESUS NAME. AMEN!!!
