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Don't give Up Before You Have Begun
by Marie Grossett Have you ever been in a situation where you know God is calling you for ministry? He has given you a certain talent or gift that can be used for his kingdom, but somehow you keep putting it off? You come up with all the reasons why you should not develop your gift or talent some of them could be 'I'm too young or too old,' 'I'm too inexperienced,' 'God cannot use me a woman for the healing ministry that is a man's ministry.' Well has it ever occurred to you that God actually chose you to do the ministry he has given you? Otherwise he wouldn't have given you the gift or talent for it in the first place. God called me in the ministry at the age of 26 years old. At this aged I was called to be the prayer coordinator at my local church and to be on the ladies committee. God also gave me a writing ministry and I ended up being an International Published Author at the age of 27 years old. Now God has given me this gift to write self help books and to intercede for people which I have finally pursued. But I had my doubts and fears. I was at a ladies conference we were doing a workshop and we also talked about ministry. I remember saying to a lady that sat beside me, 'I think I'm too young for the prayer ministry. There are women that are way more experienced than me and who can pray better than me.' This lady said to me 'God can use you at any age and you must not think of yourself as being inadequate' but I still was not convinced. It was one night when I was in my room at the conference that I was lead by the Holy Spirit to go into the book of Jeremiah. We all know the famous scripture of Jeremiah 1:5 which says "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet the nations." Now God was calling Jeremiah into the ministry however even Jeremiah had his doubts about being a prophet at a young age his reply to the Lord was "Ah, Sovereign Lord," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child." (Jeremiah 1:6) But the Lord said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you." (Jeremiah 1:7). The sentence "Do not say, 'I am only a child,' really spoke to me I know that was God reassuring me, that it doesn't matter to him about my age what matters is the willingness and desire to do and to pursue the task that he has given me to do while I'm here on earth. It will be the Lord teaching and guiding me and working through me. Now I got through the 'I'm too young stage' it became easier for me to carry on with the writing ministry that God called me to do, and God could now use me through this ministry on a wider scale. Sometimes as young people we can feel intimidated to pursue the ministry that God has given us. Our most common thought will be that were to inexperience. However 1 Timothy 11:12 says 'don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.' We must build up our self confidence and truly believe that regardless of our age we can do all things through him that strengthens us. Unknown to her God made this young beautiful Jewish girl into a Queen and gave her a divine purpose to save her people from being killed. Her name was Esther. In order for Esther to save her people from begin killed she first had to go to the king's inner court without being summoned and ask him to invite Haman who wanted to kill the Jewish people to a banquet. Now any man or woman that went to the king's inner court without being summoned by him had to be put to death as that was the king's law. The only expectation was the king needed to extend a gold sceptre in order for the person's life to be spared. Even though the king had not summoned Esther for thirty days Esther was still determined to see him in order for purpose that was given to her to go ahead. Esther 4:16 says "Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish." To conclude Esther did go to the king's inner court and he spared her life. She asked the king if they could have the banquet and invite Haman, during the banquet Esther told the king for the first time she was a Jew and what Haman had planned to do to the Jewish people. In the end the king order Haman to be hanged and the Jewish people lives were spared. What is the point that I'm trying to make here? Well if Queen Esther had allowed intimidation, fear of death, the fact that she wasn't summoned and a Jew to hinder her purpose gave she would never had fulfilled the task that God chose her to do, and we might not have even heard of her today in our Bibles. Esther strongly believed in her calling and was willing to do what it took to achieve it even if it meant death. Not only did she believe in her calling she must have had some confidence in herself. It takes us to have faith and confidence in ourselves first before God can do the rest. It just like going to a job interview, before you got the job you had to sell yourself you had to convince your employer that you are good for the job in other words you had to believe in yourself and had the confidence to know that you can do this job if you lack confidence then most likely you would not have got the position. If we can have self confidence when we are going to a job interview then why can't we have it when it comes to our ministry? My friend Sarah is in her early thirties. God has given her the ministry of counselling at her local church. She even counsels people who are much older and has been going to church a lot longer than her. But God has given her the great gift of wisdom she is someone that can give good sound knowledgeable advice in fact she reminds me of King Solomon in the Bible. She is a woman who is determined to achieve her God given destiny and she will not let anyone or anything stand in her way. Even at her workplace she has a fantastic position as a Housing Project Coordinator and she doesn't want to stop there she is even doing a leadership course for her to get managerial position. The thing about Sarah is she has a positive mindset she knows how to turn a negative situation into a positive she believes in herself and another important think is she doesn't settle for less. We women of God must not settle for less, what do I mean by that? Well if you know in your heart, for example that God has called you to be youth leader and ten years later you're still the youth worker then don't you believe that you have settled for less? For some reason or another you didn't strive to be in the next position that God has called you to be in. You must change your negative thinking into a positive one continually just like Sarah and stop putting off pursuing your God given destiny. It is very important that you build up your self confidence, but in order to do that you must find out the root into why you are lacking confidence. Lack of self confidence could stem from childhood, maybe you were told as a child that you're useless or you were constantly compared to your siblings as being worthless. It also helps to be around people like Sarah as these are people that are encouragers as well as positive thinkers, instead of being around people who are constantly negative and discouraging. But remember only you know the ministry that God has given to you better than anyone else does so don't rely on peoples approval too much. To conclude you must remember were not put here on earth to waste our time and our God give talents. He put us on this planet for a reason to fulfill our purpose. Do not allow yourself to be like the third Servant in 'The Parable of the Ten Minas' (Luke 19:11-26) who was given money by his Master and rather than produce more money he hide the one that was given to him. He was a very unproductive. What excuse can you give God on judgment day? None. If God has called you to be a Chief Executive, Director, Healer, Prophet, then pursue it and pursue it all the way. Do not allow your ministry to finish before it has even begun. Remember only YOU can hinder ministry. Marie Grossett aka Vanessa Grossett is a published Author, and has interviewed best selling and award winning Christian Authors. She is a Literary Agent at The Authors Care Services ltd. www.theauthorscare.co.uk [email protected] Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |