"Ask,
and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be
opened to you. Matthew 7:7
The answer to our whys may be obvious
now, or they may never be answered in our lifetime. But even if we knew why,
it’s likely we wouldn’t be satisfied with the answers anyway.
We ask God why, believing the answer will
provide us with some kind of deep soul satisfaction. But too often, we don’t
get the answer we want. I don’t think that means we should give up asking
questions; we just need to understand their role in our brokenness.
Our questions are important to Him, and the
Scriptures are full of hurting people asking questions. Look at the Psalms.
David wrote many of them when he was broken; and, in them, he poured out some
painful and intimate questions. Sometimes David got answers. Sometimes he got
silence. But even when David’s questions weren’t answered, his faith in God was
stronger than his need to know. So my
question, “God Do we really Empower People”?
“Being confident of this very thing,
that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the
day of Christ Jesus”. Philippians 1:6
Paul was certain
that the God who launched a good work in the Philippians would continue it.
When God begins the work of salvation in us, He will finish it. God never
starts anything that He cannot finish. When God begins a work in us, He will
see it through to completion. God will either work in us or He will
work on us, but He will finish the job. He will finish it
whether we want it finished or not! Once we have come to know Christ, we cannot
say, “Stop the process—I want out.” Paul said, “I am certain of this; this is
not debatable. I am sure, I am confident.”
Many people
are plagued by the idea that God may lose control of their situation. But God
will not give up on us. He will let us go about as far as a dog on a restraint.
When we run from the Lord and come to the end of our leash, we come to a
horrible yank. Do we have confidence in Christ’s present work for us? Can we
trust Him to intercede for whatever we are currently facing?
“For if while we were reconciled with
God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we
shall be saved by His life”. Romans 5:10
Where does
it start when it comes to the church empowering people? I often think of this
especially during our rallying call of stewardship during a sermon series. Do
we evaluate them? Give them training or support. One of the problems in the church today is its failure to function as a
team. Too frequently we have situations where a few people, often very gifted,
are trying to do all or most of the work. This is completely contrary to
Scripture and always leads, at least eventually, to inefficiency and failure
biblically speaking.
I Remember
when I was a head football coach and having a mixture of experienced and
inexperienced coaching staff, if I gave that young coach to much authority too
soon, I felt you could be setting them up for failure; on the other hand with
people who had lots of experience, if you moved to slowly you could frustrate
and demoralize them. So a friend of mine
spoke some godly wisdom into my weary soul. It was a season of
feeling overwhelmed and on the edge of burnout, and my kindred brother simply
said, “Bro… you are trying to do everything, but you’re doing nothing well.
You are actually only great at a few things, so do more of what
you’re great at, and empower others to do the rest.” Keep it Simple! “I can do all things through him who
strengthens me”.
Philippians 4:13
Sometimes as
individual Christian we misjudge our capabilities of others and ourselves the
results can be comical. Remember that everyone has the potential to succeed.
Our job as the church body is to see the potential in us, find out what we lack
and equip them/us with what we need. “As
each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of
God's varied grace”.
1 Peter 4:10
In fact, you may be
thinking to yourself, how do I find my own niche/gift? If that’s the case, here
are some guidelines I follow:
·
Pray-
do you have confidence in your prayer life. Spend time reflecting, exploring
your gifts. Pray for feedback and do what it takes to remove personal blind
spots.
·
Devotions-
Read the Bible and gets something out of it. Share and ask questions out of
Love, “I do it all the time”!
·
Friends-
strong support from Christian friends in the church.
·
Worship-
passionate about worshipng Jesus and you are not concerned about what your
peers think.
·
Love-
Love of the Father and the voice of the Holy Spirit
·
Salvation-
you are confident in your salvation experience and when you asked Jesus in your
heart!
·
Be
secure and listen- if you allow your insecurities to get the better of you,
you’ll be inflexible and reluctant to change. You cannot grow without change.
When you
discover what you were made for, your heart sings. God has gifted each of us and called us to be part of
a ministering team—the body of Christ which brings out the
truth that is in us, to be free to develop one’s gifts and abilities, to be
innovative, to share ideas, but also to make mistakes and learn from one
another. In addition, there will an environment where each team member feels
loved, supported, and affirmed Rather than suspicion and put-downs, there will
be a trust that builds a team spirit or comradeship. Not only will stress be
held to a minimum, but also there will be an excitement or enthusiasm about
what God is doing in and through the team to bear fruit.
God Bless You and This
Ministry!
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