Don't be an Imitation!

"I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning." ~ Psalm 130:5-6

"Oxygen is required for human life to exist. Fuel is needed for an automobile to run. And intimacy with Christ is the essential element and necessary fuel for useful ministry. If your faith doesn’t show through your ministry, you’re simply an echo of what God intends you to be. Your personal relationship with God greatly affects everything in ministry. As a spiritual leader, if you’re not Christlike, you can’t be productive.

 

Jesus was absolutely correct when He warned, “If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Note the promise—bearing much fruit. Merely standing close to spiritual fires won’t make your ministry vibrant. Without constant contact with Jesus, you’ll soon become shallow, your vision superficial, your influence diluted and your satisfaction near zero. You’ll just be an imitation of the real thing."

~  The Shepherd's Covenant for Pastors by H. B. London & Neil B. Wiseman

"Often the work of the Lord itself may be a temptation to keep us from that communion with Him which is so essential to the benefit of our own souls."

 ~ George Muller

May you never allow ministry for Jesus rob you of intimacy with Jesus. May you never be an echo, but always the real thing!

Because apart from Him we can do nothing, 

~ PJVS

Lead Anyway...

"And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly." ~ Luke 22:61-62

"He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep." ~ John 21:17

"Peter’s failure shouldn’t serve as an indictment to discourage you from becoming a leader. It’s an encouragement that God, even with your weaknesses, can accomplish his work through you. That’s very good news! You are flawed, yes. But God will still use you to lead others to advance his kingdom. While you are responsible to learn all you can and grow to be like Jesus in every way possible, your usefulness is more dependent on God’s grace than your effort. He has called you to leadership — so lead.

You will fail. You will disappoint yourself, your followers, and God—but lead anyway... Peter’s failures didn’t disqualify him from significant leadership in the early church and from leaving a legacy for the church for all time. Flawed people can still make a profound leadership contribution."... You will make leadership mistakes. You will fail both personally and professionally in fulfilling your leadership role. You will blow it so badly some days that you will be sure your church or ministry should fire you and God should put you on the shelf. When you think all is lost, Jesus will surprise you. He will restore you as his follower and put you back into leadership." ~ Jeff Iorg, from SEASONS OF A LEADER'S LIFE . 

Don't give up! Just continue to make "a profound leadership contribution" ... as you depend on God's amazing grace.

Because "the righteous falls seven times and rises again" (Prov. 24:16)

~ PJVS 

The Sting of Criticism...

Louis McBurney wrote the following in the book "Standing Fast: Ministry in an Unfriendly World". 

"The ministry is sometimes pressure, discouragement, disappointment, heartache, criticism, and conflict. I try to communicate that to all who are considering the job. If they don’t believe me, I just show them my mail.

   • Don’t Believe Everything You Hear... 

Recently a woman shook my hand after one service and said, “Good grief, Pastor! Your hand is soft. I bet you haven’t seen a good day’s work in your entire life.”

She grinned, turned, and walked off. She obviously didn’t know how such a statement can hit pastors. I just stood there thinking to myself, Thank you very much. Good day to you as well!

A lot of criticism people throw our way is based on ignorance or misconceptions. When it’s appropriate, I try to educate people. But when it’s not, I find it best just to forget the comment.

   • Ask God About It...

When I encounter tough opposition or a stinging criticism, I ask myself, “Is God trying to show me something in this? Is this a process of character development in my own life?”

So I sometimes take these criticisms to the Lord in prayer: “This is what they’ve said about me Lord. Is it true? Help me to be honest with myself and determine what truth, if any, lies behind their comment.”

I will actually read to God the letters critical of me. Sometimes I discover God is trying to say something to me. Other times, he reassures me that I’m on the right track and not to become discouraged."

As you move into the busy days ahead, may you "Stand Fast" and remember ... "We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;" 

- 2 Corinthians 4:7-9

Because He set before us an open door, 

which no one is able to shut, 

~ PJVS

Selfless Compassion...

"I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit— I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race..." ~ Romans 9:1-3

I attended an ordination service for a good friend some years ago. He was being ordained to the Gospel ministry with a focus on inner city mission work. His brother spoke of growing up near the city and making many visits as a family. One thing he remembered about my friend was the way he wept over the homeless and downtrodden of the city. To this day my friend has unceasing anguish in his heart for the city. He has selfless compassion.

Sincere ministry should be passionate. The passion comes from deep within and motivates us as Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:14, "For Christ’s love compels us..." In the above passage he is also moved by the lost condition of his brothers and he has a passion for their salvation. His passion is so strong that he is willing to be cut off from Christ for the sake of his brothers. He had selfless compassion.

Jesus gave his life for the salvation of the lost, what are we willing to give? Do we love the Lord and the lost enough to be passionate about their salvation? May we pray for the passion of Paul as we look to the fields that are white unto harvest? Sincere ministry needs selfless Compassion. 

"It is a fair rule of thumb that only that love of neighbor which can also draw people to Christ is truly a reflection of that love for God which is its source." ~ Jeremy C. Jackson

Love them like Jesus my pastor friend, 

~ PJVS

Sufficiency and Devotion ...

The pastor's sufficiency and devotion are two major issues that E. M. Bounds wrote about in his  book "Power Through Prayer"...

"Paul says: “Our sufficiency is of God, who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.” True ministry is God-touched, God-enabled, and God-made. The Spirit of God is on the preacher in anointing power, the fruit of the Spirit is in his heart, the Spirit of God has vitalized the man and the word; his preaching gives life, gives life as the spring gives life; gives life as the resurrection gives life; gives ardent life as the summer gives ardent life; gives fruitful life as the autumn gives fruitful life. The life-giving preacher is a man of God, whose heart is ever athirst for God, whose soul is ever following hard after God, whose eye is single to God, and in whom by the power of God’s Spirit the flesh and the world have been crucified and his ministry is like the generous flood of a life-giving river...

... The preacher, above everything else, must be devoted to God. The preacher’s relations to God are the insignia and credentials of his ministry. These must be clear, conclusive, unmistakable. No common, surface type of piety must be his. If he does not excel in grace, he does not excel at all. If he does not preach by life, character, conduct, he does not preach at all. If his piety be light, his preaching may be as soft and as sweet as music, as gifted as Apollo, yet its weight will be a feather’s weight, visionary, fleeting as the morning cloud or the early dew. Devotion to God—there is no substitute for this in the preacher’s character and conduct. Devotion to a Church, to opinions, to an organization, to orthodoxy—these are paltry, misleading, and vain when they become the source of inspiration, the animus of a call. God must be the mainspring of the preacher’s effort, the fountain and crown of all his toil. The name and honor of Jesus Christ, the advance of his cause, must be all in all. The preacher must have no inspiration but the name of Jesus Christ, no ambition but to have him glorified, no toil but for him. Then prayer will be a source of his illuminations, the means of perpetual advance, the gauge of his success. The perpetual aim, the only ambition, the preacher can cherish is to have God with him." 

"Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God" 
~ 2 Corinthians 3:4-6

May you know the  the power of God as you Preach His Word, 

~ PJVS

Hope in God ...

Some of those church leaders with whom I interact have often expressed frustration and ministry disappointment. To all of you I submit the following thoughts from the book "He Used a Stone" by Andrew Mullek... 

    "A desert experience is a period of time that we go through, where the trial is long and hard and it feels like God is far from us. Our lives seem dry and barren. While in the desert, there will be at least one time when you are unsure of whether you will make it out. The desert is characterized by uncertainty. The end simply is not in sight. There is no water and there is no shelter from the heat. All sense of direction is lost. There is nothing to indicate when it will end. But it is part of the spiritual journey that God takes us through for His greater purpose.

 

Catholic mystics referred to this season as the ‘dark night of the soul’.  All of God’s leaders seem to experience these seasons. It is very apt to call the desert experience a season, because as with all seasons, it will come to pass. It is important to know that there will be victory in our desert experience. The tree might give up hope altogether under the weight of the winter snow if it were not aware of the coming spring. But the snow is necessary and so is the barren nature of the winter or the dryness of the desert.

God takes us through such times in our lives because He is producing in us a desert rose that cannot be grown under any other conditions. Some of the most beautiful plants in the world are produced in desert climates where there is little water. Such plants would simply not grow anywhere else. It is in this environment where character is developed that could not be formed any other way."

"Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. . ~ Psalm 42:11

May you find Hope in God my pastor friend, and be renewed in praising Him!

Because His ways are not ours,

~ PJVS

No Scars?

"Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain." 
~ 1 Corinthians 15:58 (ESV)

John Crosby strikes a chord in his devotional "Called to Shepherd"...

"SOME WEEKS ARE JUST PLAIN tough. There are days when each of us just wants to throw in the towel, wondering why we do what we do. Those are the days when the evil one begins to whisper words of self-doubt and despair. He wants us to think our work is in vain. He wants us to think we don’t make a difference. He points to our team members who have embarrassed, disgraced, or worse. He points to the betrayals of others. He highlights our mistakes and shortcomings. He speaks through others both from afar and from within our inner circles. But the most dangerous voice is the one in our own heads: “This is a waste.” “I am wasting my life.” “This doesn’t matter.” “The whole world is against me.”"

John Piper digs deeper into our struggles in his timeless volume "Brothers, We are not Professionals"...

"No pastoral suffering is senseless. No pastoral pain is pointless. No adversity is absurd or meaningless. Every heartache has its divine target in the consolation of the saints, even when we feel least useful...

... All pastoral afflictions are graciously designed to make us rely on God and not ourselves. And therefore our afflictions prepare us to do the one thing most needful for our people—to point them away from ourselves to the All-sufficient God. In this alone is consolation and salvation. Therefore, “If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation.”

Finally, J. Oswald Sanders touches on the marks of a faithful disciple in his volume on Spiritual Leadership... 

"Scars are the authenticating marks of faithful discipleship and true spiritual leadership. It was said of one leader, “He belonged to that class of early martyrs whose passionate soul made an early holocaust of the physical man.” Nothing moves people more than the print of the nails and the mark of the spear. Those marks are tests of sincerity that none can challenge, as Paul knew well. “Let no one cause me trouble,” he wrote, “for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus” (Galatians 6:17)."

Hast thou no scar? 

No hidden scar on foot, or side, or hand? 

I hear thee sung as mighty in the land, 

I hear them hail the bright ascendant star: 

Hast thou no scar? 

Hast thou no wound? 

Yet, I was wounded by the archers, spent. 

Leaned me against the tree to die, and rent 

By ravening beasts that compassed me, I swooned: 

Hast thou no wound? 

No wound? No scar? 

Yes, as the master shall the servant be, 

And pierced are the feet that follow Me; 

But thine are whole. Can he have followed far 

Who has no wound? No scar? 

~ Amy Carmichael

 

May you keep your eyes on the skies 

and press on for the prize my pastor friend...

Because He ever lives to intercede for us, 

~ PJVS