Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint.
I have found that one of the most challenging problems of ministry is understanding the balance between what I am doing and what God is doing. So many times in ministry we want to be industrious. We are passionate about the ministry challenges before us. But we seem (I seem) to forget that its not me that brings about spiritual change in the lives of others it is God. Oswald Chambers speaks to that in My Utmost for His Highest (May 9th) He writes:
If we are eating what we have out of our own hand, doing things on our own initiative without expecting God to come in, we are on the downward path, we have lost the vision. Is our attitude today an attitude that springs from our vision of God? Are we expecting God to do greater things than He has ever done? Is there a freshness and vigour in our spiritual outlook?
How convicting this thought was to me today. There are many things in ministry that I shy away from because I am not sure how that will work. I can't see how I can ever accomplish that. But that is Chambers point isn't it. If it is our hand then perhaps we have missed God's vision.
What big things does God want to do with us that we are missing because we have lost the vision of Him?
Proverbs 29.18 (RV)
I have found that one of the most challenging problems of ministry is understanding the balance between what I am doing and what God is doing. So many times in ministry we want to be industrious. We are passionate about the ministry challenges before us. But we seem (I seem) to forget that its not me that brings about spiritual change in the lives of others it is God. Oswald Chambers speaks to that in My Utmost for His Highest (May 9th) He writes:
If we are eating what we have out of our own hand, doing things on our own initiative without expecting God to come in, we are on the downward path, we have lost the vision. Is our attitude today an attitude that springs from our vision of God? Are we expecting God to do greater things than He has ever done? Is there a freshness and vigour in our spiritual outlook?
How convicting this thought was to me today. There are many things in ministry that I shy away from because I am not sure how that will work. I can't see how I can ever accomplish that. But that is Chambers point isn't it. If it is our hand then perhaps we have missed God's vision.
What big things does God want to do with us that we are missing because we have lost the vision of Him?
