Encouragement

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Regarding the Ministry…

I have no doubt that some of you are tired. Some are overwhelmed, some feel unappreciated, unrewarded and futile. Some of you want to push hard for results and see none. Some of you carry so much and wish others will carry the weight with you. Some are silently in pain, others are vocally frustrated. Some feel stretched beyond your capacity. Good! For any noble endeavor is not without its share of oppositions. It is not without a measure of pain and struggle and challenges. I am not trivializing your sorrows, since they are all personally real- I have them too. But our focus must not be our struggles from within, but our aim from without. Our hopes cannot die while in the fight, it must see another day – it must see a few more days. In fact our hope to see our end products must be met by a portion of sober reality. That there will times where we won’t see the product that we work for. That we don’t always see the end state of our hard work. That our efforts will at times appear useless. But we must be confident that they are not, since we serve a God who sees all of it. And those who honor HIM, they too shall He honor. We must continue to push without having a timeline of results. We must understand that people change, not by our words or efforts or pleading or demonstration or urging or convincing or coercing. God uses those faithful deeds, but He is the one who changes the hearts of people. He is the author and finisher of our faith. The benefits are not ours. The credit, the glory, the product, the success, the harvest is not ours- it is the Lord’s. We have to separate ourselves from that. And though there is something awesome to be said about seeing the fruits of our labor and it is truly encouraging to know that our efforts were effective- we must never attach ourselves to such things too closely. Doing so causes our focus to be altered. We begin to do things only for goals and milestones. We get disheartened when things don’t happen or when people get in the way of our personal progress. We compare our work with that of others and we become frustrated. We identify the task too much with our personal vision and not enough with God’s glory. In the end we become discouraged and disillusioned because the objective that we see in our mind is not happening. We, in turn, rob God of His glory. That is the wrong perspective. We must emulate God’s charge to Ezekiel where He said to him, “say to them, ‘this is what the Sovereign Lord says’ and whether they listen or refuse to listen -for they are a rebellious house- they will know that a prophet as been among them”. We must understand that our duty must always and only be to do that which God has called us to do. We must do it faithfully, we must do it lovingly, and we must do it fully. But we do it unto God and no one else, including ourselves. It is not for results or thanks or praise or reward. We do it because God gave us the opportunity to do it and that it gives glory to HIM – nothing more! That is our reward- to serve and give Glory to our God. I encourage you to persevere and to continue to do what God has set before you without knowing what will happen next. Without expecting compensation or recognition, but rather to allow God to move within his own timeline, with his own intensity, with his own purpose, through his own means. That is when we will see our prize – it is the Joy of simply serving our great and awesome God. When we understand that it is our faithful efforts that pleases God, not the results, we become free and truly rewarded. Thank you for what you do- God sees and honors it.

March M Villareal
[email protected]
www.freewebs.com/manswicked

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