Personal Ministry: Experience God’s Power in Our Weaknesses
At some point in your life, you’ve probably been faced with an opportunity to serve and to give your time and money to something bigger— something greater. Most likely, it was an opportunity to be involved in some area of ministry or service that was new to you, and you couldn’t get it off your mind. You felt this inner voice saying, “Go for it,” even though you felt unprepared and inadequate.
With fear and trembling, you stepped out and got involved. And you began to see your gifts and passion in service for a greater good. Even now, you may be in a tug-of-war with God over something like that. He’s inviting you outside what’s comfortable, outside your skill set, outside your experience, in order to serve others. Yet the real issue is not about whether others need your service. The tension you feel is a faith tension. It’s a trust issue. This opportunity for service is something God wants to use to stretch your faith muscles—to build up your trust in him.
Can you think of a situation when you were given a responsibility for which you felt inadequate and unprepared? How did it turn out? What did you learn about yourself?
One of the Bible’s most familiar stories is a strong example of how God builds our faith through personal ministry opportunities—those times when we’re aware of a certain need others have, and we can’t escape the sense that God’s telling us, “I want you involved in meeting that need.” Think about a time when you said yes to something God was urging you to do, although you felt unprepared for it. What was the impact of that experience on your faith?
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. 15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” 16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” 17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.
Beginning in Matthew 14:13, we read of a time when Jesus asked his disciples to feed a vast crowd he’d been ministering to. They pointed out their lack of resources—“only five loaves of bread and two fish”— but Jesus responded, “Bring them here to me” (14:17–18). The disciples used their lack of resources as an excuse to question what Jesus asked them to do. What excuses have you used? As you consider the disciples’ initial response, what were they forgetting to factor into the equation?
He says the same to us: “Just bring me what you have.” We’re discouraged about our inadequate education or experience or training or resources—but whatever we have, however small it seems, Jesus wants us simply to bring it to him, and he’ll use it to meet the need.
18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.
After Jesus thanked his Father for those five loaves and two fish, he gave them to his disciples, who then distributed them to the people. His disciples simply did what they knew how to do, trusting Jesus to do something unusual—something only he could do. We see Jesus taking what little the disciples had available and going on to use it in a miraculous way. What talent, skill, experience, expertise, or ability do you have that, like the loaves and fish, don’t appear to be things God could use in a significant way?
When God brings these surprising ministry opportunities to us, our responsibility is simple: we’re to do what we know how to do, then trust our heavenly Father to do what only he can do—believing that he can and will. The tension we feel in those situations is simply our faith muscles being stretched. God is preparing us on the inside. He’s working on our faith, because he cares so much about that. He knows that what’s at stake is the size and strength of our faith.
This is the story behind every major move of God in human history. It’s how he works. Afterward, we can only say, “Look what God did!” We give him credit for doing what only he could do.
Later in Matthew 14, we see this faith lesson deepened for the disciples when Jesus walks on the sea to meet them in their wind-tossed boat. Peter asked Jesus to invite him to walk out onto the water (14:28). That’s the kind of prayer we can pray: “Lord, invite me out of my comfort zone.” If we take him up on his invitation, we’ll experience God in a new way; if not, we’ll never know what he might have done through us.
God builds our faith through challenging opportunities for personal ministry—allowing us to serve others even though we may feel unprepared and inadequate.
The key in personal ministry is simply to do what we know how to do, and trust God to do what only he can do.
Personal ministry enables us to experience God’s power in our weaknesses. We may feel unprepared, but these opportunities are incredibly rich experiences through which God grows our faith. At first, you may perform an act of personal ministry or service in order to benefit others. But if you’re like most people, you’ll soon come to feel that you’re the one who benefits most.
God builds our faith when we minister to others even though we feel inadequate and unprepared. We are challenged to simply do what we know how to do, and trust God to do what only he can do.
What opportunities do you sense God opening for you to become actively involved in personal ministry?
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Adapted from the series “Five Things God Uses to Grow our Faith” by Andy Stanley at North Point Community Church
from Personal Ministry: Experience God’s Power in Our Weaknesses
