Wednesday, July 20, 2011

July 20 Out of your life

John 15: 5-11 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing...9 Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love...11 These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

I know that I have heard it before, and probably have said it, but when I read this in One Conversation at a Time (55) I wanted to pass it on: "ministry is not something you go into, it's something that comes out of you. It's the overflow of your walk with God."

When I read these words in "Conversation" the passage in John came to mind as did Psalms 1: 3," And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither, and in whatever he does he prospers." The point is the only thing that will emerge from our being, our lives is what we have put in there. I often tell students that the Holy Spirit can only work with what we have taken in and made a part of us - what we have heard, read, learned or memorized. That's why it is so important to read with comprehension, to think through what we have read to make sure we "got" it.

As a grad student, I had to read hundreds of pages a week, and I confess, my eyes went over all the words, and maybe even registered them, for a short time. But I could not give you even a list of those books today, much less tell you what they were all about. Once in a while, I would come across a book or writer that I loved, and I read and reread those works, underlining and storing up the sense of them. And today I can still tell you about them.

So God wants us to see the value of His Word, His presence, knowing Him as a person, so that His mark is upon us. And, the more time we spend time with Him, the more we will be like Him. When we soak ourselves in God, root ourselves in His Person, we will begin to look and act like Him...and He was all about ministry - about serving because He loved first. And we will likewise find our pleasure in serving, in ministering - it won't be an effort, or something we have to think about. It will be what we call second nature...or maybe first nature.

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