Changes through Ministry II

ByPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 4 minutes

Welcome, dear friends!

Mercy and peace of God, Father and our Lord, Jesus Christ be with you!

Yesterday we began to discuss the meaning of ministry and what influence it has on your life. As we clarified, that ministry is a practical way to show God’s love to the people around me. We can serve people with everything the Lord has blessed us with, e.g. finances, time, prayers, experience of life, etc. However, it’s important to remember that all these things must be based on love. Giving is the main quality of such love. The Bible says “God is love”.

 

« He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love ». (1st John 4:8).

 

If God is love it’s vitally important to know and understand how Love behaves.

 

« For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life ». (John 3:16).

 

This verse from Scripture says God gave His one and only Son for the salvation of the whole mankind not as an act of feat but because He loves people.

«For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son …» – God proved His love to us through His giving.

 

« But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ». (Romans 5:8).

 

We were dead in our sins, and desperately needed freedom from the slavery of sin and the power of satan. Regardless of our sinful status God came to help us and serve us. He sent His one and only Son to die for our freedom’s sake. Giving (His life) is the exact prove of love. That’s why God calls us to follow Him as His children. Taking into consideration that God is love in what area should we as His children follow Him first? Surely love is the first thing!

 

« Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children. Walk in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance ». (Ephesians 5:1-2).

 

By living in love we offer ourselves as a sacrifice to God for the benefit of the other people around us.

 

« By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and closes his heart of compassion against him, how does the love of God remain in him? My little children, let’s not love in word only, neither with the tongue only, but in deed and truth ». (1st John 3:16-18).

 

Love always gives! We share our property or skills to meet the needs of people God sends on our way. It’s also possible to help other people, even sacrifice yourself, meet all people needs but have no love for them. This is what Paul’s letter to Corinthians tells us:

 

« If I speak with the languages of men and of angels, but don’t have love, I have become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t have love, I am nothing. If I dole out all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but don’t have love, it profits me nothing ». (1st Corinthians 13:1-3).

 

If our deeds are driven by different motives instead of love, it’s not a ministry in Biblical sense. The bible says, there is no profit for a man whose deeds are done without love. Such ministries or sacrifices do not please our God. So ministry presumes we use every blessing God has given to us to meet the needs of people around us, by expressing the love the Holy Spirit has poured into our hearts.

 

« and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us ». (Romans 5:5).

 

Thus, true ministry starts with discovery of the gifts and assets I possess. After a person has determined what he has, he or she should look around in order to find the people with whom he can share his gifts and assets with. Living this way our life will be filled with joy and satisfaction because of the privilege we have to serve or help somebody else.

Let God pour His love and mercy on you to serve other people!

See you tomorrow.

Rufus Ajiboye, pastor

Similar Posts

  • The blessedness or beauty of serving others! II

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 5 minutes
    Isaiah saw three important things that totally changed his life. Isaiah saw God. He saw God’s greatness and holiness. When you draw near to God, God reveals Himself to you more and more. When we see God we also see ourselves, because we are created in His image and according to His likeness. In His light we see light.Isaiah saw himself. God desires for us to see ourselves clearly. For this very reason He allows different things to happen to us so that our eyes would be open about what we are like inside.

    Isaiah saw three important things that totally changed his life. Isaiah saw God. He saw God’s greatness and...

  • Be faithful in small things; then God will set you over many things! II

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 3 minutes
    Do not compare yourself with other people, but always check whether you are faithful to God. Are you faithful to God in the area of being a good steward of the resources God has entrusted you?Jesus’ parable of talents says that after the lord returned and settled accounts with his first two servants that had multiplied their talents, he did not just praise them for their faithfulness; he also blessed and promoted them: «…you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things».

    Do not compare yourself with other people, but always check whether you are faithful to God. Are you faithful to...

  • When you go through hardships, trials and pain, learn to praise God in these circumstances!

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 2 minutes
    Pain and problems – they are the things that God uses to spiritually discipline and develop us. We learn obedience through the things we suffer. «..though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered» (Hebrews, 5: 8).Gold is purified in high temperatures. Sufferings are ‘high temperature’ that purifies us.

    Pain and problems - they are the things that God uses to spiritually discipline and develop us. We learn...

  • What are the goals of God’s chastening?II

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 4 minutes
    «For if we judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world» (1 Corinthians, 11:31-32).So God chastises His children not for His own pleasure, but for our correction and for us to participate in His holiness. God does that in order for us to bring forth the peaceful fruit of righteousness and not to be condemned with the world.

    «For if we judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we...

  • Who you are in Christ and who you can become in Him

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 4 minutes
    God wants you to believe today that in Christ Jesus you have been given a NEW NAME. You have identified with your old names, your past and failures long enough.God has given you new name in Christ, so stop wearing the old name tag given to you by people, by the enemy of your soul or by your circumstances. Believe in the wonderful possibilities available to you now in God because of your new identity in Christ. Begin to identify yourself with your God given name! Only thus will you be able to realize your potential in God.

    God wants you to believe today that in Christ Jesus you have been given a NEW NAME. You have identified with your...

  • Spiritual discipline

    AutorsPastor Rufus Ajiboye Reading Time: 4 minutes
    The paradox is that most Christians, who discipline themselves in other areas of their life in order to be successful – like job or carrier, do not believe they need to be disciplined in the area of godliness. We are talking about good Christians who are faithful members of the Church of the Living God. These are people who love God’s Word and often are very enthusiastic about the work of God. But because of the lack of discipline they do not reach their potential in God’s Kingdom.

    The paradox is that most Christians, who discipline themselves in other areas of their life in order to be...