Before the year ends, and we embark on new beginnings, and a new sense of commitment to the callings on our lives, I want to wrap this series on ministry and what it is, and isn’t, up. Here are the major things I hope everyone can take away from this series:
- You should be both honored and humbled by the call to minister. God doesn’t choose just anybody to speak to his people. He chooses those He believes, will both answer it, and be empathetic to those they are called to minister to. It is truly an honor. What is humbling about this call, is that you truly have to know how to step outside of self and allow God to be glorified in your message. You must be obedient, thoughtful, and prayerful every step of the way. Ask questions when you feel God has placed it on your heart to minister to someone. Don’t move until he says to and remain open to His command.
- Who is God asking you to minister to? What person or group of people?
- What purpose is your ministry going to serve in their life? Are you meant to be an intercessor and pray for them until God tells you to stop? Are you supposed to physically be in their presence for a period of time? Do you need to prophesy into their life? Give them encouragement/ motivation?
- How far are you supposed to go in your ministry? Are you there to help them see a vision God gave them through? Are you there to be a lifelong friend or is this just a season of Godly companionship? Are you assigned to this person or group of people?
- You should understand that at some point, we are all likely to be called to minister to someone. At no point in biblical history did anyone get ordained as a minister, nor were they given a title or license to do so. If you are active in your faith and listening for God’s direction, chances are, you will be asked by God to minister to someone, in some way, at some point. Take that call seriously and remain humbled by the honor of it all.
- Give God the glory and keep your cameras in your pocket. Sometimes God calls us to minister to people in their darkest moments. Often times, those moments are filled with embarrassment and shame. Chances are they don’t want their darkest most hurtful times to be televised or advertised. You have to know that the people who need to know of your good deed will find out in a way that glorifies God and God alone. It’s unfair to broadcast other people’s misfortune to bolster your social media following, or market your ministry. Your good deeds are meant for the heart of God and He is the only one that needs to know. (Trust that He already does.) See the featured image of this blog post (so thankful for the minister of God that shared this photo and his light with me)? Be kind in silence, please.
Before I end this series, I want to share that for every encounter I have had with poorly operating ministers, I have been doubly impacted by great people called by God to touch me in ways that saved my life. In 2014, I reluctantly joined the praise dance ministry at church. I’ve danced most of my life, so it just made sense as I was trying to get involved with a smaller group of people at my large church. After about 6 months, the ministry felt like family. I had bonded with many of the members in various ways and truly loved being apart of it. After being the in ministry for nearly a year, my depression set it. Heavily. I let some of those I was closest to know what I was struggling with and they were supportive. The day came when I tried to take my own life. It didn’t work, but I was sent to the ER and they decided to place me in in-patient care for a few days. Before I was transferred, I sent a text to three women that had been checking on me and supportive after finding out about my illness. I let them know where I was headed and as I arrived in the ambulance to be admitted, two of them showed up and sat with me while I waited to be taken to my room. When I was released three days later, all three of them came to my home and sat with me, even helped me take my hair down. We laughed and had a great time and for the next 30 days, I was taken care of, checked on, fed, encouraged, and reminded that I was valuable. I don’t believe they ever read, sent, or quoted a scripture. I can remember one of them coming over despite my insistence that they not come. She later told me that it was the first time she had seen me totally raw, “naked”, without pretense. She sat down and played with my children, encouraged them to pick up the toys I was too frustrated to fuss about. She hugged me and left after getting the house calmed down and allowing me the moment I needed to breathe. I remember a night after those 30 days were up when I was stood up by a guy I was dating. I called one of them, told them what happened, and we had a girl’s night at one of my favorite places. No questions asked, just a fun time for us. Not a day went by without a text, phone call or visit from one of them for months after I left the hospital. To this day, they are still apart of my life, not apart of my day-to-day, but my life and how I live it. Later on as I considered going back to the praise dance ministry, I asked who knew what happened. I was still ashamed of what I had done, but I wanted to get back to normal. I was told after it happened, it was brought to the ministry and our pastor that someone connected to the ministry had attempted suicide and needed prayer to begin the recovery process. Prayers went up, and our Pastor made it known that I could come to him if needed but that he would not seek me out. To this day I am unsure as to whether or not he knew it was me because it took over a year to move past the shame of it all for me. I was grateful either way because the last thing I wanted was to be paraded in front of anyone to testify regarding what I had gone through and how God brought me through it. I am grateful for all of those that prayed for the anonymous member that was suffering. Those that lifted me without knowing it was me they were lifting. I am grateful for a pastor that was about this business of God and not about proving that he was a great pastor who prayed for his congregation. I am forever grateful for ministers of God with no titles, licenses, or desire for accolades. They were assigned to me through that time and sat with me in the darkness, sharing the light God gave them to guide me out. They saved my life.
I didn’t write this series because I know all about how to be a minister of God, but because I know what its like to be saved by one. I know how important it is for someone with or without the title who takes on the role to take it seriously and be more than a breathing bible for the people they encounter. I am a living witness that obedience to God, not to a person, can mean life or death. They could have sent me scriptures that day, said a prayer and moved on, but they came into the darkness to find me and show me how much God truly loved me. Me, the one who didn’t want to live.
So now, as I work through PAUSE;, offer my ear to hear, and open my mouth to speak to people who are currently fighting their way out of darkness, I remind myself of them. I can put myself in that place again and ask myself what I needed during that time, what was done for me that worked best. I wrote this series to honor the people in my life that took the time to honor God by ministering to me. I hope this helps you do the same for someone else.
