Two separate aspects of our lives.

My Church

Do you consider the family you were born into a blessing? I hope so. If not, you can change that by letting God be the guide in what you bring to yours. Sad to say that in these times many families are NOT a blessing. God intended the family to be a foundational unit providing physical, emotional and spiritual nurturing and godly training, equipping us for life ahead.

The local church is supposed to be the next unit up from the family that brings all those same wonderful aspects. It includes corporate worship. We may sing hymns, songs and spiritual songs with our family at home and we may daily open the Bible and read together but when others that are like minded come together to do the same this adds strength to the faith of the family.

Children and family units are built up by the frequent experience of it. The testimony of it can bring the lost to see God’s plan in action and the difference it makes. We go back out into the world victorious in Jesus Christ. We know we are not alone as we’ve spent time with our brothers and sister of like minds and were strongly reminded from God’s word that He is with us and the place of blessing is dependent upon and obedient to Him.

Sad to say again that churches doing what they are supposed to according to the Bible are becoming rare. Especially when you consider the numbers of churches that claim they are Christian. Too many leaders living double lives, not wholehearted for the truth of God’s Word, not fully committed to their calling. Church bodies have inflicted pain and dysfunction on those who have passed through them. They have inner circles and cliques that keep some out. Measuring and judging people apart from the love, grace and a patience of God always hurts.

As we come into a local assembly (church), we want to find a place where we feel welcomed as we are but encouraged toward a deeper walk with God. As the Bible is preached and the Holy Spirit set free to work, those with listening hearts and ears will grow in the faith. Their lives will become more Christ-like. God does not rush this work. We need nurturing. We need patience. We need admonishment and edifying. We should feel safe there, safe enough to be honest before God and man. AND loved, loved by those who have known God’s changing power and forgiveness.

Pray for your fellow members and attenders. Pray visitors will come regularly and come to know our Saviour. Pray to constantly see God at work in the midst of all your church is doing. Pray for all aspects of the ministry and the effect it has on your neighborhood, town, city, country, the world.

My Ministry

You may be an active part of a local church. You might teach a class, help in the Nursery, sing in the choir, and help in other ways but this is not YOUR MINISTRY as I see it.

YOUR MINISTRY may be much bigger and affect more lives than likely you will ever see come into your church. YOUR MINISTRY consists of those opportunities that crop up in YOUR life, those things God specifically leads you to do.

As mothers and even daughters still at home, we cannot just “go have a ministry somewhere.” Our first duty is to be a keeper at home and make home what it needs to be for our husbands and families. If we leave this duty to find “some ministry out there” who will do the ministry we left? It is ours alone to do. There are great blessings we will miss out on unless we surrender to do it unto the LORD and for His eternal purposes.

In YOUR MINISTRY an opportunity to share the gospel comes when the doorbell rings and the delivery driver arrives. Or perhaps it is the beautiful scene of you and your children doing your weekly shopping together, having fun, getting along, not begging for stuff and happily obeying and working with Mom to get the job done.

YOUR MINISTRY might be a home that welcomes neighbors for tea or coffee. Such visits give your light a chance to shine and the gospel message a natural setting in which to be presented and watered. One day your neighbor may become a sister in the Lord.

Maybe you have a child that needs constant medical attention. This is YOUR MINISTRY. Letting your light shine when your heart is breaking gives all those watching a chance to see how great a comfort the living God is when you sincerely trust Him.

All the lives you pass in your daily routines need to see your trust in the God of the Bible. This ensample has eternal value in God’s scheme of things. As time moves on YOUR MINISTRY will change. The children will grow and one day leave home. Your husband may provide so that you do not have to take on a job. If you must work shine brightly in Christ and still God will lead you to do selfless, godly deeds at times that will be YOUR MINISTRY. Perhaps teaching home skills to teens, English to refugees, writing your own tracts, sending letters of encouragement. Sharing the gospel in your sphere of influence. Maybe cooking a meal for a family that never gets the chance to go out to dinner. Maybe taking someone’s laundry and getting it done to ease their load. Maybe being the driver for those who are elderly or infirm that usually depend on public transportation. Fellowship between you and them can be far more meaningful than the empty chatter, general unkindness and silence often found on the public system.

Prayerfully, maybe YOUR MINISTRY would involve bringing someone into your home that just needs a temporary place to figure things out and get right with God. Maybe it’s taking in clothing that others are giving away, washing, sorting then finding a new homes for them where they are greatly needed.

I hope by now you are getting the idea. YOUR MINISTRY is anything the LORD fits into your life that brings someone closer to the love and knowledge of our Great Saviour, Jesus Christ. Ask the Lord for a MINISTRY that is just YOURS and see how He works to bring it to pass. You will love being used by Him in His eternal work and it will fit nicely into your life because He will make sure your priorities are kept