Steps To Successful Servanthood

2 Timothy 2:22-26, “Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humilitycorrecting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.” (Bold Emphasis Added).

I have a dear brother in Christ who inspired this. It’s been on my heart for a couple of weeks at least and I feel that the time is right. It’s been amazing to me, to see just how and where the Lord draws inspiration to us, but it is HIS Holy Spirit and as long as He will use me, I want to be available.

I was actually thinking of doing a piece on the difference between “servitude and servanthood” and the more I thought about it, the more I recognized it’s a nice play on words, but I pretty but covered that in “Vassals or Vessels,” a piece I did some time ago.

So, back to prayer as I knew the Holy Spirit was drawing me this way; and voilà, this is what He wanted me to share! So to ALL my brothers and sisters in Christ, who have a heart to do all you can in whatever way the Lord sees fit to use you, here is my take on successful servanthood!

1. Accept the fact that God in His mighty wisdom, created you the way He wanted you to be! Before He created the earth and this universe we inhabit, He KNEW you! Think of it! Yet, He still created you and I!

Ephesians 1:3-6, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved.”

2. Understand that when He created you, He created within you the gifts ANDcalling that would be yours when your spirit was awakened! They are a part of you, your personality and character. They are in everyone, dormant and waiting for their spirit to live again, waiting to be used to glorify God, our Father, through Christ Jesus!

Romans 11:29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

1 Peter 4:10-11, “As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

3. This is the one step that so many stumble over and yet it is needed along with the other two to make you a success in Christ! Whatever the world tells you, whatever your friends tell you, above all, BE YOURSELF! Some will want to put you upon a pedestal, others will want you to be something other than what you are; God wants you to be YOU! If God, Almighty created you the way He did, He looks upon His finished work and says, “It IS good!”

Hebrews 2:6, “But one testified in a certain place, saying: “What is man that You are mindful of him, Or the son of man that You take care of him?”

Psalm 8:4-6, “What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet,…..”

Way too many of my brothers and sisters in Christ do not realize or recognize that what they do, is in actuality using the gifts that our Heavenly Father through His Holy Spirit has bestowed and equipped them with to fulfill the calling that they have been given! If you look at the gifts, the ministry gifts AND the spiritual gifts found in Romans and Corinthians, you will see that the Lord in His infinite wisdom has allowed for many variations of the gifts listed.

Many look upon God’s gifting and callings as some magical or mysterious type of power. It IS spiritual power wrought from the Holy Spirit to empower a servant (minister) of the Lord to be able to fulfill the tasks the Lord has laid out in the path He has prepared before you. Psalm 37:23-24, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, And He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the LORD upholds him with His hand.”

In closing, I want you to read and if need be, reread this popular and familiar passage of Scripture. Psalm 37:3-6, “Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, And your justice as the noonday.”

Verse 4 for so long has been used to by teachers and preachers to tell the congregation, that as a King’s heir, a child of the Heavenly Father, this world and all that is in it is yours, if you just believe and believing it, you will receive “what your heart desires.” This teaching only feeds selfish desires and it couldn’t be further from the truth. Remember selfishness is the opposite of Love! Love should always be our motivation in all we do! It is speaking about what the Lord, through His Spirit will place within your heart, when you trust in Him and walk in faith. Then what He plants there, He will bring it to pass! This goes hand in hand with His calling you and equipping you to fulfill your calling!

Finally, remember that the term minister just means service or servant depending on its usage. It is not some mystical “calling,” it is what ALL of God’s children have been called to be in Christ!

I say this a lot to those I make comments too and it is not just some cliché that I have adapted and say out of habit; for me it is a prayer each time I write it to you: God bless you greatly and richly as you continue to minister/serve the Lord by serving all those who He sends your way!

Also Posted On For The Love Of God