This really resonates with me these days... after working in full time ministry for years, still there is pressure to show results (which are so important!) but if the means deny the power of Christ for our own lives all can be lost and we will burn out. More than ever before He is forcing me to press into Him, who calls us to BE TRANSFORMED (a lifelong journey, thus the name of my blog) -so that- we would know his good, acceptable, and perfect will. Hopefully this will be a window into what life is like for me and maybe speak to your mode of living and walking with Him. Read the original article here from Dr. Scott Rodin on ChinaSource.
How do you find that balance in a job that is measured solely by doing? That is the challenge we face, and you will need to fight that battle first on a personal level. Restoring the balance between being and doing is the first and most critical responsibility of any worker in God’s kingdom. The enemy will deceive us into thinking that God desires our doing first, even at the expense of our being.
If you believe this statement, then let me ask how well that priority is reflected in your daily schedule. Does your work life reflect God’s priority of forming and shaping you to be a child of God, that you might do the work of the kingdom? How much time are you spending intimately in the Word of God, in prayer, in devotion? In what ways do you make yourself available daily for God to take you on the journey of the transformation of your heart?
Far too many pastors and ministry leaders who are called to be sowers of the Word of God enter each day with empty seed bags. We cannot sow what we do not have, and what replenishes our seed bags is not our doing but our being; our availability to the movement of the Holy Spirit to bring us to deeper faith, richer fellowship and greater understanding.
Maintaining this balance will require you to fight this battle in your place of work. In a system that expects us to be doers, you will have to battle to find and maintain the balance of the faithful leader in God’s kingdom.
When we are operating and whole and healthy people in Christ, we can then have a sustainable ministry and life bearing eternal fruit, that only He can manifest in and through us. (John 15)
Romans 7:(AMP)
4Likewise, my brethren, you have undergone death as to the Law (the high Holy standard of God that causes sin in us drive us to live in a system where we are having to "do" something in order to "be" something) through the [crucified] body of Christ, so that now you may belong to Another, to Him Who was raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God.
5When we were living in the flesh (mere physical lives), the sinful passions that were awakened and aroused up by [what] the Law [makes sin] were constantly operating in our natural powers (in our bodily organs, in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh), so that we bore fruit for death.
6But now we are discharged from the Law and have terminated all intercourse with it, having died to what once restrained and held us captive. So now we serve not under [obedience to] the old code of written regulations, but [under obedience to the promptings] of the Spirit in newness [of life].
May I hear ever so clearly the promptings of the Spirit as I seek Him more than a formula or result. Jesus, be the result.
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May I hear ever so clearly the promptings of the Spirit as I seek Him more than a formula or result. Jesus, be the result.
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[ I know cookies are not necessarily sustainable fruit , but if it's your first time to ever work with cookie dough and bake them yourself, you come pretty close to heaven on earth, especially if it's with good friends!! Meet my friends Stella and Claudia. They're the best. Also, having an oven after being without one for 3 1/2 months is awesome too. ]
