I was looking for a photo for this post about one of the things suggesting to me that my ministry could be spread the word of the Lord, the gospel. In short that anyone who believes that Christ died for their sins, rose from the grave, and that he’s the only way to the Father (God) will be saved … although scripture adds more and is written a little differently. But the point is my ministry, my calling, what does God want me to do? So for years I’ve sort of run away from the thought that although I felt disqualified from pastoring. Years. So recently my wife and I had a very bad season in our life, and I started reading a lot of scripture, praying a lot and asked him to break me so I could be used. During this, I was listening to some old Christian music I collected a while back, and the Kutless song Shut Me Out almost froze me in place. I start singing this song and the very first stanza has these lyrics:
But how can I contain the truth I hold inside
With all the hurting people that I see
And I’m touched, I’m thinking I need to learn to talk to people about Jesus – how to approach a conversation, what to say, because these two lines in that first stanza really struck me. But before those 2 lines were these 2 lines that scared me, even though I know the Lord will equip me to do whatever he calls me to:
I know that you can’t stand these things
I’m preaching in the streets
The second and third times I listened to and sung this song it hung on me, I’m getting worried now, “Lord do you want me to be a street preacher?” but I stared thinking, maybe the song talks about street preaching, but since I’m not qualified to preach (qualifications of a preacher, 1 Tim 1:1-7) maybe its spreading the gospel somehow else.
This blog precedes that idea, and would be in addition to whatever the Lord wants me to do with spreading the gospel, because really that’s what the Lord wants all of us to be doing (1 Pet 3:15) and I’m trying to put it all together. My wife and my daughter greatly outshine me in this area! I figure people just know I’m a Christian and say God Bless you, and I know that’s not enough. I’ve brought Jesus up talking to strangers, but can’t shake the feeling that He’s asking something more from me. Jesus has a bigger idea that’s more impactful than just asking someone if they attend church or believe in Jesus every now and again.
Well, anyway, if you pray and read this, please pray for me to hear what God’s plan for me is, because I am and could use prayer. And if you read this after I’ve already found my calling and started a personal ministry, then your prayer will be heard by Him still, and will probably server to encourage me, or help me out at a low time, or redirect me if I’ve gone in the wrong direction. Our prayers can be off-time, but the Lord always knows how to fix that.
Thank you for reading this rather lengthy post, and my God bless you richly and cause His face to shine upon you.