Ministry & Testimony

God doesn’t need you. God can raise up anyone He wants at any time. He doesn’t need you to accomplish His will. He lovingly invites you to participate because He wants to bless you. He wants you to share in His goodness. His good plans and good purpose.

You may have a unique testimony, but God can use anyone. Ministry is not about what God has done in you. That’s self-focused. Ministry is about what God wants to do THROUGH you. The best and most effective ministry has the least amount of self, and the greatest amount of Holy Spirit.

A versatile minister who can minister the heart of God to any individual in any given circumstance, is more useful and effective than one niche minister.

We all have our strengths and weaknesses, but to only focus on our strengths and never let God strengthen our weaknesses means we aren’t complete in Christ. He wants to equip the believer in every good work, so He can use you at anytime in anyway.

I used to only be able to witness to people who had a similar situation as me—addiction, depression, fear. I couldn’t reach the atheist or intellectual. I was relying too much on MY testimony instead of testifying to the Cross of Jesus Christ. The Cross is for every man. The Cross deals with every sin. Ministry isn’t about sharing what God has done in your life. While that is an effective and powerful tool at the right time, that isn’t ministry. Ministry is being a vessel so submitted and surrendered to God you can communicate exactly what God wants spoken to the person right in front of you. So that person can hear what God is saying to them through your mouth. Ministry is actually about God and the other person, not you and your testimony. God does want to use your testimony, but only as a tool, not the primary focus. It’s about GOD and what HE has done, not you. That’s why we share our testimony. To bring glory to God and encourage others. To display His might, His power, and His character. Not to talk about ourselves. Self hinders the work of the Holy Spirit. Ministry from self quenches the ministry of God.

If you want to be effective in ministry and useful to God anywhere at anytime with anyone, surrender. Hear God. Listen to what He is saying. When you minister, ask God, “What do You want to say to this person? What do You want them to hear?” I have fallen into the trap many times of using experiences in my own life as examples to encourage people or get my point across. In that, self gets involved and suddenly it shifts to being about me instead of the other person I am ministering to. I must decrease, He must increase.

The best kind of minister is one who can share the truth without experience. One who can share exactly the truth that person needs to hear, in exactly the way that person needs to hear it, without having experienced what they are experiencing.

I want to clarify that I am not saying don’t share your testimony. We will overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. But it’s still all about the blood of the Lamb. Without the blood, there is no testimony.

I have a challenge. Next time you are ministering to someone try to share exactly what God wants you to share without using examples from your life. Try examples from the Bible. See if you can stretch yourself by relying on God and asking Him for the perfect analogy or example that doesn’t come from your own experience. You’ll probably be amazed at what God comes up with, and how powerful and effective the ministry is.