Are we working for God or allowing Him to work through us?

Discerning between the lies of the devil and the Holy Spirit's conviction can be often difficult. Difficult in ministry as well. Becuase in ministry your goal should be to let God do things through you, but we are often faced with the rival idea and concept to do things for God, instead of letting Him do thigns through us. So we can have all the right intentions in ministry and want to do all the right things, but we can have all the wrong motives, or attitudes. In such a peformance driven society, especially in the workplace, it is easy to succumb to that mentality in ministry. When something is not going well or not succedding, not succedding fast enough as we want, not going the way we want it to, we try to reconcile it, by figuring out what is wrong with what we are doing. And it is then that we get to focused on us. And the devil will creep in and feed us those that it is all up to us to make things work.

And we get caught in that trap. And we forget that in ministry we are simple the pipes, the tools, the conduits, that bring what is most important God, He does the work, He just works through us. We forget that it is God who orders our steps. That it is He who places the vision and plans in our hearts to begin with. It is His plan. It is Him who changes peoples lives, it is Him who brings in the people, not us. But the devil wants us to believe that it is up to us and we start to believe him. Next thing you know we begin to question. Not only do we question what can we do to fix the situation. But then we begin to question if we should even be doing what we are doing. We question if we should be doing what God calls us to do. And that is doubting God. WE lose our fatih, our faith becomes weak, we want to give up. This is a dangerous place to be, trusting in our own efforts and not God. WE believe the lie that it is totally up to us to bring in the people, change their lives. And we begin to believe that it is entirely our fault that stuff doesn't work. It is then that the enemey has us trapped. WE are believing it is our job to do everything and leave God out of the equation and we doubt Him. And then we wann quit becuase everything seems too difficult. Everyway we turn is a lie from the devil, if we secced, we are caught up in our own ego and pride. If things are too difficult we wanna quit, becuase we forget that God brough us there.

We get so wrapped up in all that, that we miss the most important part of just simply staying faithful and obedient to what God has called us to do, and the vision He has given us. This is all that matters in ministry, staying faithtful and obedient to what God has called us to do, regardless of how difficult it may be. Becuase God brings the results, not us. And staying faithful to God can be just as difficult when things are going very well. Becuase then comes the temptations to think it is something we are doing to make ministry succeed. And we get stuck in the ministry games and forget to stay faithful to God.

I am not saying that we play no part in a ministry succeding or not. I believe that the Holy SPirit reveals to us things that we may be doing wrong. I have found that the voice of the Holy SPirit has beeen that still small voice reminding us of the simple, basic things that are so very important though. Like one on one time with people, instead of programs. I find that I usually brush these things off as small little things, but then come to learn the are the most powerful.

And I find that the things I worry about and try to control so much are the things that my flesh speaks to me to worry about. I find that my fleshly fears, that I usually can't control, scream the loudest. While the things I can control and that the Holy Spirit is convicting me of, I ignore and waste my time on things I can't control. And again I forget to stay faithful and obedent to God;s plans and vision and leave the rest to Him. It is so important to learn how to hear the Holy Spirit's voice in our lives. That small, consistent, voice, that you know is from God. We find it in the the quiet. WE find it when we put things in persepective of who God is. We find it when we renew and transform our minds (Romans 12:2) We need that time with God in stillness, we need to learn to listen to God. We are too busy listening to ourselves

It is also so very important to have a clear vision and clear calling from God before starting anything. Becuase when things get difficult and the enemy is telling you to quit, you will have something to stand upon and say this is what God called me to do no matter what happens, good or bad. I will stay faithful to the vision. And this can be difficult, you will start to 2nd guess if you were called for that vision. So it needs to be clear so you have something to all back on and say I will do my job and do my best with this vision God has given me and leave the rest up to Him. I will do my best for my audience of one, God. Staying faithful to what He has called me to do, nothing else.

What is the vision God has called you to do?
Are you doubting it?
Are you listening to yourself or God?
Are you trying to do God's job in your ministry?
Are you letting God work through you or are you working for God?
Are you playing the game of ministry or staying faithful to God's vision?