Work for God

So, I want to continue a mini break from my series to continue just talking about what life has been like recently in a hectic and changing season, but a blessed season full of opportunities to serve God. I realise I have so much to be thankful to the Lord for, and I can’t wait to reveal some of the amazing testimonies He’s given me these past few months. The biggest way I can say thank you to God is through serving Him. That is why I am happy to give up my free time, money, efforts and resources to work for Him. God has set me free from addictions, has healed me from traumatic events, has removed sin and shame from my life and I am forever grateful for His unfailing grace to save someone as awful as me. The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service” (NKJV). I don’t think that it’s unreasonable at all for God to ask us to give up everything to serve and follow Him. If anything, it’s an incredibly small price to pay for the love He has given to us. Another version ends the verse with “this is your true and proper worship” (NIV). Many times I have felt convicted as I have sung with my hands lifted up in church because as beautiful as singing unto God is, I feel as if the lead up of the week to that Sunday service has been filled with my own plans, adventures, desires, and enjoyment rather than sacrificing my time and pleasures to care for other people and lead them with me to Christ and His body. The word of God commands us to “worship in spirit and in truth” in John 4:24 (NKJV). This means that is I want to worship God truthfully; I need to give my life up for His sake. Recently I have questioned what the purpose of life is. Yes of course, I believe in something greater than life on this earth as I am a Christian, but I question if I am living in the fullness of His purpose for my life. One of my goals for this year was to read at least one book cover to cover by my spiritual father Bishop Dag Heward-Mills every month. Last month my book to read was ‘Others.’ I’ve always loved reading and something I have learnt from the knowledge I have acquired reading is that the more you know the more you realise you don’t know! Anyway, moving on from my side-tracking thoughts. In the book ‘Others’ one of the major points I learnt is that the purpose of my life is to be a blessing to other people. Queen Esther was relevant to Biblical history because of what she did for others. She became famous and important because she risked her life to save others. Something I have realised from being in a new church branch is that unfortunately many people only want to be a part of something that is already established. One of the biggest tests of my faith has been moving from a large branch to a small branch of my church. Beforehand if the devil came to attack me in attempt to keep me away from the house of God the hype of being in a church full of happy people and energetic ministries keeps you coming, or the fact that you know you’ll see your best friends, shepherds and Pastors so you’ve got to show up and be there because others are holding you accountable soon shakes away the negative thoughts. But now when you’re so far away from the excitement and the friendships the only thing to hold me accountable is scripture and has tested my personal relationship with God on a new level and the reasonings of why I get out of bed to do this week in and week out. Many people have come to join us but shortly leave without making a single bit of effort to contribute to the work here. But when you see them in larger branches they are fully involved. But I don’t condemn or judge anyone because it can easily become myself. It has taught me to continue to pray to have a desire, and to have a heart directed into the love of God (2 Thessalonians 3:5) so that I will continue steadfastly to serve God no matter the circumstances. Honestly if it wasn’t for marrying my husband, I would have probably stayed a lot longer in a larger branch. It has only been since I have moved into a newer branch that I have really seen the need for people to expand out to help and be labourers at places where the church is needing to be established. It has been hard when you have to try and push people into caring about serving the Lord, and have to encourage people to start ministries, and to teach the church culture when you are the only example, they have around them. I know it will all be worth it and I am excited and feel so honoured that I can be part of something new that will become something so great for Gods Kingdom.