Love & Grace--the Ministry Engine

Ministry for God, as witnesses to Jesus is the work that gets the gospel of salvation to the lost. Without love it is impossible. Love is the manifestation that you are of God

"Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophecy" 14:1.

"Pursue love" Jesus said that everyone will know who Christians are because we love each other with the love with which He loves us (John13- 17). Love is the foundation fruit of the Holy Spirit (Mark 12:29-31, Galatians 5).

Desire spiritual gifts" The word 'gifts' is added in the English to help convey what is meant, but the original language says 'desire the Spiritual'. Desire to be filled with the love of God and the power of God to be a witness to the work of Jesus through the cross (Act 1:8) Everything that the Holy Spirit does points to Jesus and the Father, (John 13-17)

So, desire to be the instrument that reveals Jesus and the Father to the world seeking the true and living God. That takes letting the Holy Spirit indwell and fill you. And that is amazing!

'especially that you may prophecy' Paul, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, added this clause with the conjunction 'But' (However, Also, To be sure). It is this kind of speaking witness to Jesus that is the capstone to the work given to born again Christians. For a Christian to correctly speak from and teach from the Bible is how the lost receive the truth of God, (Hebrews 1:1, Romans 10:8-15, 2 Timothy 2:15, 3:16-17)

We serve an amazing God!

Grace is the foundation of all God's works. Without grace we could never be connected to God. It is His grace that supplies the love and life through Jesus Christ.

God's grace is the fuel for all works in Jesus' name.

"And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. For it is written: "He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever." Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, while you are enriched in everything f...or all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God. 2 Corinthians 9:8-11.

If God gives you a ministry and you put all your heart into it and make your sacrifice and offering to God for the ministry to save the lost, God takes all that you give, whatever that is, and multiplies it in ways you cannot imagine.

He uses whatever it is you give, whether material, time, or monetary, for His glory and the purpose of saving the lost. And because you can see His grace abounding for all through your love and service to God and people in need, your thanksgivings will multiply and your praise will be sweet.

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Is Your Life Manna?

And they asked "What is it?"

When the children of Israel needed food in the wilderness, God supplied them with a heavenly substance. It tasted sweet and it sustained their lives.

"So when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as the frost on the ground. So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, 'What is it?' For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, 'This is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat."" Exodus 16:14,15

"And the house of Israel called its name Manna. And it was like coriander seed, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey" Exodus 16:31.

"What is it?"

Good question.

Simply, it was something only God could supply.

In the wilderness, the Israelites were certainly going to starve if they had to fend for themselves. Moses, the man of God in their midst, interceded, asking God to provide for the people's lives. Through His infinite grace, God gave them Manna, which was like a sweet pastry and it nourished them completely, though they had no idea what it was.

"The children of Israel....gathered, some more, some less. So when they measured it by omers, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each one's need" Exodus 16:17,18.

No one, throughout the entire camp, went without. The excess was distributed to all as each family needed.

Today, God has given to the world bread from heaven which gives a better, everlasting life. Jesus, as a symbol of the God-given Manna, is our source for eternal life.

Jesus said "I am the bread of life...This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread, which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world" John 6:48 &50,51.

While we cannot and do not physically eat Jesus, we do have Him in ourselves through faith. And because of our faith that He died for us, in our place on the cross, He lives in each believer in the Holy Spirit. We do not fully understand this, but we know He gives us eternal life.

Among the Christian church today, for those in Christ:

"...There is one body and one Spirit, just as you

were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord,

one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all,

who is above all, and through all and in you all.

But to each one of us grace was given according

to the measure of Christ's gift" Ephesians 4:4-7.

But around the world some gather none, while others gather much of Jesus.

Are we, the people of God, interceding for those who are starving for Jesus?

Are we willing to share Christ Jesus with those who have little of Him, or none at all?

Are we giving Christ Jesus away from the abundance He has supplied of Himself to us?

If Christ Jesus lives in born again Christians, giving us sweet, wonderful, eternal life, are people asking "What is it?"

Is your life Manna?

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You Can't Turn Off the Faucet

"He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, 

out of his heart will flow rivers of living waters" 

                                                             John 7: 38

A few miles from where I live the Poland Springs bottled water company has a site where they get a great deal of the water they sell. Nearby the tanks, fresh water spouts from the ground. Long before the Company purchased the lands around the spring, the spring has been and the old iron pipe is still there though there is now better piping and a cleaned area where the public can get water.

 It is clear, icy cold, and wonderfully refreshing.

I have gotten water there on occasion and my problem is, when I leave I feel guilty because I can't turn off the fountain. The water gushes from the pipe and flows away down the hill into the lake. As I drive away, I look back thinking, that's a waste of water and I can't turn off the faucet. Then I have to remember,  I am not the one who opened it up and lets it run free for everyone to drink from.

Jesus said that He would give anyone rivers of living water and neither can this water of life He gives be turned off. It will flow in abundance from all that believe in Jesus. It is sweeter, and fresher, and more wonderfully nutritious than any water on earth.

The river that springs from us to is to be shared with everyone. Like that spring water, I can't turn it off because I am not the one who brings it out of me. 

Paul says we're not to quench the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is flowing from us to all that we meet, we need to give the living water to all as often as we can.

We can't turn off the faucet!

Why would we want to?

Some Good Chocolate And/Or A Good Book

$3.99 is a good buy on a box of chocolates, or you can get several chocolate bars. You'd buy $3.99 worth of chocolate wouldn't you?

It will take less than a minute to eat one bar, or maybe a few days if you're conservative with your box of candy. But that $3.99 would be well spent on the enjoyment of that yummy sweetness, right?

Now $3.99 is also a sweet buy on a good book. You'd spent that much on a chocolate bar, so you'd also buy a good book for $3.99 wouldn't you. Especially as that book will last longer than a chocolate bar. 

"Some studies say a good dark chocolate is brain food."

Well, a good book is brain food!

Here's a good book that's not only brain food but heart food, soul food, and comfort food. Is chocolate your comfort food? Take a hefty bite from this book and see how it tastes and feels on your palate. You'll be pleased at the results.

What could you enjoy for $3.99?

Try this!

Squished! Why God Seemingly Destroys Our Fruit

 $3.99 @ Amazon.com

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Excerpt from Chapter IX. Old Things Become New

When God had purged the earth with water, the Bible tells us He remembered Noah. Not that God had forgotten, but the time had come to let Noah out of the ark. Noah’s family emerged to a new life, just as we who trust Jesus have new life in Him.

My church split and people went away angry. It felt as if we were floating uncontrolled through the storm. Our little church got littler and closed in. Bewildered and worried, I didn’t think we were in an ark for our own good, I thought the water was overwhelming us.

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God hadn't forgotten us either, and Squished! is about God doing a marvelous work through some painful pressure. God may have squished us hard but He planned all along to produce something new and wonderful from what looked like destroyed fruit.

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A born again Christian since 1985, Susan Estes lives with her husband Ivan, in Palmyra, Maine. Her service for God includes teaching Sunday School, hosting a Ladies home Bible study, and Guest Speaker. Publishing credits include several blogs, short stories, and magazine articles. Susan is a former newspaper journalist and columnist.

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