This morning, I pause to think of the many of you who live a life of ministry. I breathe a prayer for you even now as I write, and I offer these five ways that I have found to be anchors for true ministry. I am not offering this list as an all-inclusive; just a list of things that were on my heart today.

1.     1. Check your balance.

Balance is an extremely rare commodity in the life of ministers and their families. Sadly, we often allow the needs of the people, their demands, and their ideas of who and what we should be to dictate how we live. Yet if Jesus is to be our example, and he is, that is not how we should live. Jesus ministered intensely at times and at other times, he drew away from the crowds for rest and restoration. There were times when he, in his humanity, was not available for the demands of the people or even the demands of his intimate circle. What a challenge for us today! We have cell phones, email, pagers, etc. We are immediately available at the beck and call of many people and often pride ourselves in this. We remove the healthy boundaries around our lives (if there ever were any), and we invite people to call on us “at any time”. And they do. We give and we give and we give until we find ourselves depleted and resentful of “ministry”. Spouses find themselves married to someone whose mistress is called “ministry” and feel unable to question that lifestyle because, after all, the ministry is the same as God, right? Not so, dear friend. In fact, sometimes we are so married to ministry that we really don’t have any time to pursue our relationship with God. Remember, your priorities are God first, spouse second, family third, and ministry fourth.

How is your balance? Are there changes you need to make so that you can minister for the long haul and not find yourself burned out and/or broken?

2.       Stock your pond. 

It is vitally important to have your pond stocked.  What I mean is that you should live in such a way that your life, if represented by a pond, is filled with living, breathing fish, teeming with life. This process is different for each one of us. For me, stocking my pond means making sure I have time with friends and family, making sure I enjoy myself by doing things I love such as reading a good book, taking in a sunset, sharing life-giving experiences with people I care about. Ministry can deceive us into making the sum total of our lives about helping other people. However, then we can find ourselves empty and resentful and truly unable to give any more because we haven’t kept our own ponds stocked, so to speak. Looking to the life of Jesus, remember, he went to parties, celebrations, weddings; he took time to talk to children; he drew away from the demands and stocked his pond. Some called him a winebibber. They said his lifestyle was wasteful and criticized his choices. Yet the Word says he only did what he saw the Father doing and was not controlled by the people.

Would you evaluate your calendar?  Are there life-giving, pond-stocking events and activities there? Would you acknowledge your humanity, as Jesus did, by making time to stock your pond? (for more thoughts on this, read my blog post Stock The Pond.   )

3.       Be aware of the plans of the enemy.

Yuck, you may say. You’ve heard too much about this already in ministry. However, we must acknowledge that we have an enemy. He wants to destroy us, and he really doesn’t care how he does that. If he can make us too busy to hear God and others who care about us, that is a victory for him. If he can trick us into living without boundaries, he has a victory. If he can deceive us into giving more than we have to give and we find ourselves empty and disillusioned, that is a victory for him. And then, of course, there are the obvious ways we all are aware of but the door to many of the obvious things is the door of busyness, boundary-less living.

Are you aware of the plans of the enemy against your life? Can you identify how he is seeking to kill, steal, and destroy you?

4.       Listen to your heart.

God speaks to your heart. You must learn to listen. My greatest mistakes in life and ministry have come because I ignored my heart. Sometimes we are not quite sure why something doesn’t feel right or we rely too heavily on our mental reasoning and ignore the voice of our hearts. If your heart is crying that something is wrong or doesn’t feel just right, STOP AND STOP NOW! The voice of the heart is often a quiet one and if we choose to push past it, we can silence its voice. The results are often disastrous. Yes, you may find that your heart speaks out of its woundedness at times, but you should always pause long enough to listen to the voice. Ask God if the voice you hear is true. Ask Him why you feel the way you do? Remember, not everything that is urgent is truly important. You must make time to slow down and hear your heart. God leads; Satan shoves. I believe that God is willing to confirm things to us if we will but ask. Honor the voice of your heart.

For me, this is an important part of my “quiet time” with God. As I spend time quieting myself and seeking His voice and wisdom, He often shows me how my own heart is speaking and why that is important.

Do you often spend time in quietness, focusing your heart and life, listening for His Spirit? If not, I encourage you to establish this practice, not out of obligation, but from a position of receiving the breath of life so you can live fully to the glory of God.

5.     5. Let your life story speak.

As you try to discern what things God is leading you into in ministry, look at your life story. The pains and failures can be used by God to guide other people if we will allow Him to use them. During the last two years, I have learned how to look at my total life story and learn more about the plans of God for my life. Everything belongs; nothing is wasted with God.

What does your life story say about how God wants to use you?

St. Iranaeus once said that the glory of God is man fully alive. I believe this is true. When we live “fully alive”, it draws people to God.  There are difficult choices we must make in order to do this, but these choices can help us go the distance in ministry.

If you continue to minister the way you are today, what will your life look like in 10 years? Can you ask God that question? Perhaps you see success, money, and fame, yet God sees burnout and failure. Invite His Spirit to search your heart.

What change can you make today, this week, and this month, which will allow you to live and minister from a place of life as Jesus did?

What are the life-sucking habits, practices, mindsets, etc., that you have that do anything but stock your pond?

Today, ask God to help you become more aware of these five ways we can minister from a perspective of life for our own good, the good of our families, and the good of others. Resist the urge to succumb to the voice of man when you know God is calling you to change. Remember, Jesus came to give life – abundantly – and not just for eternity but for today as well.

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Isaiah 53:4 contains a beautifully mysterious phrase. Jesus carried our sorrows.

What an amazing thought! The very idea of “sorrows” invokes feelings of things that are weighty and burdensome. To know that there is One who will carry those things which are too heavy for me is a thought which comforts  and encourages my soul.

Life is made of cycles and seasons, and you don’t have to live long to figure out that some of those are filled with sorrows and pain.  When my life is filled with sorrows, I cry out for relief, longing to escape the place where my heart is torn apart. And Jesus answers. Sometimes his answer contain immediate rescue, but many times His answer carries this idea, “I will carry the sorrows for you.”

He always wants to carry our burdens, but we usually try to handle life in our own ways, carrying things in what we believe to be our own strength. The problem with that is, well, we don’t really have any strength! It is an illusion. Nothing reveals our lack of strength any more than sorrow and pain.  When life becomes unbearable, then we are either driven to the feet of Jesus to ask for help or we are moved to reject him because we misunderstand his heart.

When life becomes too heavy for me, sometimes I find the best prayer is simply, “Carry this Lord for I can’t!” It is a prayer of surrender. Such a prayer places us in a position to receive his strength. It is a difficult place to stay in. As soon as the pain begins to lift, I try to begin to carry it again without his help and I fall under the weight of it. Graciously, he takes it again as I surrender anew.

And I have found that in these seasons, I have the opportunity to learn more about the heart of Jesus Christ.

In Matthew 11: 28, Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Yes, give, as in a gift. He goes on to invite us to take his yoke in order to learn from him. A yoke, as Jesus referred to, is an instrument which joins two animals together so they can work together, so that more is accomplished, so that one doesn’t pull one way and the other another way.

Work and rest are not opposites. Jesus spoke of “rest for your soul”.  Inner rest. Living in this kind of rest allows us to work from a place of relationship with Jesus as opposed to a place of rules. So it might be good to ask yourself if your life with Jesus is focused on having relationship with him or following a list of rules.

If your heart is hungry for rest, here are a few principles from this passage that can help you find that rest:

1.  Go. We must go to Jesus. The first thing Jesus said was, “Come”. In order to receive his rest, our hearts must turn toward him.  For me, this means that I stop long enough to focus myself on Christ in me. I “center” myself on Christ. A daily time of purposefully shutting down all the other streams of thoughts that are racing around in my brain and “quieting” myself.  In the quietness, I surrender anew to his voice and assume a position of dependence upon him.

2.  Receive. I receive. Jesus said that he would give us rest. A gift must be received. If I am offering you a gift, you must take it into your hands, open the wrapping, and receive it as your own. Sometimes I find it helpful to actually turn my hands face up as if I were readying to have something placed in them and say, “Lord, I receive.”

3.  Take. I take his yoke. You may say, “Wait a minute. I thought you said receive. How can we receive and take at the same time?” If you can envision two oxen being yoked together, a part of that process is when someone places the yoke onto them. For me, this implies that I allow his yoke to be placed upon me. When I willingly do this, I am acknowledging that I will be working with Jesus, not demanding my own direction. I take his yoke.

4.  Learn. Learn from him. When our hearts are in a position of rest, we are in a position to learn from Jesus. We are in a position to receive. He is the only one who can truly carry our sorrows and give us peace and wisdom.

5.  Trust. Trust his heart. Jesus said he was gentle and humble in heart. He is not out to hurt us. He is a safe place. Being vulnerable with Jesus is safe.

6.  Find.  Jesus said we would find rest for our souls. Deep inner rest that abides regardless of our circumstances. These steps, and they are really not steps, they are really relational guidelines for walking with God, can help you find his rest.

7.  Keep Trusting. Don’t be afraid of the process because Jesus reassures us that his yoke is an easy one and his burdens are light to carry. He doesn’t weigh us down with law that discourages us and defeats us. He shows us how to live from a position of rest which is encouraging and life-giving.

So today if you find yourself in a place where your soul needs rest, Jesus invites you to come to him. He wants to give you what you cannot find without him. Bow your heart to him and humbly acknowledge that you are in need and then he will fill you with unexplainable rest that will allow you to walk with him through whatever is facing you. The process will teach you more about his heart and allow you to receive more and more of his love.

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