Sometimes ministry with no other staff is fun and exciting! There are times of discipleship and fellowship. There are times of leading and feeding. There are times of introducing a lost world to the love of Jesus Christ.
Then there are the times of a floor needing mopped that no one did. A pile of trash in a hallway. Complaints about why something doesn't look better. No funds to fix the things complained about. Suggestions of what we should do, but no offer to help do it.
I often wonder if these are the things that Satan spends more time attacking with. Certainly I have been feeling attacked lately with multiple issues that are far from mundane. To the point that I have even questioned God's call on my life. Maybe I am too thin skinned and too thin hearted to continue putting myself out there to be torn down time and time again. Those attacks come, but with far less regularity. It is the mundane that wears you down to the point that when a bigger issue arises, you feel like there is not the strength to stand.
Toilets plugged, refrigerators not cleaned before being unplugged, lawns not mowed, preparations not made, trash not taken out, walls not painted, bottles not washed, and meals not cooked.
I firmly believe that this is the very reason that in Acts chapter 6 the disciples set apart 7 men to take care of the mundane needs that were arising. Not that those needs weren't important - they just weren't the main thing! Acts 6:4 - "But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word." They kept the main thing. When the bottles needed washed, there was someone to wash them.
My prayer is that God would raise up more willing workers...in my church and in yours! People who are willing to be used in the mundane. People who when asked will step forward gladly, and people who will not even need to be asked.
I have one of those such men in my church, and I thank God for him! He has even told me to stop saying 'thank you' to him, because he isn't doing it so I will say thank you! I thank God for him, but we need more of those! He can't do all the mundane, just as I can't do all the cooking and bottle washing.
God, raise up those men to model the Acts 6 servants (maybe deacons), and raise up Godly Shepherds to teach, lead, and disciple!
Then there are the times of a floor needing mopped that no one did. A pile of trash in a hallway. Complaints about why something doesn't look better. No funds to fix the things complained about. Suggestions of what we should do, but no offer to help do it.
I often wonder if these are the things that Satan spends more time attacking with. Certainly I have been feeling attacked lately with multiple issues that are far from mundane. To the point that I have even questioned God's call on my life. Maybe I am too thin skinned and too thin hearted to continue putting myself out there to be torn down time and time again. Those attacks come, but with far less regularity. It is the mundane that wears you down to the point that when a bigger issue arises, you feel like there is not the strength to stand.
Toilets plugged, refrigerators not cleaned before being unplugged, lawns not mowed, preparations not made, trash not taken out, walls not painted, bottles not washed, and meals not cooked.
I firmly believe that this is the very reason that in Acts chapter 6 the disciples set apart 7 men to take care of the mundane needs that were arising. Not that those needs weren't important - they just weren't the main thing! Acts 6:4 - "But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word." They kept the main thing. When the bottles needed washed, there was someone to wash them.
My prayer is that God would raise up more willing workers...in my church and in yours! People who are willing to be used in the mundane. People who when asked will step forward gladly, and people who will not even need to be asked.
I have one of those such men in my church, and I thank God for him! He has even told me to stop saying 'thank you' to him, because he isn't doing it so I will say thank you! I thank God for him, but we need more of those! He can't do all the mundane, just as I can't do all the cooking and bottle washing.
God, raise up those men to model the Acts 6 servants (maybe deacons), and raise up Godly Shepherds to teach, lead, and disciple!
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