Given To Hospitality

Mother-Daughter Test

 This could be used as a handout for Mother-Daughter Banquet or put in your program.

As the mother, so is the daughter Ezekiel 16:44

1. Do I read my Bible daily?

2. Do I teach my children to read the Bible daily?

3. Do I want to obey God’s word?

4. Do I memorize God’s word?

5. Do I obey my husband?

6. Do I consider motherhood God’s career for me?

7. Am I consistent in training my children?

8. Do I talk over my children’s troubles and pray with them?

9. Do I know where my children stand spiritually?

10. Can I see myself in my children becoming more Christ like?

11. Am I happy where my daughter or son is spiritually right now?

12. Will I let God change the areas where I am wrong?

How did you do? In the Christian life you never arrive. You should always be growing as Christian wives and mothers.

Many times we do things because our mothers did them. One time there was a lady cooking a ham for Christmas dinner. Her husband asked her, “Why do you always slice off the end parts of the ham before you put it in the pan to bake?” She said, “I don’t know, my mother always did that.” She called her mom and asked her why she had always cut the ends off the ham before she baked it. Her mother told her, “Well, my mom always did that”. The daughter and mother went to the grandmother and asked the grandmother, “Why did you always cut the ends off the ham before you baked it?” The grandmother said, “Because I never had a pan big enough to put the ham in.” Many things we do, and we don’t know why we do them. Make sure as Mothers that you are doing Spiritual things that your daughter will remember and follow your example.

Continue On!

 A woman once fretted, over the usefulness of her life

She feared she was wasting her potential being

a devoted wife and mother.

She wondered if the time and energy she invested in her husband

 and children would make a difference.

At times she got discouraged because so much of what she did

seemed to go unnoticed and unappreciated.

“Is it worth It?” She often wondered.

“Is there something better that I could be doing with my time?”

It was during one of these moments of questioning that she heard

the still small voice of her Heavenly Father speak to her heart.

“You are a wife and a mother because

that is what I have called you to be.

Much of what you do is hidden from the public eye.

But I notice most of what you give is done without remuneration.

But I am your reward.

 Your husband cannot be the man I have called him to be

without your support.

Your influence upon him is greater than you think

and more powerful than you will ever know.

I bless him through your service and honor him through your love.

Your children are precious to me.

Even more precious than they are to you.

I have entrusted them to your care to raise for me.

You invest in them as an offering to me.

You may never be in the public spotlight.

But your obedience shines as a light before Me.

Continue on.

Remember you are My servant.

Do all to please Me.”

    copyright Roy Lessin, meetmeinthemeadow.com, used by permission.

God Is Still Using YOU!

As  pastors’ wives, we go through different seasons of our lives. I remember when I was raising my children, I was moving constantly. I was on a training mission with them. I made puppets; I went to training seminars for Sunday School teaching; I started a puppet ministry for our church; I had a children’s choir; I did Patch the Pirate; I taught in the Christian school; I directed school programs; I directed children’s discipleship lessons; I taught mothers how to be Godly mothers.  God’s purpose for my life at that time centered on training of children.

When my children married and moved away from home, I began a new season and became aware that God’s purpose for my life was changing. I completed my academic degree, which took me twenty years to complete.  I began to take counseling courses, and God began to use me to help women who had troubled marriages. I taught several series on How to Be the Wife of a Happy Husband. The Lord placed us in the Fairhaven, a twenty-eight room Victorian mansion that we ran like a Bed and Breakfast for pastors and missionaries. I loved entertaining and encouraging others through this ministry of hospitality. I began writing and speaking more. I completed my first book.

Today, I feel that God’s purpose for my life is beginning to change again. We moved to Texas. We left the big house and the pastorate. When this happened, I began to experience a feeling of uselessness. I was having a hard time understanding what God’s purpose was for me at this time in my life. The devil tricked me into reminiscing about my past service, and I began to feel restless.  Slowly and gently, the Lord began to make me more aware of His new purpose for my life. I began to focus on helping my husband and the new direction in which God was leading him.  I began traveling with my husband, and God started using me to encourage other Christian leaders and missionaries.

There are times in the ministry when a pastor must take his wife out of a familiar area and move her to a new area. This move sometimes causes a pastor’s wife to become bitter.  Her bitterness turns to rebellion, and she refuses to be spiritual and to adjust to the new area.

Pastor’s wife, God has a purpose for your life no matter where you live. When I was living in New England, I had a good friend who was a Pastor’s wife.  This friend loved music. In fact, it was she who took me to Boston one Christmas to hear Handel’s Messiah.  The Lord moved my friend and her husband to a small town in Kansas to minister. She no longer had the advantage of living near a large city where she could enjoy beautiful concerts. I know how difficult that move must have been for her, but she did not complain. She obeyed the Lord’s leading in her life.

It does not matter where you live or what season of life you find yourself, God has a purpose for your life.

Here is a great missionary story which illustrates that God has a purpose for your life, no matter where!

There was an old medical, preaching missionary ministering in India.  The old doctor’s mission board had sent a young medical, preaching doctor to aid this ailing doctor in his work. Accompanying this young doctor was his wife and their two-year-old son. Although the young man had been forced to take over before he was ready, he had done an excellent job.

At the end of a day’s activities, the young doctor came to report to the old doctor. When he had finished his report, the young doctor just sat there for some time. This was unusual for this energetic young doctor.

The old man noticed that something was bothering the young doctor. “What is it, son. What is on your mind?”

“Nothing, doctor,” replied the young man. “It’s just a personal matter.”

For some time, the young man just sat quietly in the chair.  Suddenly, he spoke up—slowly at first—then more quickly.

“Doctor, I have received two invitations from England today. One is from my home church—and the other is from our missionary secretary.  My church wants me to come home and be their pastor, and the mission’s secretary will retire soon and he wants me to take his position.  Doctor, what shall I do? You have been here for a long while.”

“Yes, son, forty-seven years.”

“And you haven’t got much to show for it.”

“No, not very much.”

“Your wife and five children are gone.”

“Yes, they all died of the fever. If they had not been in this country, they might still be alive.”

“You only have a small church with only a few members.”

“Yes, son, just a one-room stucco structure.”

“Well, doctor, tell me, what shall I do? What would you do in my place? Would you stay here burying yourself in this jungle, spending a lifetime to have little to show for it—perhaps see my wife and child die; or would you go back to England to what looks like a greater opportunity?”

The old man closed his eyes and tears began to trickle down his sunken cheeks. His lips began moving in silent prayer. After a while, the old doctor opened his eyes and turned to the young doctor, he began:

“Son, one of these days I am going to die. I will report to the Lord Jesus Christ. Before I have taken a few steps down that glorious golden street, there will coming out of the trees that line that street a brown-skinned starry-eyed formerly Hindu girl. She will grab both my hands in hers and, jumping up and down in excitement, cry out, ‘Doctor, I have been waiting for you for a long time! Doctor, you led me to Christ. You baptized me. Will you mind if I take you to Jesus?’

“Just before I have a chance to fall at his feet, the little girl, keeping my hand fast in hers, will take hold of the Lord’s hand and cry out, ‘Lord Jesus, this man left his country, his people. He watched his wife and babies die in suffering. He gave up all that he had and all that he was. He was the first one to tell me about You, and I want to be the first one to tell You about him.”

Although you might not see it at this moment in your life, your labor is has not been in vain. I look back to the first season when I was teaching children. I taught a small bus child whose name was Lana. She was a child who had a hunger and thirst for the Lord. She soaked up everything that I could teach her. After she graduated from high school, she attended Bible College. She met a wonderful young man there and they married. The Lord called them to the mission field, and they went to Romania as missionaries. A few years ago, we visited this couple in Romania. She and I went to visit a dying grandmother in downtown Constanta, Romania. Lana asked me witness to the old woman, while she translated. Oh the joy that I felt—not only leading the grandmother to the Lord, but having this previous bus kid, who is now a beautiful mature, Christian woman, sitting before me  translating  the Romania language in order that this grandmother could have a chance to understand the Gospel and  go to heaven.

Ask the Lord to show you His purpose for your life at this season of it.  Although seasons change, we must learn to follow the Lord’s leadership through each one of them.  Your circumstances may change many times over the years, but God always has a special purpose for you to discover in each season as you serve Him.  He is not finished with you! 

The Spirituality of a Pastor’s Secretary

The secretary to the man of God must personally know Jesus Christ as her Savior.  She must be surrendered to the Lord’s will for her life, and be an active member of the local church where she is hired.

For any Pastor or his secretary, Satan will always be looking for ways to defeat the work of the Lord.  Because the Pastor’s Secretary will face many challenges, she must strive to live a spirit-filled life.

Since Satan has launched an all out battle for the minds of all Christians, the Pastor’s Secretary must be aware of his tactics.  Satan will attack the minds of those working closest to the Pastor. Satan will whisper all sorts of things and the secretary will begin to question the Pastor’s motives and his agenda. The secretary must always ask herself the question, “Who is controlling my thoughts?” Are these thoughts that I am having from the Lord or from Satan?

If the pastor’s secretary knows that it is God’s will for her (or him) to execute a ministry of helping the work of God by helping her pastor, then we can must accept several conclusions.

1. The secretary must be spirit filled if she is going to work with spirit filled people.
2. The secretary must not allow church members or friends to abuse her time.
3. The secretary must be loyal to Christ and her pastor (boss) and do nothing to offend either of them.
4. The secretary must be able to accomplish the jobs which she is charged with.
5. The secretary must be an example in Godliness for she is working in a very special vocation.
6. The secretary must be able to make her pastor appear successful, never showing him in bad light or upstaging him.
7. The secretary must not give personal opinions about her pastor’s judgment unless he asks her for it.
8. The secretary must take the opportunity to be one of the best friends a pastor’s family can have.

Do You Believe in Guardian Angels?

In 1990, while my husband and I were ministering in Rhode Island, we came to a point of our Christian lives that we wanted to be more fruitful for the Lord. Little did we realize when we were praying those prayers the means that God would need to use to help us  become more fruitful.

On Friday, July 23, 1991, my husband and I left Rhode Island around noon to preach a Mission’s Conference in St. Hubert, Quebec. Before we left the driveway, we bowed our heads and asked the Lord to give us a safe trip.

About 3:00 in the afternoon, we reached New Hampshire. The sky turned black as night, and we drove into an area of torrential rain. We tried to use our windshield wipers, but they failed. Since we could not see anything in front of us, we left the interstate to look for a service area.

My husband pulled off the side of Route 4 near Hanover, New Hampshire. He turned on the car’s flashing lights and tried to contact someone on the CB radio, but the static was so strong that he had no success.

He got out of the car and retrieved some tools from the trunk. When he got back into the car, he sat down and said ” One of us is going to get wet before this is all over”. He then pulled the hood release and got out of the car. He bent over the left fender and began working on the wind­shield wiper motor. He discovered that the switch was bad and that he needed to by-pass the switch to get the wipers to function. As he was under the hood of the car, a vehicle struck him and knocked him 49 feet. When I saw him fly past me through my side window, I jumped out of the car to see where he had landed. I could see him lying far away in a deep embankment.  I really thought he was dead, but suddenly I heard a moan. I then went to the side of the road and began waving my hands for help. My body was shaking uncontrollably. All of a sudden, a man wearing a black trench coat was holding me.  This man spoke to me gently but firmly, “Honey, your husband will be alright. There is a doctor with him right now.” I thought, “How could this be? There is no ambulance–no rescue workers–no police”. There had been a doctor traveling behind us, and he stopped to see why I was standing outside the car in the heavy rain.

Soon the rescue workers came and loaded my husband into the ambulance. The man in the black trench coat gave me explicit instructions of what I should do next. (The Lord soon revealed to me that He had sent me a ministering spirit.) This man instructed me to get something to write down his instructions. Since I didn’t have any paper, I took out my small pink Bible and wrote on the front fly leaf his directions. This man took possession of my car and instructed me to go with my husband in the ambulance.

As I sat down in the front seat of the ambulance, I was still shaking uncontrollably. I opened my purse and reached for the Bible that I had just written down the man’s instructions. It was as if my Bible opened automatically to Psalm 120 In my distress I cried unto the Lord, and He heard me. I then glanced down to Psalm 121 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hill, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. Suddenly I stopped shaking and something happened to me that I had never experienced before or after. As I was reading those verses, a warmth began moving slowly through my whole body. The warmth began at the top of my head and moved slowly until it reached the bottom of my feet. I experienced a peace which I can’t explain, but I knew at that moment God was in control and everything would be alright.

When I arrived at the hospital, the hospital officials escorted me to a private room with a telephone and told me to start calling the family. My children arrived a few hours later, and we waited in that room all night to hear some word of my husband’s condition. At 5:30 in the morning, a doctor came out of surgery and shared his prognosis. He said, “Mrs. Lewis, I would like to give you more hope, but I have lost patients with less injuries than your husband received. We will just have to wait and see.”

Later the next day, I went to the cafeteria to get something to eat. A doctor approached me and said, “Do you remember me?” I told him, “Your face is one that I do remember from yesterday”. He introduced himself and said, “I am Dr. Silvestre. I am a pulmonary specialist. I was with your husband at the accident. When I got to your husband, he was lying face down in running water. I knew that if I didn’t turn him over, he would drown.

Although I was not aware of it, the next morning at 10:00 one of our missionaries had  organized a prayer meeting at our church in Rhode Island to pray for my husband. At 11:00, (During the Rhode Island prayer meeting), a nurse came to me and said, “We are going to try to take your husband off the ventilator; if he can breathe alone, there is a good chance he might make it.”  At 11:20, she came to me and said, “Well, he’s breathing by himself.”

Fifteen days later my husband left the hospital. As my husband was being wheeled to the car, his attending physician walked beside him and said, “I really thought we would be taking you out the back door (morgue).” It took my husband several months get back on his feet. Although we didn’t understand it at the time, God was showing us that He was answering our prayer. This incident (not accident) happened for our good and for His glory. He was answering our prayer, “Lord, make us fruitful.”

 The Unanswered Prayer

I asked to be made like my Savior

He took me right at my word,

And sent a heart crushing burden

Till the depths of my soul were stirred.

I wanted a meek, lowly, spirit—

The work He answered my cry

Till some who had once been companions

With a pitying smile passed my by.

I asked to lean hard on my Savior.

He took the human props quite away.

Till no earthly friend could give comfort,

And I could do nothing but pray.

I had prayed to be made like the Savior,

And the burden He gave me to bear

Had been but the great Sculpter’s teaching

To help answer my earnest prayer.

Basic Guidelines for Counseling at the Altar

1. Prepare your Bible: Highlight key verses for salvation, baptism, and other special problems you might encounter when dealing with people at the altar.

2. Prepare your heart: Pray before the invitation.

3. Privacy: Choose a place with the least amount of distractions. Some churches take those who come forward to side counseling rooms.

4. Ask this question: “Why did you come forward today?”

5. Always use the Scriptures: Let those who come forward read from your Bible when possible. Try to always give a solution to their problems from an open Bible. Give Biblical answers and solutions– not your personal opinions.

6. Take them to the next step: If a person has recently been saved, take him to the next step of baptism. If he is a mature Christian and wants to get victory in a certain area, use the Three Steps of Change found in Ephesians 4:22-24. Explain that change can’t take place unless he follows all three steps.

A. Put off-He must put off the bad habit. This whole chapter deals with almost every sin that a person might experience. Eph. 4:22

B. Renew his mind-He must renew his mind day by day. How does he do this? By getting into God’s Word daily, by listening to sound preaching and music, by reading Godly books and testimonies of Godly men and women. (Explain Garbage in-garbage out theory) Eph. 4:23

C. Put on-He must replace the bad habit with a good one. Ask the question, “When does a man stop being a thief?” Most people say, “When he stops stealing”.  Answer him by saying, “No, look at verse 28. “When that person begins working and stops stealing, he is putting off stealing, and he is putting on working to get his money.”

7. Deal one on one if possible: One altar worker for each person coming forward.

8. Introduce yourself and fill out an altar card.  Have someone hand the card to the pastor. (If the person has come forward to be saved, to be baptized, or to join the church, the pastor will want to review the cards and announce certain decisions before the church.)

9. Give the person appropriate literature: After you have dealt with the person, give him some literature that he might take home to review. By doing this, you are helping him as he begins his new walk with the Lord and his next step of Spiritual growth.

Mission Booster Ideas

1. Have a weekly reminder for the goal that the church made at its last mission’s conference.

2. Have missionary speakers come in periodically throughout the year.

3. Read missionary letters midweek. Have Sunday school teachers read letters in their classes. The teachers could choose a certain field for their classes and have the class pray for that missionary for one month.

4. Have a short conference mid-year to challenge people about their commitments and promises.

5. Display missionary maps, pictures, and posters.

6. Publish prayer requests for missionaries in Sunday bulletins.

7. Form a missionary prayer team within your church that meets once a week.

8. If you use an overhead screen on Sunday mornings, add a beautiful display of your missionaries and the countries they represent to your announcements. If you have too many missionaries to do this, use only the missionaries that your church is sending out. Please pray for (Example: Leaf family in Brazil)

Mission Revival Helps

Disclosure: My husband and I have worked together on numerous mission conferences, and we have attended many others in various churches. Here are a few of the ideas that I have taken from hand-out papers which I have gathered from those churches.

1. All Year: Talk about the Mission’s Revival (Conference) all year. It is the biggest event of the year.

2. Two months ahead: All classes pick a theme or country for Mission’s Displays. (Classes can take special offerings or get donations from businesses to help defray the expenses with elaborate missions’ displays)

Note About Mission’s Displays: You can establish your own criteria for building class displays.  Encourage classes to use theme or ethnic music and costumes with their displays.  Before each night of the services, people can view the class displays. Classes will be judged by the missionaries. Adult classes could build their displays in the Fellowship Hall. Awards could be presented at the Mission’s Banquet on Saturday evening. Examples of  awards could be “Most Creative Award” or “Most Original Award” or “Best Decorated Class”.

3. One month ahead: First, sanctuary is decorated with large theme banner. Display small flags on pews and large flags on walls or use flag stands distributed evenly on both sides of auditorium. (If you are a small church with limited resources, display only the flags of the missionaries that you support.  After a few years, you will collect many flags) Second, print flyers about the mission’s conference and give out.

4. Three weeks ahead: First, send each family a challenging letter to encourage them to minister to the missionaries while they are with them in the conference. Second, give Faith Promise Sunday School lesson to the teachers to teach for next three weeks. (Children’s church can hear faith promise lessons and raise special missionary offerings for various projects or missionaries also)

5. One week ahead:  Classes meet in their rooms to work on decorating.  Junior Church or Teens practice for Parade of Flags or practice for skits about missions. Ladies meet to discuss details for a missionary tea or brunch. Have mission choruses and songs printed and placed in pews.  Assign someone to prepare candles for candlelight service Sunday evening service. Assign a man to be in charge of Men’s Breakfast on Saturday morning.

Don’t get overwhelmed with too many activities. Decide on the activities that would be best for your people.

Notes About Candlelight Service: Plain candles will be given to everyone 8 years and above. Candles with missionary labels will be given to heads of households.

Note About Teas or Brunches:  Assign one lady to be in charge of missionary brunch or missionary tea. This lady can enlist others to help her set up and decorate.  Assign another lady to coordinate all items to be brought in for the gifts baskets for each guest missionary wife. (Remember since most missionaries are traveling in cars and can’t carry too much with them, gifts should be small. Gift cards to Walmart make wonderful gifts)

Note About Men’s Breakfast: This could take place on Saturday morning.  Have a few men give testimonies on what Faith Promise has done for them and hear a testimony from a missionary.

Note About Parade of Flags:  This begins every evening  service of the Mission’s Conference. Students march into auditorium carrying flags of various countries as energetic mission music plays. Each student places his flag in his individual flag stand. The student stands at attention at his flag until music stops playing.

6. Two days before: Every member of your church is called to promote the revival.

7. Sunday AM Service: First, have the missionary wives give three minute testimonies. One church takes up a surprise offering just for the missionary wives right after their testimonies. Second, have the missionaries and their wives pass out Faith Promise Cards. (Not ushers for this service) Third, the missionaries are to pick up the cards also. Fourth, someone is prepared on platform to do calculations on overhead screen for congregation to see. Have each missionary read off the amounts on the cards. (This will excite the people to see how the other members are walking by Faith too!)

8. Closing Sunday night service: Have missionary bring a short message, and then go into candlelight service. To close the service, a pastor could bring each missionary family forward and hand them their love offering check reading the amount. Allow missionary to give closing remarks to show his thankfulness.

Closing Candlelight Service

Pastor: We believe in prayer. Our church needs to know how important prayer is to the missionary. Money may supply his needs, but it will never supply the spiritual strength needed to minister in the regions beyond.

Narrator: We place a large candle in front of the Church to represent the Light of the Truth of God that goes forth from the pulpit of this local church. This LIGHT is to go into all the world. Someone must take it. Our missionaries are willing to do just that. From this light, we will send more light.

(Turn out all lights. Pastor lights large candle)

Narrator: As we call the name of each missionary family that we support, the head of the family representing that particular missionary will come forward with his family to light his candle. By coming forward with your family, you and your family are promising to pray for this missionary family.  Who will pray for____? (Give Name and Country: Example: Santino Family to Romania)

All those remaining, please come forward and light your candle.

Song: Have someone sing Thank You for Giving to the Lord

Narrator: At this time–every other person, please blow out your candle! Wait a few minutes. See what happens when we become disobedient and apathetic. When we stop praying and giving to our commitments to get the Gospel out…We somehow believe that our light will not make any difference.

Narrator: Now, blow out all remaining candles…This represents what will happen when there is light here at home but nowhere else. Unless we go, give and pray, there will be no hope to a world left in total darkness.

Let’s all begin this new Missionary Year by each family kneeling in prayer and praying for their missionary family.

Lights go on low. After prayer everyone stands and joins hands singing “Thank You Lord for Saving My Soul”.

Special Notes:
1. Ushers hand each head of the family a candle with a labeled ring of a particular missionary on it and hands other family members (8 years and older) a plain candle. Families should sit together for the candlelight service.
2. The head of the family will be the only one getting  fire from the pastor’s candle. After he lights his candle, he and his family walk left or right to form a circle around the auditorium.  After everyone is in place, the heads of the families may light each of their family members’ candles. This saves too many walking around carrying melted wax.
3. Instruct 1st and 2nd families to keep moving as the globe is formed.

A Million Homes
Tune: Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus

A million homes a crying
For Christ the Living Bread,
But no one seems to hear them
And yet they must be fed;
The Printed Word will reach them
If we but give and pray
Then led us take it to them,
Before they pass away.

The night is fast approaching
And soon ‘Twill be too late,
O Church of God awaken
And save them from their fate;
God’s Word says, “Every Creature”
Then go from door to door,
As we take the message
Our Lord will go before.

We may not go in person
But we will give and pray,
Our Lord said, “Whosoever,”
Then let us speed away;
The Printed Word can reach them
And win them to the fold
Then let us take the Message
The story must be told

How Can They Know?
Tune: How Great Thou Art

Oh, when I think of all the heathen millions,
Who’ve never heard the sound of Thy sweet same
Who’ve never known the miracle of Calvary
Who never can Thy great salvation claim
Unless we give until the victory’s won
How can they know? How can they know?

But when they hear that Jesus died to save them
And when they know the Grace He doth impart
When Jesus shines His love divine within them.
He will transform their sinful heathen heart.
Then they shall sing, “My Savior God to Thee
How great Thou Art, How Great Thou Art.”

Hark, The Master Calleth
Tune: Onward Christian Soldiers

Hark, the Master calleth: Who for me will go?
Some from ev’ry nation must the Savior know;
Other sheep are waiting for the Gospel call,
Ev’ry tongue must praise Him
Jesus died for all

Chorus
Hasten, then, oh, hasten, to the lands of night;
Farther and still farther, with the Gospel Light.

Harvest fields are bending soon ‘twill be too late
Reapers now are needed, lo, ‘tis death to wait;
Who will take the Gospel, over land and sea
Who will answer gladly, “Here am I send me?”

Chorus
Hasten, then, oh, hasten, to the lands of night;
Farther and still farther, with the Gospel Light.

All may share the glory; some can give and pray
Others at His bidding quickly speed away;
Life must be invested none for self may live;
Who will heed the challenge, all to Jesus give?

Chorus
Hasten, then, oh, hasten, to the lands of night;
Farther and still farther, with the Gospel Light.

Do You Serve by Sacrifice or by Love?

 Matthew 22:37…Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all  thy mind.

When you truly love a person, you will want to serve that person with joy and energy because of  your love for him.  You will want to do things for that person that will make that person feel loved.

Luke 10:38-42 …Martha received Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard His word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to Him, and said, Lord, dost Thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered her and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

God’s word tells us  in Romans 12:7 that if  a person has the gift of ministry, let him wait on his ministering.  Many times a person who has a servant’s heart is often in a hurry to serve, but he must learn to wait for the promptings of the Lord  to lead him serve.

Here is an example of two women who used their ministries of serving. Mary and Martha both loved to serve. Mary knew when she should stop serving and sit and the feet of Jesus. Martha was cumbered about with serving. She was overwhelmed and overloaded with her work. She was stressed out because she was serving without the Spirit’s leading. Martha wanted to do the right thing and serve the Lord by preparing a meal, but she was more focused on her sacrificial service than loving the Lord with all her heart, soul, and mind. There are many Christians today who are more focused on the activity of serving than they are on loving the Lord.

The older I get the more I realize that I must serve others out of a deep love for the Lord instead of obligation or sacrifice.

As I serve others, I should not serve them because of my selfish ambition or vain conceit, but I must serve them with humility and with a Christ-like attitude that considers another person’s welfare more important than my own.

Philippians 2:3-5 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

When we serve others, we must serve them with a sincere love. This is a love that is without hypocrisy or deception. I should hate those things that are evil and cling to those things that are good. I must be devoted to serving others by honoring them above myself.

Romans 12:9-10 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love, in honour preferring one another.

God’s word tells me that when I attend to the needs of another,  I am doing this as a service for Christ.

Matthew 25:35-40 For I was hungered, and ye gave me meat. I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink. I was a stranger and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick and ye visited me, I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then the righteous answer Him saying, Lord, when saw we an hungered, and fed Thee? or thirty, and gave Thee drink? When saw we Thee a stranger, and took Thee in? or naked, and clothed Thee? Or when saw we Thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily, I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

My desire to please others through my service must not be self-centered.  As I see others who are discouraged, I should do all I can to build them up and encourage them.

Romans 15:1-2 We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification.

I shouldn’t complain when I use whatever gift God has given me to serve others. I should use my gift God with His grace. If I use my gift to speak, I should speak the very words of God. If I use my gift to serve others, I should serve  them with all the strength that the Lord gives me.  As I begin to use my gifts with the Spirit’s leading,  I bring glory, power, and praise to God through Jesus Christ.

I Peter 4: 9-11 Use hospitality one to another without grudging. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God, if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

In Mark chapter 14, Mary of Bethany served the Lord not only with sacrifice, but also with all of her heart, soul, and mind. When she broke the alabaster box and poured the ointment on His head, she was condemned by all those around her. Jesus told the others, “Let her alone; why trouble her? she hath wrought a good work on me.” In verse 9, Jesus says, “Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.”

Lord, let me do the little things

Which may fall to my lot:

Those little inconspicuous ones

By others oft forgot

If, like the Master, I can give

Myself for those I love,

Rich joy and peace shall come to me,

Sweet rest in heaven above.

I know not when the day shall close;

But when life’s curfew rings.

I want my Lord to find me then

Still doing little things.—Unknown.