Jesus didn’t enter “full time ministry” until the age of 30, and He died when He was 33. This means that He had many years of preparation for a ministry that only lasted 3. In Jewish culture serious preparation for a vocation begins at age 12 which is why when Jesus assumed lost, he was found teaching in His Father’s house. Unfortunately, it seems that most only prepare for 3 years and then expect to be in ministry for 30 years, sometimes more. Now let’s not get caught up in the numbers, you can do ministry before you turn 30. That’s not the magic age or anything, but it’s the principle behind it that I our Lord was trying to convey. The more we prepare for something, the more equipped we will be to handle the things that come along with that undertaking.

    The Holy Spirit showed me a vision of what happens when believers do not practice the ministry of preparation. It’s like body builders, who have huge upper body muscles.– Big chest, shoulders, biceps, etc. Then when you look at their legs, they are normally a lot smaller, some aren’t, but most are. The legs are the foundation of the body and because they are usually the strongest body part, you have to work them the hardest to get the best results. Which then results in more pain during and after the workout. In the sport of Bodybuilding, judges tend to assess the legs more than the upper body because quality legs seperates the average from the professional. So instead of going through the proper training to develop a solid foundation (legs), most weight lifters show off their upper body and keep their legs hidden. Well sadly to say, that’s how we are when it comes to preparation.

     We are now more focused on things that come along down the road and less on foundational things.“I’m a prophet this”, and “I’m a bishop that” but we couldn’t breakdown some of the fundamentals of Christianity if we had to. Such as the life, death, & Resurrection of Jesus Christ and how that affects us today, or who are the 12 tribes of Israel, what were the major covenants, name the 7 churches in revelation, explain what salvation is – what are we saved from, etc. Now you may say what does all this have to do with anything? But if it wasn’t important, God would have never had it written.

An excellent example of this is when I see a Christian trying to “witness” to a Muslim. The average believer gets beat down by those brothers because they know our book better than we do. They realize the importance of the Bible, but many of us miss it. I find this mind boggling that Christians refuse to immerse themselves in study (1 Timothy 2:15).

Check this out:

Proverbs 19:2 states “It is not good to have zeal without knowledge…” & Ecclesiastes 8:6 states “…There is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him”

That means that although we want to minister to “everyone” (and I use that term loosely) we must know who we are ministering to. Because contrary to popular opinion, Satan loves when he comes up against an inexperienced believer who isn’t ready (peep Acts 19:13-16).

Please follow me, I’m not one those legalistic people that say you have to have been in the game for certain amount of time to begin ministering. I know from personal experience that God will move upon anyone at anytime anywhere (He did speak thru a donkey) however, that is not an excuse which allows us to not be prepared. There is no “magical plateau of readiness” where once we learn a bunch of facts, we’re good to go, by prepared I mean:

Become immersed in the Word of God (The Bible)
     It is so important that believers become more knowledgeable of the Scriptures. We need to be biblically literate so we can know exactly what we believe. 1 Peter 3:15 states “…Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have…”

Become a student of prayer
      Many Christians are just not spending enough time talking with God. It’s not about quantity, it’s about quality. God desires a relationship, not someone who just runs down a list of demands everyday. Talk with Him, and let Him speak back, (often through conviction, greater clarity, etc.) you’ll be surprised what He has to say about our lives.

Become a disciple
      A disciple is not only one who believes in God but one who is being taught the ways of God. There’s also this belief that we don’t need anyone else, all we need is God. That is so incorrect. We need each other, and we need to be taught and encouraged by one another. The original 12 had to walk with Jesus for 3 years. It is very interesting if you notice the things that they were trying to do but couldn’t do in the Gospels, those very things they were doing in the book of Acts. “What’s the difference?” you may say – Time. That was the difference, because they were discipled. It was years after that Damascus road experience before the apostle Paul began his ministry; in that time he was being discipled. That could be a pastor, mentor, a mature brother/sister in Christ, etc. We have to begin to apply principles we use in our lives to our Christianity – if you need help in a subject you get a tutor, if you want to be a better ball player you practice with good ball players, etc. Why if I want to be a stronger Christian would I try to do it alone? Ever notice how close the word disciple is to discipline? Hmmm. The Hebrew word for discipline (muwcar) is actually used to mean instruction, doctrine, and chastisement, while a variation of the Greek word for disciple means to “enroll as a scholar”. Much more than Sunday service is required yall.

Make sure your life is reflecting what you say
      This is key; our lives have to preach before we start to preach. When our lives don’t line up with what we say, that is hypocrisy. That just gives the world another reason to say “…There goes another fake Christian.” Just know that this takes time. It took us 20, 30, 40 years to master our specific sinful ways, so it’s going to be a process to walk in, live in, the new creatures we become in Christ.

Well I’m not going to preach anymore, lets just keep on pressing because God wants us to be a people who are truly set apart. If we want to run the race (in our pre-ordained lanes, with our own unique running styles, etc) we must take the first step. Ministry just means service, so to spend time behind the scenes with God is service (Romans 12). The more we do before we step out there, the less we will see Christians putting their hands to the plow, then turning back.

Jesus Reigns

Divenomous
Yuinon local 202