ON MY BACK PORCH - FIRST THINGS FIRST
If you're in ministry, remember, God doesn't call you to be His business associate, He calls you to be His son or His daughter. It is still agonizing to me how many people are in the ministry and don't carve out a consistent time, even if it's 10 minutes in the Word and 10 minutes in prayer each day, with the Lord. For me, it's my back porch time, for my husband, it was his appointment with the Lord. I don't know that it ever happens unless you consistently have a certain time of day you do it. For me, it's the first thing in the morning.
I have been in the middle of countless leaders in the last four decades who were huge names in the ministry who went down. But I have never, ever, been in the middle of one of those discussions with somebody who had a consistent quiet time with the Lord.
Life continues and our mind incessantly reels with thoughts, ideas, fears...it never stops. Prepare yourself to face the reality that the mind game battle is one you will face for the rest of your life. Like the old proverb says, "Yard by yard life is hard, but inch by inch life is a cinch." Ministers rarely find pride or lust or money to be their number one enemy, the one thing they just cannot shake. The permanent opposition will emerge from the person faced in the mirror each morning. You will fight your share of battles in the trenches, but the war you must first learn to win is the one in your mind that is strategically energized by hell. Consciously choose to combat the negative thoughts with the Word of God. Take them captive, and cast them down. As you plant the seeds of Scripture, right thoughts will grow and be energized by the Holy Spirit. You can unlock the victory with truth, but understand your victories may keep on coming until Jesus returns. Fight the battle, knowing I too fight it every day. As a woman or man of integrity who chooses to renew the mind, you will begin to conform into the very likeness of Jesus Christ and reach the ultimate destination.
I have been in the middle of countless leaders in the last four decades who were huge names in the ministry who went down. But I have never, ever, been in the middle of one of those discussions with somebody who had a consistent quiet time with the Lord.
Life continues and our mind incessantly reels with thoughts, ideas, fears...it never stops. Prepare yourself to face the reality that the mind game battle is one you will face for the rest of your life. Like the old proverb says, "Yard by yard life is hard, but inch by inch life is a cinch." Ministers rarely find pride or lust or money to be their number one enemy, the one thing they just cannot shake. The permanent opposition will emerge from the person faced in the mirror each morning. You will fight your share of battles in the trenches, but the war you must first learn to win is the one in your mind that is strategically energized by hell. Consciously choose to combat the negative thoughts with the Word of God. Take them captive, and cast them down. As you plant the seeds of Scripture, right thoughts will grow and be energized by the Holy Spirit. You can unlock the victory with truth, but understand your victories may keep on coming until Jesus returns. Fight the battle, knowing I too fight it every day. As a woman or man of integrity who chooses to renew the mind, you will begin to conform into the very likeness of Jesus Christ and reach the ultimate destination.