Ministry is basically being able to be aware of your own self, but also what God’s orientation is to this person. What He is ministering to them, and why and how He might use your personality to bless them. But it does require us to not just give our gifts, but to seek Him how He is ministering to this other person or situation. And to align our gifts with that.

 Often, when i am seeking in prayer and journaling before counseling someone, i will realize why He would use me in this situation, and how clever God is in doing so. It leaves me with a sense, of not just confirmation of my own gifting, but also of a better picture of why God would be blessing this person in this way–ie how He father’s people. So I leave with a greater appreciation of who He is.

But there is always this need to seek His orientation to the other firstly–whether you are ministering to a city or person or into a particular situation. This is also about getting to know Him through ministry. That’s the point. Not just helping others, but also being mutually formed in Christ as you do.

It is also about keeping your own gifts on His Cross and in His service. Having His orientation towards another, takes prayer and preparation. This is the work of ministry. Even if you are planting verbal seeds to others. You need to seek God’s Tone and overall orientation towards each situation, if you want to actually Minister His True Life.

So ministry is really about getting to know and love God in the end. In other words, it becomes part of our spirituality or relationship with Him! Effective ministry then is growth in God for you and the other person.

Anyone can give their gifts, but to do so as a way of getting to know God, allows the Father’s true authority to come in, and we get to grow in wisdom–the application of our gifts in Love. Isn’t the point of ministry formation of the Life of Christ in us?!

Conversely, narcissistic ministry ends up leading people to the life of ourselves, or our own pet ideas, not Christ. It is soul rather than spirit led ministry.

 It is either about our own needs to feel useful to others, or a need for personal validation of our own gifts. Neither is really ministering the actual Life of Jesus into another’s life or situation! This is why we pray for His Presence and guidance before counseling or ministering to others. We want it to be Spirit led.

Often, for me, God will show me tools beforehand which may be useful for the other person, but while together these arise led by His Spirit, not me. We are collaborating with Christ in counseling. If we want our counseling to be more than a projection onto the other, we have to seek The Third beforehand.

So the key to ministry is meeting and getting to know Father more through ministering the Life of His Son to others. The fruit is mutual edification, not burnout. If we are burning out, we are soul driven in ministry. But if we getting to know Father through it, we will be mutually edified.