Kachi Anonyuo
Senior Member
Joined: 06/23/2014
Location: United States
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 47
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Posted: 07/17/2014 at 6:29pm
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In Jn. 6, the people who benefited from Jesus' miraculous
provision of bread and fishes tracked Him down and asked
Him, "What must we do that we may work the works that God
requires?" Jesus replied, "The work of God is this: to
believe in the one He has sent."
I think that the way Christians naturally seek to work--
to minister, to do-- is one of God's biggest obstacles to
getting His own works out to everyone. We have this
belief, in the back of our minds apparently, that says,
"I must do; I must work; I must make it happen." But as
long as people are doing, God can't do much. Ministry
apparently has more to do with following than leading.
The crowd wanted to know what they had to do, but Jesus
replied, "The work of God is this: to believe in (to
follow) the one He has sent." When it comes to doing, we
can do it in our strength, but not so with believing
(following).
I was in church last Sunday, wondering about what a well-
meaning minister told me. He basically told me to do, do,
do. Pray, fast, believe, work, and work very hard.
Confused about this, the Lord began to give me His own
opinion on the matter, making it finally clear to me:
"'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the
Lord." Then I understood, and since then, I've had more
peace than I ever have in the past.
Jesus told Martha that she was concerned about too many
things and that Mary had chosen the most important thing
which she would not lose. He also said that many in the
last Day will believe that their works and ministry to
others will gain them entrance to eternal Life but will
hear, "I never knew you" because they forgot to do things
"by My Spirit".
I understand now that there is a lot of success won in
ministry (and a lot of failure) through effort and
planning that isn't by His Spirit. The shortage of this
"by My Spirit" is leaving a lot of things undone and
unattended in the area of ministry and daily 'church'
life. Ministry seems to be more about leading (i.e.
relating/ministering to others like Martha), but I found
it really is more about following (i.e.
relating/ministering to the Lord like Mary):
"They said to Him, 'What must we do that we may work the
works of God?' Jesus answered and said to them, 'This is
the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent'"
(Jn. 6:28-29).
__________________
"You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them... Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant" (Mt. 20:25-26).
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Topic: Follower Model of Ministry
