The ways in which we minister are good, but if we’re honest they could be better. In any house there’s always room for improvement, and the same goes for the church. Here are seven ways that may help you to minister more effectively.
1. We should not be so worried about making the wrong move that we make no move at all. Peter stepped out of the boat after seeing an alternative to rowing and getting nowhere! “Initiative” means “the first step.” It also means “enterprise.” The enterprising Peter walked out on a word when Jesus commanded him to come. He had seen sickness obey an order from Jesus. Sure, his heart ‘sank’ when he saw the wind and the waves. But Peter was only one step short of success when he “thought twice” and began to sink. The other disciples never even got out of the boat. He walked out on his own until he hesitated, and when he did, his faith faltered. But after being by Jesus, rescued he walked back to the boat with him.
When you can’t rise to the height of your faith, sink to the depth of your need, and let the Lord save you. In a luminous display of logic, four lepers considered their four options, found the only one that was viable, and took a twilight walk to the camp of their enemy more in fatalism than in faith. In so doing they saved themselves and an entire city from starvation (2 Kings 7). Not a bad effort for a tiny band of untouchables. There are times when God moves when you do, so don’t wait for things to happen if you can make them happen! Sure, you’ll fall flat on your face now and then, but that’s a good position in which to pray about where you went wrong, and to ask the Lord how next time it can be done better.
2. Don’t be so preoccupied with praying that you stop saying! “Have faith from God. For whosoever shall say to this mountain: ‘Be removed, and be thrown into the sea’, and shall not doubt in his heart but shall believe that those things he says shall comes to pass, he shall have whatsoever he says.” (Mark 11:22-24)
With two exceptions, Jesus did his praying at night-time and his saying during the day. In other words, Jesus received his Father’s orders at night and issued them during the day. If your mountain isn’t moving, maybe it’s because you are praying for God to move it, instead of ordering it to move in the Name of Jesus. On his way into worship, Peter healed a cripple in the Name of Jesus Christ.
Peter did not pray for him but lifted him to his feet. When he did God healed the man’s ankles, so that he could not only walk but leap! The Name of Jesus — “through faith in His Name” — worked the miracle. But it was after Peter initiated it by saying: “Rise up and walk” — and lifted him to his feet (Acts 3).
But don’t bother saying if you haven’t done your praying, because it will not work. We don’t formulate the orders; we receive them and then pass them on. If we do not pray, we will not receive them. And if we do not receive them, we will not know what to do. On the other hand, it’s no use praying but never saying.
3. Don’t ask God to do for others what Jesus has told you to do for them in His Name! It comes as a surprise when ministry is needed and you suddenly discover that you’re it! “The LORD will fight for you,” Moses said at the Red Sea, and then prayed to the LORD for help. He didn’t get the answer he wanted because that wasn’t what was needed.
“Why do you cry to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. Lift up your staff and stretch your hand out over the sea and divide it.” (Exodus 14:14-16. Some say, “In God’s time.” But God’s time is now! (2 Corinthians 6:2) Many Christians say, “God moves in mysterious ways…” But these words come from a poem not the Bible, in which we read that He moves in miraculous ways. The God who “made known His ways to Moses” revealed His mysteries to Paul the apostle, who passed them on to believers in his epistles.
But are not God’s ways “above our ways?” Well, it’s true that God’s ways are greater; however, what is not true is the application of Isaiah 55:8-9 to those who are righteous. The preceding verse makes it clear that God is addressing the wicked, the unrighteous!
According to Paul, those who are spiritual are able to discern the things of God (1 Corinthians 2:15). These things are invisible to non-believers’ eyes, inaudible to their ears, and inconceivable to their hearts, yet they are revealed to us by His Spirit! (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)
So, don’t ask Jesus to heal the sick but minister healing to them in his Name! Likewise, don’t pray that God will set people free, but instead order demons to leave them, in the name of Jesus Christ!
4. Don’t ask God to increase your faith if you haven’t used the faith that He has given you! Some think that God gives us “a grain of mustard seed” – a tiny bit of faith to start with – and that we water that small seed of faith, which grows and in time the seed produces fully-grown faith.
But Jesus was not referring to the growth of the mustard seed (as he had in the parable of the kingdom). He was stating that the smallest amount of faith is powerful enough to move a mountain; that it iis disproportionate to the problem. He could have spoken of a grain of sand and made the same point. The growth of the mustard seed was not the subject, but rather the maximum power of a minimal amount of faith!
“If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you would say to this sycamore tree, ‘Be plucked up by the root, and be planted in the sea’; and it would obey you.” (Luke 17:5) It’s not that we need more faith but rather that we use the faith we’ve been given. According to Romans 12:3 we’ve each been given a measure of faith in gifts, so it’s not so much a matter of increasing the faith we have as using the faith we have. That faith is expressed through the gifts given by the Spirit of God.
Would you like to see faith like this in action? Then put your gift to work! If you have a healing gift, move among sick people. The thing that stimulates a gift is its opposite; i.e., the thing that is contrary to it, the thing that challenges it. Samson’s strong anointing worked when a lion roared at him and when Philistines shouted at him. He couldn’t help but react by tearing apart a perfectly good lion and smashing Philistine skulls.
When encountering the thing that’s contrary to your gift, challenge it, and the gift will work. Years ago, I realized that I was not really challenging the enemy, and while praying the Lord showed me this sequence: 1. Challenge; 2. Confrontation; 3. Conflict; 4. Conquest! It worked very well, and I still use it, though more automatically than deliberately nowadays. Some might think this aggressive; however, I think of it as just assertive.
5. Don’t ask the Lord for a new anointing but rather for another gift. Contrary to what some Christians teach, there is only one anointing. But there are many spiritual gifts. The difference between them is that the anointing is less easy to define than the gifts. I define it as the personal presence and operational power of God. Spiritual gifts are not difficult to define because the Apostle Paul lists them clearly in Romans, chapter 12. They are also tangible in that felt changes follow. The gifts of healing, for example, are evident in the results that take place. The anointing is difficult to define but spiritual gifts ‘speak for themselves’.
Some will tell you that you need to “discover” your gift, but the Apostle Paul writes that the Spirit of God distributes spiritual gifts “at will”, and Paul encourages believers to “earnestly desire” them! (1 Corinthians 12:11 & 14:1) Others will tell you that God doesn’t actually give them but loans them, only to withdraw them after they are used. But, if that were so, they wouldn’t be gifts, would they?
6. Don’t sit around waiting for a rhema revelation when you can learn the logos! A rhema is “a speaking word” – a word or message the Spirit of God is saying, present tense. The logos is “the written word or message” – the word that’s been given; e.g., the Bible. A rhema is a word that is spoken by the Spirit of God to the heart – a particular word that is distinct from a general one. One that leaps into your heart from the general word, either when you are reading the Bible or when you are considering a matter.
“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word (rhema) that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4) We are not meant to eat stale bread but fresh bread in the form of new, daily words from the Lord. Mary’s words, “Let it be to me according to your word”, were spoken in response to the angel Gabriel’s message, which was that she would conceive by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:38).
Rhema words are wonderful. No word from God is void of power. In fact, every rhema carries within it the power to create what it describes. Remember, though, that when granting miracles Jesus often said, “Be it unto you according to your faith…”
In chasing after specific words from God we sometimes forget that those who received some of Christ’s greatest miracles had no knowledge of God’s word. So rather than chasing a rhema with a kind of “Somewhere, over a rhema…” attitude, we should linger a bit longer in the logos. Logos + pneuma = rhema” is a formula that works for me. Read God’s written word and the Spirit of God will speak a special word to your heart. In the meantime, don’t sit around waiting on a revelation but act on God’s Word, the Bible.
7. Don’t allow the question of God’s sovereignty to diminish your responsibility. God’s sovereignty and our responsibility are always in tension. What is up to God and what is up to us?
Does “Whosoever will, may come” intrude into the Restricted Area of God’s sovereignty? Definitely not. On the other hand, does “Many are called but few are chosen” provide us with an excuse for not evangelizing? After all, if God already knows those who are His, what’s the point in witnessing to everyone? The point is that your witness may be the thing that causes some to respond to the call.
George Muller of Bristol was renowned for his trust in God. He prayed and the Lord provided again and again. On the other hand, Dwight L Moody was known for his ability to fund his Christian work by asking businessmen in his city of Chicago for money. Muller never asked. Moody always asked.
Muller’s emphasis was on God’s sovereignty. Moody’s emphasis was on his own responsibility. Who was right and who was wrong? Well, I believe that both were right. It’s just that their faith operated in different ways. Muller and Moody corresponded regularly. It’s an indication that together, the two brothers in Christ kept sovereignty and responsibility in balance.
God enabled me to take a pragmatic approach to divine healing by putting these words in my heart: “I cannot take the glory for what God does, so I will not take the blame for what He does not do.” Preachers need such sanity-savers. “Do not look for logic where it does not exist,” was another helpful word of wisdom. “A sign of good mental health is a willingness to accept and live with imperfection” was yet another.