Burn out? A thing of the past.[@more@] Instruction # 5 – I Peter 4:11 “if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth.”
Some of us are able to do more. Some of us aren’t able to do much. Some of us…Stop! What we do of ourselves is dead works and will end up killing us. It is in His strength, it’s the ability He gives. Some of us are very busy in the ministry, but also very deceived to the danger we are in. Daniel 7: 25 gives us a picture of last days events and states that the beast will “wear out” the saints of the Most High. Whatever it takes, Satan is going to try and use it against us. Persecution will come in every form. It will come against our bodies, our mind and emotions to crush any ability we have to serve the Lord. The sooner we recognize it’s not our strength or our abilities, the sooner we walk in freedom and victory.
David knew in whom his abilities lay. In Psalms 18, he begins “I will love Thee, O Lord my strength.” What a beautiful song of worship as he recounts the movement of Almighty God in response to his need. In verse 29, the warrior king sang, “For by thee I have run through a troop, and by my God have I leaped over a wall.” Verse 32 “It is God that girdeth me with strength and maketh my way perfect.” On he sang about God who trained his hands for battle. He also knew where his abilities were found. “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple. For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me; He shall set me up upon a rock.”
By Isaiah’s time, the children of Israel had forgotten the source of their life and strength. They had looked to Egypt for help against their enemies. God exhorted them through the prophet Isaiah to repent of their sins saying, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength. The source of our strength is found in our constant communion with Christ. It’s our “staying in the sanctuary”; our habitation in Him and He in us. Paul writes to the Hebrews, “For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.” Let us repent for striving in ourselves to do the work of the kingdom, put our trust in the Holy One of Israel. And get some rest!
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” Ephesians 6:10
Rev. Tura Zapata, Texas, USA
