Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Prepare for ministry by taking care of yourself.

Sometimes I think about what they are teaching at Bible Colleges.  I know that the good ones are teaching the Bible, (hence the term Bible College), but is that all that a girl needs to be ready to serve the Lord? In thinking about my own dear daughter away at Bible College, here are a few of my thoughts about preparing for ministry.

Take Care of Yourself! Part 1
Spiritually
I am not just talking about being safe, I am talking about becoming spiritually self-sufficient. Not in a proud, arrogant way.  That is not at all helpful.  I am talking about being able to help others, because I am not needy myself.  Not that we will never be needy.  We are all needy for Jesus and the wise woman will learn to go directly to the only One who can care for all her needs.  Learn to find in the Lord what you need for yourself.  Know that no human being, not the most loving husband, nor the most devoted mother or father can be and do for you what God can. Learn to glean from Scripture all that you could ever need.

Emotionally
Learn early on to identify and control your emotions.  We live in an age where we allow emotions and moods run rampant until someone needs a pill.  The key, for me, is to identify unhealthy emotions early and, as the Scripture says, take them captive, 2 Corinthians 10:5.

An emotionally unhealthy woman cannot really be that useful in ministry.  She tends to shy away from what needs to be done or from people.  Or, worse, she alienates people with her caustic, irritable manner.  The Fruit of the Spirit includes temperance and that means self-control.  A woman who is controlled by her emotions is not controlled by the Spirit.  It seems that every lovely emotion has a horrible counterpart.  Learn the difference.  Don't wait until you are overcome by emotion to do something about it.

Find a person who loves you enough to be honest with you about your emotions. No one likes to be confronted with an uncomfortable truth, but we need it.  We need that friend who lets us know when our fear-negativity-anger-discontent-anxiety or whatever, becomes apparent.  A good friend or parent will help you nip it in the bud before it gets out of hand.

I love Tim LaHaye's Transformed Temperaments.  His classifications make sense to me and I feel better-equipped to see myself honestly.  Another thing I see is that as I become more Spirit-filled, my negative personality traits will become less apparent, and I will take on positive traits from all the other personality groups.  I will still be me, but better, and more completely useful in His service

Next: Take care of yourself physically.

2 comments:

  1. Great post, especially the part about controlling emotions. I know some good ladies that are captive to their emotions and it's so sad. It's taken me years to learn to identify mood swings and out of control emotions but it sure frees you when you learn to control that little emotional monster hiding inside. Nice read.

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  2. Thanks. Your comments always encourage me!

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