🕊️PRAY HERE Devotion You Are Your Non-Negotiable Ministry Mission! 🕊️

Devotion :

Have you ever been so busy trying to help everybody else that you forgot to check on yourself?

Whewww! 😮‍💨

We are helpers one to another. We are supposed to encourage people, pray for people, witness to people, teach people, love people, and help lead people to Jesus.

But there is something we cannot afford to overlook:

Keeping YOU in line with God has to be a daily priority.

You are your non-negotiable ministry mission.

Before I can be concerned about everybody else’s soul, I have to be concerned about mine.

Before I can tell everybody else how to live right, I need to be asking myself, “Am I living right?”

Before I can tell somebody else to forgive, I need to check my own heart for unforgiveness.

Before I tell somebody else to stop gossiping, I need to make sure I am not carrying everybody else’s business.

Before I tell somebody else to trust God, I need to examine whether I’m actually trusting Him when my own life gets uncomfortable.

Before I tell somebody else to pray, I need to make sure my own prayer life isn’t running on fumes.

My, my, my!

This is where we have to get REAL with ourselves.

You can know enough Scripture to sound deep and still not be spiritually mature.

You can have a title and still need growth.

You can preach, teach, sing, usher, lead, pray for people, post Scriptures every day, and still have areas of your own life that need to be surrendered to God.

Whewww!

And this is where some people get into trouble.

They become so focused on presenting themselves as spiritually impressive that they stop paying attention to their actual spiritual condition.

They want everybody to know how anointed they are.

How much they know.

How many people they have helped.

How God uses them.

How many people follow them.

How many accomplishments they have.

And somewhere in all of that public elevation, they forget to ask:

“Lord, how am I doing privately?”

👀

Because what good is it to convince everybody else that you are amazing while secretly struggling to obey God?

What good is it to build a public image that looks spiritually strong while your private relationship with God is weak?

What good is it to take credit for what God is doing through you?

That glory belongs to Him!

We have to be careful.

Sometimes people are trying so hard to convince everybody else that they are spiritually strong that they don’t realize they are becoming more concerned with their image than their integrity.

And the enemy will gladly let you perform ministry while neglecting your soul.

Whewwww!

Paul said in Philippians 2:12 to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

He wasn’t telling us to earn salvation by our works.

He was talking about taking our relationship with God seriously.

Pay attention to your own spiritual condition.

Examine yourself.

Grow.

Obey.

Mature.

Don’t just know the Word.

Let the Word work on YOU.

Because one of the most dangerous things a person can do is become a professional at telling everybody else what God said while refusing to let God tell them what He needs to change.

You may be trying to win your husband.

Your wife.

Your children.

Your coworkers.

Your friends.

Your followers.

Your church members.

Your community.

And that’s wonderful!

But don’t forget the person you see every time you look in the mirror.

YOU.

You need Jesus too.

You need correction too.

You need forgiveness too.

You need growth too.

You need deliverance too.

You need prayer too.

You need the Word too.

You need to repent too.

And you need to keep growing.

Sometimes the greatest ministry assignment God has given you today isn’t standing in front of a crowd.

Sometimes it is sitting quietly with yourself and saying,

“Lord, show me ME.”

Whewww!

That’s a prayer many people don’t want to pray because we love seeing everybody else’s problems.

But when the Holy Spirit turns the light on inside of us?

Lord have mercy! 😂

Now we see the attitude.

The pride.

The impatience.

The insecurity.

The jealousy.

The unforgiveness.

The need for validation.

The disobedience.

The inconsistency.

The things we keep making excuses for.

And that’s when we have a choice.

We can cover it up and keep performing…

Or we can surrender it and let God change us.

That’s real ministry.

Because people don’t just need to hear what you say.

Eventually, they need to see what your relationship with Jesus has done to you.

Your life should become part of your witness.

If you’re telling people God can change them, let them see Him changing you.

If you’re telling people God can heal them, let them see you allowing Him to heal you.

If you’re telling people to forgive, let them see you forgive.

If you’re telling people to walk in love, let them see you love.

If you’re telling people to humble themselves, let them see you humble yourself.

If you’re telling people to obey God, let them see you obey God.

That’s why you are your non-negotiable ministry mission.

You cannot afford to neglect the soul God has entrusted to you while spending all your time trying to save everybody else.

So today, before you ask God to use you to reach somebody else, ask Him:

“Lord, keep working on me.”

Before you ask Him to increase your platform, ask Him to increase your character.

Before you ask Him for more influence, ask Him for more integrity.

Before you ask Him for more people to follow you, ask Him to help you faithfully follow Him.

And before you worry about whether everybody else is getting it right…

check yourself.

Whewwwww! 🙌🏽

Reflect & Respond

Take a moment today and honestly ask yourself:

How is MY relationship with God?

Am I growing?

Am I obeying?

Am I becoming more like Jesus?

Are there things I am telling other people to do that I am not doing myself?

Am I more concerned with being seen as spiritual than actually being spiritually healthy?

And here’s the big one:

If I stopped trying to impress everybody else, what would God show me about ME?

Don’t be afraid of what you find.

Let God work on you.

Your soul is worth the attention.

Your growth matters.

Your obedience matters.

YOU matter.

Make yourself a non-negotiable part of your ministry mission.

Prayer:

Father God, here I am.

Before I ask You to use me to help anybody else, I ask You to help me.

Search my heart and show me anything in me that is not pleasing to You. Show me the areas where I am weak, inconsistent, disobedient, prideful, selfish, unforgiving, or distracted. Give me the courage to be honest about what You reveal.

Lord, don’t let me become so busy helping everybody else that I neglect my own soul.

Don’t let me become more concerned about how I look to people than how I look to You.

Keep me humble when You use me.

Keep me sincere when people recognize me.

Remind me that every gift, every opportunity, every testimony, every accomplishment, and every person I am able to help is because of You.

Help me to never take Your glory for myself.

Continue to grow me.

Continue to correct me.

Continue to teach me.

Continue to deliver me.

Continue to make me more like Jesus.

And when I am tempted to point at everybody else’s problems, remind me to first look in the mirror.

Lord, help me keep my own soul right with You.

I want to grow.

I want to obey.

I want to mature.

I want to be genuine.

I want my private life to agree with my public confession.

And when You use me to help somebody else find You, let my life be evidence that You are still working on me too.

In Jesus’ name, Amen. 🙏🏽💙