FINDING YOUR MINISTRY PATH

Paul said that He was made a minister by the effectual working of grace in him.

Ephesians 3:7 KJVS

Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.

You will be made the same way. It will be the outpouring of grace that will bring forth the gift that is within. It is your submission to the work of grace in your life that allows the Lord to shape and mold you into the instrument of His will.

During the making process, you must comprehend the principles you are exposed to in every trial. If not, you will have nothing to minister to others. Your ministry is only as effective as your comprehension of the work that God did in your life. It is that knowledge which becomes the living word in you that is the meat of your ministry.

You are going to encounter opposition as you move towards ministry. The devil is the enemy of God and man. He is not going to simply roll-over and play dead while you become equipped and trained to destroy the works he has wrought in the lives of those who are lost and out of the way. He is going to oppose you every step of the way.

He, too, has a plan for your life and he is going to attempt to work it to the max. However, the ball is in your court. You can choose to submit to the workings of the Holy Spirit in your life or continue to struggle with Satan and his devices. The choice is yours.

SATAN’S OPPOSITION

There are some constants (things that never change) regarding Satan.

1. Purpose: Satan never loses sight of his purpose for your life. He is the great slanderer. His never-dying purpose is to slander God. He lives to discredit the power of God in the lives of the Sons of God.

2. Personal Objective: Satan’s objective in your life is to neutralize you in ministry. He wants to make sure you are unable to dispense the power of God in the lives of those He holds captive. Satan considers you to be his personal enemy. In order to achieve his objective he must get you to disagree with God. He has used the same tactics to accomplish this for nearly 6000 years.

TEMPTATION: A reminder of past pleasures or an introduction to new ones.

Yes, Satan will talk to your mind. But he will also speak to you through people, trials and other devices such as the television. I dare say that the television is his number one weapon against the church. He uses it very effectively to remind the saints of the pleasures that were in the sin God delivered them from.

He also uses it to introduce the Body of Christ to new pleasures. He has convinced the church that as long as they are not engaged in the sin they watch on TV, their soul is undefiled. But that is simply not true!

Romans 1:32 KJVS

Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, BUT HAVE PLEASURE IN THEM THAT DO THEM.

OFFENSES: A stumbling block; an occasion to stumble or fall; to stop the flow of love.

Oftentimes the devil tempts the saints with trials that are severe and traumatizing to the soul and body. The Lord, however, allows this because trials also work to bring about His purpose in your life. At some point in your spiritual development you must come to terms with the fact that the Father will allow the enemy to bring strong trials that are designed to test the fiber of your relationship with Him.

He is not going to protect your feelings. No, quite the contrary, He is going to be faithful to allow adversity. When these trials come you have the option to agree with God and enter into the peace of God or contend with the mental anguish intended by the enemy. If you chose the latter, you will surely end up in sin and powerless against the onslaught of Satan.

Consider the following:

Psalm 119:65-67

65 Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O LORD, according unto thy word.

66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments. 67 Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.

Psalm 119:71

It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.

Psalm 119:75

I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.

Psalm 119:165

Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.

For the benefit of those who are skeptics and insist that these are all relative only to the Old Covenant, I will list their New Covenant counterparts.

2 Corinthians 8:1-2

1 Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia;

2 How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.

Hebrews 12:3-6

3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Paul is simply stating the facts. He reminds the Hebrews that they have not resisted sin and temptation to the shedding of their blood. But on the other hand, Jesus did. He goes on to say that the Father chastens every son that He receives.

This chastening is a scourging of the flesh. It is the submitting of the sons to the contradictions of sinners. Our Lord suffered these contradictions to the death of the cross, and we should be willing to suffer to the subduing of our will. This chastening is son-training. It is the Father’s method of stripping away the influence of the flesh so that we will be able to maintain a walk in the Spirit.

Hebrews 12:7-13

7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;

13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. The straight path to ministry is by way of chastening the flesh. Without it, you will be lame and crippled in your walk and your ministry.

Hebrews 12:14-15

14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

Note here that this chastening is a part of the grace of God. It is not just punishment for our crimes against Him, but it is a vital part of our spiritual development.

1 Peter 4:1-2

1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;

2 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

Beloved, receive the chastening of the Lord with humility. It is a demonstration of His love. If you endure the chastening you will learn to walk in the Spirit overcoming all sin and oppositions to glorifying the Father.

God bless you, Dr. Banks