There are five things that I believe every minister should master in ministry. The Holy Spirit gave me these five statements sometime ago and they have become the driving force of my life and ministry, and I believe they’re worth sharing because they will bless us Sirs and Mas.
- Your ministry cannot be stronger than your prayer life.
- Your ministry cannot be deeper than your study habit.
- Your ministry cannot be greater than your faith life.
- Your ministry cannot be wider than your love walk.
- Your ministry cannot be long-lasting than your obedience level.
First, your ministry cannot be stronger than your prayer life. Ministry begins in the presence of God. A minister is principally a waiter on God – Isa. 40:31. The presence of God should not be a second annex to you; it’s your first port of call. A prayerless minister will be a visionless minister.
It is in the place of prayer that the pattern of your ministry is defined – Heb. 8:5. It is in the place of prayer that you see, not just hear, what the Lord is telling you – Hab. 2:1. It is in the place of prayer that you receive divine instructions most times.
Little wonder the early apostles resolved to give themselves to prayer continually – Acts 6:4. A prayerless minister will be confused and he will also end up as a confusionist.
Second, your ministry cannot be deeper than your study habit. The Word of God is the foundation of an enduring ministry – Isa.40:8. The Word determines the depth of your ministry. Your level of soundness in ministry is determined by your level of soundness in the Word.
The Word furnishes you in doctrine and it keeps you steady on the right path – 2Tim.3:16-17. Your nourishment as a minister is from the Word as administered by the Holy Spirit, and from the overflow of God’s Word in your heart, you will feed the people of God.
A minister that is Word bankrupt is a dangerous minister – he’s a danger to himself and to the people who listen to him – 1Tim.4:6,16. Therefore make heavy investment in the Word ministry, it will produce great fruits for the work committed into your hand by the Lord.
Third, your ministry cannot be greater than your faith life. You can only run the Christian life in the faith realm, for we walk by faith and not by sight – 2 Cor.5:7. In ministry, faith is not negotiable. You can only step into the highest dreams and purposes of God for your ministry by faith.
A minister who has not developed his faith will rob and shortchange himself in terms of receiving and possessing all that God has ordained for him. The critical portions of your destiny in ministry can only be accessed by faith.
It takes faith to take delivery of the promises and prophecies of God over your ministry – Lk.1:45. It is by faith that you ascend higher levels of the mandate of God upon your life. When God gives you a promise, it’s always bigger and greater than your today, hence it is by faith that you enter into that glorious future.
Fourth, your ministry cannot be wider than your love walk. BY ALL MEANS, avoid strife and offences in ministry. Strife will contain your ministry.
A minister must have a very sound and solid love walk. You must learn to relate well with people in ministry because people are the multiplication chain of your ministry.
You must master how to connect well with people because they will spread your work. Imagine a minister who has cursed everyone under him.
His ministry will be contained and confined to the dunghill of history because people will leave him. Your love walk will determine the width of your ministry.
If only some precious servants of the Most High God can add love to their competence in ministry, then their work will spread more and have far-reaching effect. Walking in love opens up the valve for the flow of God’s blessing on your ministry.
Therefore every minister should practise THE LAW OF ADVANCED FORGIVENESS, in the words of Bishop David Oyedepo. Forgive people in advance even before they hurt you. Release the tension and you see your ministry spread like wildfire.
Fifth, your ministry cannot be long-lasting than your obedience level. Your level of obedience determines the transgenerational impact of your ministry.
A call into ministry is a call into obedience – a life of obedience. In ministry, we neither negotiate divine instructions nor do we play to the gallery.
We’re called to obey, and it is only the things we do or did in obedience to God that will be reckoned with in posterity and eternity.
Therefore there’s no room for guess work in ministry. A minister is “the Lord’s bond servant” – he does not have the agenda of his own; he operates by God’s calender and agenda.
By faith Abraham OBEYED – Heb.11:8 and till today, we’re still talking about him. In ministry, we don’t go by SENSE or SIGN; we go by the SPIRIT. We do the Lord’s bidding.
Men can CRITICIZE us but they cannot JUDGE us. They can PRAISE us but they cannot REWARD us. God is both the REWARDER and the JUDGE, hence our “ultimate” accountability is unto him.
It’s a sobering thought Sirs and Mas. We need to continually reflect on what we do. How many of them are products of divine leading and instructions and to what degree is our obedience fulfilled in ministry – 2 Cor.10:6?
We can therefore liken ministry to a building. What I have talked about determines its STRENGTH, DEPTH, HEIGHT, BREADTH and LENGTH. In sum, we realize that:
- Your ministry cannot be stronger than your prayer life – STRENGTH.
- Your ministry cannot be deeper than your study habit – DEPTH.
- Your ministry cannot be greater than your faith life – HEIGHT.
- Your ministry cannot be wider than your love walk – BREADTH.
- Your ministry cannot be long-lasting than your obedience level – LENGTH.
Mastering these essentials of ministry will catapult every ministry to the peak of God’s ultimate plan and design. May the Lord help us all!
