In this edition of Forms & Patterns™, we will be looking at something the Lord has prepared for us and I believe it is going to be a blessing to every minister of the gospel and every servant of God listening in the name of Jesus. We are looking at: NO GROWTH FOR LAZY MEN IN MINISTRY. I want us to begin our meditation from Genesis 1:26 and 28, and from there, we will continue as the Lord helps us in Jesus’ name. The Bible says:
“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Now, one of the things I believe we must understand and we must never forget from these two verses is that there is a plan of God to make a man a ruler in his or her generation. God has made man ruling authority who is expected under God to rule, to show a pattern of good works, to dictate terms and preferences, to give direction, to share vision and to lead the way for every creature of God to follow on the earth. However, we must not forget that if a man must rule, then a man needs to grow. If a man must rule, if a man must have the responsibility over the rulership of this earth; the man must grow. And that is why God didn’t stop with what He said in verse 26, He came to verse 28 to show us how this dominion will be exercised. It says: “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
So, if there will be dominion for man and subsequently for the children of men, then it is important that there is fruitfulness and multiplication of the men. And so, if a man must dominate and exercise authority over a specific area or territory, such a man must experience growth. It says “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it.” Until you fill, you cannot subdue. No wonder the Bible says in John, it says “unless a grain of wheat falls down and dies, it abides alone. But when if falls down and dies, it produces more.” It is in that productivity that the dominion of that man lies. And so, when a man abides alone, refuses to die, Apostle Paul says “I die daily.” When a man or a woman refuses to die in any circumstances, the man or the woman then chooses to abide alone.
I want us to see another Scripture that opens us up to what happens when there is no man who has a responsibility over the earth, Genesis 2:5-6. The Bible says: “before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; 6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.” There was no man to till the ground and therefore, there was nothing that was growing, and that is why we are looking at “there is no growth for a lazy people in ministry.” If you are a man or a woman and you happen to be lazy, you will not experience growth and until you experience growth, you cannot exercise dominion in the work that God has committed into your hands.
Let us see Genesis 2:8 and then we will see verse 15 as we move on. The Bible says: “The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.” I am sure you understand that what we saw in chapter two verse five is that there was no growth because there was no man who has the responsibility to till the ground. In chapter 2:8 and 15, we saw how God prepared the garden, the same way that God has prepared different gardens and He has planted several of us, and haven put us in these gardens, the responsibilities are clear. In verse 15, it says “to tend and keep it.”
You can also deduce from that place that “to tend and to keep” also represents to cultivate a land, to till the ground, to protect. And so, when God gives you a garden, when God prepares a place for you, the Psalmist says “the Lord has prepared a place for me in the presence of my enemies”, but you must have a responsibility, haven been prepared a table for, to take your position and eat the food that has been prepared for you. You cannot wish the food into your stomach, you must eat it. And I am sure you understand, that beyond the addiction to food that man could have, eating is a responsibility. If you are too lazy to eat, then you will be too lazy to be filled with food. Now, the responsibility is given to man. God made dominion available for man; however, for any man to enjoy that dominion, such a man must till the ground that the Lord has given to him. Such a man must tend it; such a man must keep it. And when that happens, there is fruitfulness, when there is fruitfulness; there is multiplication, which will eventually result into the filling of the earth. You are filling the earth with what you are producing, and when you fill the earth enough, you will subdue the earth, and then you will enjoy your dominion.
I want us to meditate a little more in Proverbs 12 so that we will see what the Lord has for us much more. Proverbs 12:9, the Bible says: “Better is the one who is slighted but has a servant, than he who honors himself but lacks bread.” It is not enough to be pompous or to have a sense of self-arrival. It is important we understand that the ministry we are talking about is service. If we must eat in the ministry, it is because you have the attitude of a servant. In verse 12, it says: “he who tills his land (just like God gave Adam the responsibility of tilling the garden of Eden. He who tills his land, he who tills his ministry) will be satisfied with bread, but he who follows frivolity is devoid of understanding.” If you must experience growth in ministry, if you must have enough and more than enough in ministry, you must understand that the packages, the provisions of God on your life are hinged on your responsibility or your responsiveness to the work that you have been committed to. And the Bible says it is better for you to be slighted as a servant than for you to have this mentality of title or you are the man or the woman in charge. You must take on the huge responsibility of the tilling the ground of your ministry. Let us see again verse 14.
Proverbs 12:14, the Bible says: “A man (a woman) will be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth, and the recompense of a man’s hand will be rendered to him.” So, whatever a man sows, the same he will reap. A man will be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth. So, if the mouth of a man has produced bad things, the same man will be satisfied with bad from the fruit of his mouth. So, it is what you have produced that you will be satisfied with, it is what your hands has produced that you mouth will be satisfied with, and it is important we remember that. Let us jump to verse 24, so that we will see exactly what the Lord is saying to us there.
Proverbs 12:24, the Bible says: “The hand of the diligent will rule, but the lazy man will be put to forced labor.” I am sure you remember how we started in Genesis 1:26 and 28, when God said “let us make man in our image and our likeness and let them have dominion.” And verse 28 says “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And so, you could see that dominion came very much after there was fruitfulness, multiplication, filling and subduing. And so, in verse 24, we are shown how again we can exercise dominion. No wonder it has been established that there is no rule, there is no growth for lazy men in the work of ministry.
Now, it is one thing to work for God, it is another thing to work for men. It is one thing to work for God; it is another thing to work for yourself. Now, it is more honorable to work for God than to work for yourself. It is more rewarding to work for God than to work for men. It is more satisfying, more fulfilling to work for God than to work for yourself. What happens to a man, a woman that is put into forced labor is that, he or she is working for himself or herself. However, a diligent man, a diligent woman is working for God. I am sure you still remember that place that we have read before, in Proverbs 22:29, there is an instruction there. It says: “Do you see a man, do you see a woman who excels in his work? HE will stand before kings; He will not stand before unknown men.”
So, diligence in the place of your ministry, diligence in the work of your ministry endears you towards God. So, when I said if you are diligent, you will work for God, that was why I said that. So, if you are lazy, you will be forced to work for yourself and to work for people and they will abuse you, but a lazy man will be put to forced labor. So, you must understand that the dominion that God gave to man is tied to diligence. A diligent hand will rule. You cannot pray yourself into rulership when you are lazy. Laziness cannot produce rulership. No matter how you pray or you fast, if you are lazy, you cannot be made a ruler. The question is: How can you be made a ruler when you are lazy? Let me show you who a ruler is. A ruler is a standard of measurement. A ruler is a standard through which others are gauged, the behavior, the conduct of others are measured.
If you are so lazy, that you can do nothing, how can we measure the excellence of others by your own nothingness? How can your emptiness become the basis for measuring other people’s standards or excellence? No! if you must rule, it is because you are a man who have excelled, and you are worthy of emulation. A ruler is a person who is an exemplary personality that others are willing to pattern their lives after. And so, if you must become a ruler, then you must be a diligent person, a diligent woman, a diligent man. The last verse is verse 27 that we will read. It says “the lazy man does not roast what he took in hunting, but diligence is a man’s precious possession.” You can see, that there is no growth, there is no room for a lazy people in ministry.
If you are diligent, then you have the precious possessions in your hands. With diligence, you can become great. With diligence, you can become a ruler. With diligence, you can sustain your rulership. A lazy man the Bible says in Proverbs 12:27, will not roast what he took in hunting. When you cannot roast what you take out of hunting, what happens? It spoils. When you find lazy men in ministry, you would notice that their works are spoiling in their hands. They cannot maintain what they have built. They cannot sustain the momentum over a period of time. They do a little, they fizzle out. They start, they cannot continue. Why? Because they are lazy! And so, if you are poor, if you have lack, and you don’t have enough in ministry; it is not because God is not faithful. It is just because you have chosen to be lazy.
You remember the Bible says “A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before great men.” While your gift can bring you before great men, it is your diligence that we keep you there. That is why the Bible says “do you see a man who is diligent in his work, he will stand before kings and not ordinary men.” It is your diligence that keeps you standing. You can be brought forward; you can be made to become the presiding pastor or the senior pastor of a place by your anointing. But your diligence will keep you in that place for a very long time. You remember, be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue it and have dominion. If you must enjoy dominion in your ministry, you must have the attitude of a servant. You must have the attitude of one who labors with his hands, a man, a woman who is willing to sacrifice, to give all that it takes and demands to fulfill his or her ministry.
Your ministry will be fulfilled I believe by the special grace of God. You remember apostle Paul said “I labored more than them all, yet not I, but the grace of God that was given to me.” I believe that your ministry will be fulfilled, but I believe that you are going to labor more simply because the grace of God will be sufficient for you. By the grace of God you will labor, by the grace of God you will be fruitful. By the grace of God you will multiply and you will fill the places that God has established you and you will subdue the places. You will subdue not in mediocrity, but you will subdue in excellence simply because you are not lazy and the diligence Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
Thank you for the gift of your time, it has been a great joy to bring you God’s word. I believe you have been challenged and encouraged, I believe you have been strengthened in your inner man. And as you go on in your strength, you will exercise dominion in your nation, in your generation where God has planted you in Jesus’ name. Amen.
God bless you!
