Do Something...

I was listening to a sermon the other day by Rick Warren, titled, "God can use ANYBODY". It hit home with me.

Each of us are gifted right where we are, with what God has already given us to have our own ministry. If all you have time to do is work and go home, then your ministry is at work and home. The question is, are you conducting your ministry correctly? Are you working for the almighty dollar? or, are you working to bring Glory to God?

I thought about this. While money is important to me (isn't it important to everyone?) it is NOT my end all be all. If I am at work and my employer bans us from giving any credit to Jesus while I am there, I would (and have in the past) quit my job in search of somewhere God is allowed to be. If He isn't allowed to be there, I am not allowed, because I am His child, first and foremost.

It is in how we live our lives that testify to the Grace, Love and Mercy of God for others. I've had people comment to me after a simple conversation that I have helped them to see things in a different light, and have influenced them to be better people. I have had people tell me that they believe that God sent me to them at just the moment in their lives when they needed God the most, and they felt that I was His answer.

You don't lead people to Jesus by judgmental preaching and condemnation, you lead them to Jesus by being the only Jesus they are able to see at that moment. My ministry is where I am, and it is done by what God has given me to do it with.

Do you really believe that the God who created you for a specific purpose on this earth would expect you to go to Africa to be a minister, and then not give you the ability to do so? So if God did not give you the ability to go to Africa, wouldn't it stand to reason that He would expect you to minister WHERE YOU ARE?

This is why I seek to be a better employee, a better friend, a better daughter, a better neighbor.

Mark 12
28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.


I have learned that by focusing on these first two commandments, all of the other commandments are so much easier to follow...and even if I cannot (for I am still a work in progress), my light shines bright enough that others seek to have what I have found, and start building their own relationship with the Father, and building up their own accountability.

And, that is what a minister is supposed to do.

Hagar's Shame

Read the previous study in this series by clicking here

Genesis 16:
4 And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.

When Hagar conceived, she thought she was better than Sarai. She thought that Abram would favor her because of the child.

Abram, however, was a respecter of the law, and of his wife, Sarai. As any good patriarch of a people does, he provided and cared for those who were following him and serving him. He had no other feelings for Hagar, except that she was honored as the biological mother of his child.

Hagar, on the other hand (just like many women do with a man they have slept with) wanted more than she was allotted. She became contentious toward Sarai. She practically dared Sarai to discipline her for it.

Genesis 16:
5 And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee.

Sarai realized her mistake quickly. Not only did she recognize it, she took responsibility for it. She confessed her despair to Abram as if she had committed a sin that she knew she had to pay for (which, she had).

She was probably also looking for reassurance that Abram's feelings toward her had not changed, and that she was still held in high esteem by him.

Sarai also respected her station in life as being the weaker vessel, commanded to follow her husband's lead, as he was in the place of authority granted by God in her life. She loved her husband deeply. However, I believe she had just learned her lesson in placing the laws of man above God's plan.


Genesis 16:
6 But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.

Abram confirmed to her that she was still the mistress of the household, and in his heart. She had not lost his respect for her station in his life. He told her that Hagar was her maid, nothing more, and that whatever she decided to do about the problem between the two he would respect.

Sarai took the opportunity to show no mercy toward Hagar's insubordination.

Abram's failure to defend her no doubt shamed her, as well as angered her, so that she decided to run away.

How many times in your life have you made a horrible mistake for which you were ashamed and thought that running away would solve your problems?

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