Definition of Ministry
Ministry is a privileged partnership with God through the Holy Spirit and with Spirit-filled born-again believers in serving the Person of God Himself, the people of God or the Body of Christ and the people of the world in love, in order to advance the redemptive purpose of Jesus Christ to the glory of God.
How Should We Think About Ministry?
Are you involved in ministry? In other words, are you serving? God desires that every one of His children participates in His service. This is an awesome privilege and brings joy to the heart of God as well as to the heart of the believer in Jesus Christ. God wants us to minister to Him, to the Body of Christ, and to the World. Ministry first and foremost must be directed to the Person of God Himself before it can be beneficial to others. Worship of God is the major purpose of our existence. The high priests in the Old Testament were instructed to spend their lives primarily ministering to God Himself and secondarily to the people. Is your ministry centered on people only, or does your ministry flow out of the inner fullness that comes when you make the worship of God your first priority? You see, effectiveness in ministry is not defined by busyness, endless activities, or even "successful programs and plans." It is defined by whether or not God Himself, by His Holy Spirit, is doing the work through us, for apart from Him we can do nothing of eternal value. It is as we worship God, meditate on the Word of God and pray that He directs us into what He wants us to do in His harvest fields (see Acts 13:lff .). Fruitful ministry always necessitates working with God, for He has already prepared good works for us to be engaged in (see Ephesians 2:10). If we follow His leading rather than our "own good ideas", we will bring honor to His name in our ministries and advance His kingdom for His glory.
A Call for Revival!
God is a God who is completely faithful to His Word and upon whom His believing people are completely dependent. He is the One who carries out His work in answer to the Spirit-led prayers of His born-again children. Therefore, prayer is the most important work of ministry. The Bible itself makes this clear when it confidently asserts that: "The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much." James 5:16b . Seemingly impossible things are possible through the power of prayer, when the people of God take God at His Word and pray in a believing way. Scottish pastor, Eric J. A. Alexander writes: "If God is calling you to serve Him, you really need to ask Him to make you effective in the ministry of prayer. There is no doubt that here is where the real work is done. We betray our conviction about this when we speak about praying for the work. In fact, prayer is the real work. In the kingdom of God, prayer is fundamental. The disease of modern evangelicalism is that we have made it supplemental."
God is committed to answering prayer offered according to His will in faith. It is God's will that His believing people love Him with all their heart, and will their soul, and with all their mind Matthew 22:37 , be filled up with the fullness of God Ephesians 3:19 , grow to know Him better Ephesians 1:17 , and become mature in Christ Colossians 1:28 . It is also His will for His people to be revived Psalm 85:6 , and for His work to be revived Habakkuk 3:2 . Wherever you live, we would therefore like to encourage you to join before the throne of God to pray for spiritual revival of God's people and His work around the world. Though we may be in different places, God sees and hears us all. He is able to do far more than we ask or think Ephesians 3:20 .