Submit to God
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” James 4:7-10
Over the years I’ve seen many Christians with good intentions go their own rout only to fall.
I’ve heard evangelist say “it is “my” ministry” “you must support “my” ministry” they have forgotten the words of Psalms 127:1 when it says, “Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.” Psalm 127:1a
Each one of us must be aware that we are sinners saved by grace. That we must resist the devil and he will flee. We must fall on our faces and humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord, that He may lift us up.
If we begin to see things as “OUR” ministry we will inevitably try to do it in our own strength.
People will also begin to say it is “our” ministry. They will look and say, “Look what a wonderful ministry so and so has.” “I am supporting “so and so’s ministry.”
This kind of thing runs the risk of leaving God out of the picture. People look at the evangelist or pastor and give him the glory rather than God.
This can also lead to people stumbling should the pastor or evangelist stumble. This should not be so.
After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the King of Sodom offered to give him all the goods from the defeated people.
“But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and have taken an oath that I will accept nothing belonging to you, not even a thread or the thong of a sandal, so that you will never be able to say, ‘I made Abram rich.’” Genesis 14:22,23.
Abraham understood the concept later written down by the Psalmist that, “Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.” Psalm 127:1a
In doing it in our own strength we will miss not only the best God has to offer, but we will miss the wonderment of God. We will miss seeing the miraculous ways in which he provides.
A pastor, evangelist, Sunday School teacher or for that matter the humble usher in a church all minister at the Lords behest. Without him their ministry ultimately will fail or at the very least not reach its full potential.
We must always remember where we come from and that it is by the grace of God we are saved not by our works. We owe it all to God and that, “Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.” Psalm 127:1a