I am so glad to receive you to Forms and Patterns this week and I believe the Lord has a word to encourage each and every one of us. What we are looking at today is very simple: Towards Fulfilling Your Ministry. One thing I want us to understand as a people is that it is not enough to start a ministry. It is very important that each one of us who have started a ministry, finishes. It is not enough that we start ministry, we must finish. And the word “fulfill” also carries in it the implication of completing something that has been started. We don’t just want to be a people that the Lord has called, ordained, separated and commissioned into the works of ministry. We want to be a people who continue in the work until the completion of it.
Listen To Podcast: TOWARDS FULFILLING YOUR MINISTRY – ACKNOWLEDGE HIM
I want us to read a portion in the Bible that will build a background for us as we lunch into the deep at this time. Proverbs chapter 3:5-7. The Bible says:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the Lord and depart from evil.
The first part that we just read shows us something that is very important. It says “trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.” So, it means there is a tendency for a minister or a servant or a leader, a man who has a responsibility and an authority on earth under God to lean on his or her own understanding. There is a tendency for each person or an individual not to trust the Lord the way he ought to. That is why Solomon as inspired by God, was quick to admonish each person who has began a work, who has started a work under God to trust in the Lord.
Now, the truth is, God is the one who owns the work and who has called you into the work and it is important that if you must continue till you complete the work He has called you to do, you must trust Him who has called you into the work. It is not uncommon to find men and women who started with strong trust in the Lord but ended up with a little trust and in fact, no trust for God. Perhaps certain moments in their lives they felt “if God was caring enough, they wouldn’t have been suffering or face certain challenge in their lives.” But the truth is in spite of our experiences, in spite of the things that we see and we hear and happens to us, God deserves our trust. Now it says “trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, and anything you want to do, you must acknowledge Him” (emphasis added). Isn’t that instructive?
The work that God has called us into has in it many things that must be done. And then the Bible says “In all your ways” in all your different activities, “acknowledge Him.” Make sure you acknowledge that the basis of your authority is Him, the reason for your abundance is Him, the secret of your health is Him. Anything that is around you, moving or not moving, can be attributed to Him. And so, you must acknowledge Him. Now, it is important we dwell a bit on this because of its importance. Consider yourself as a man who has given a responsibility to somebody. And while trying to fulfill the task, the person disregards you, the person does not consider you, the person does whatever he or she want to do his way or her way. Now, when the who job is done, the person carries the glory and the does not acknowledge you.
It is important we understand that as much as God is patient, as much as God is caring, God deserves and He requires us to acknowledge Him. That Scripture says “do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and depart from evil.” One of the greatest evils that anyone could commit is the evil of pride or arrogance. It is very wrong for anyone who is in ministry to appropriate every praise in the ministry to himself. Should you be a man that has the capacity to heal people of their sicknesses through your prayers, and should you assume that everything begins and ends with you, then you are putting yourself against God. You are positioning yourself in a battle against God that you will not win.
There is nothing you are doing in ministry that God is not the secret behind it. And I want us to see a story in the Bible as we conclude this thought. Acts 12:1-4, then 20-23. The Bible says:
“Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. 2 Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword. 3 And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Now it was during the Days of Unleavened Bread. 4 So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four [a]squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover.”
Now let us jump to verse 20. God intervened and Peter was released from the prison. Let us then see what happened to Herod afterwards.
“Now Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon; but they came to him with one accord, and having made Blastus the king’s personal aide their friend, they asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food by the king’s country. 21 So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. 22 And the people kept shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” 23 Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died. 24 But the word of God grew and multiplied. 25 And Barnabas and Saul returned [h]from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry, and they also took with them John whose surname was Mark.”
If you notice the concluding part that we just read, you would see how apostle Paul and Barnabas returned, having fulfilled their ministry. So, it means it is possible for you as a minister of the gospel to actually fulfill your ministry, you can complete what you start. Now, could you say that Herod completed his reign in Israel. No! He did not fulfill his royalty. He did not fulfill his reign on the people of Israel. His reign was terminated prematurely. But what led to that? And that is what we must not forget. In verse 23, Bible says “Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God.” So, assuming he had given glory to God, he would have remained on the throne as the king of the Jews.
I don’t know the throne that God has put you. I don’t know the throne that you have come to over time. But the truth is, if you must remain on that throne, you must constantly and consistently acknowledge God in all your ways. There is nothing that you are doing that God did not put into your hands. You remember in Genesis that the Bible says “and God put the man that He has formed into the garden to tend and to keep.” There is nothing that you are tending or you are keeping that it is not God who puts you there. And so, if you must remain there, you must have the attitude of acknowledging God. Now whether you do it voluntarily or involuntarily, you must o it all the time. Every time people praise you for a job well done, you must be quick to let them know that God is even the reason for the season, God is the reason for the celebration.
The progress, the revelation, the manifestation of the Spirit, everything that they see around you and around your ministry is the handiwork of God. You remember the word of God in the book of 1 Corinthians 12, when the Bible was talking about the gifts of the Spirit. It says “the manifestation of the Spirit is for the profit of all.” And so, you must understand that it is the same Spirit that works all in all, and the Spirit is working in all of us, manifesting in all of us so that all of us will profit. And so, you must understand that what you are even doing, the things that we see in your life and we love, is not your doing. “For it is God that is working in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
So, you must acknowledge Him, you must give Him the glory and that will be the reason why you will continue. And the truth is, if you can continue, you will finish. Don’t forget, whatever can be continued can be finished. It is not enough to start. You can start and not finish. But if you can continue, you can finish. And if you will continue, you must be a man, a woman who does not lean on his or her own understanding, the man, the woman who acknowledges God in his or her ways; and who gives praise to God. Bible says “fear God and depart from evil” according to Proverbs chapter three that we read. I believe this word is enough for you, and it is able by the Spirit of God to help you to become a leader, a minister that remains in influence and in responsibility of ministry for a long time. If you can continue in this ministry, we believe by the help of God that you can finish it.
It is not enough for you to start a laudable project; it is important you finish. It is not enough for you that you have started the work that God ha called you to, you must see to it that you finish it and finish strong. And if you must finish strong, it must be because you give glory to God. I pray that you will not be struck by an angel due to your arrogance and pride, I pray that the grace of God will be multiplied to you and you will remain humble, acknowledging God in all your ways, in the blissfulness of your marriage, in the peace of your home, in the prosperity of your life, you will acknowledge God as the one doing it and as the one working it out so that you will remain. And I pray that God will be glorified in your life in Jesus’ name.
Thank you for the gift of your time; I hope to connect with you again next week, till then, I want you to remain in the work that God has called you into acknowledging God, and you will continue to see God glorified in your life and through your life In Jesus’ name.
God bless you!
