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Ministering the Word of God to
Others
(Mat 10:18-20
KJV)
And ye shall be brought
before governors and kings for my sake,
for a testimony against them
and the Gentiles.
{19} But when they deliver you up,
take no thought how or what ye shall speak:
for it shall be given you in that
same hour what ye shall speak.
{20} For it is not ye that speak,
but the Spirit of your Father
which speaketh in you.
(2 Pet 1:20-21
KJV)
Knowing this first, that no
prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
{21} For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man:
but holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Ghost.
How does one go
about writing devotionals or Bible studies?
Try not to write
them using your own opinions , and not regulated or limited within the Word
of God. Let the Lord write them through you, moving you along by the Holy
Spirit. One could write any number of your own opinions or clever
poems or editorials or spiritual advice, but is that something that will
really change a sinners life? Rather, seek to be a
messenger of the Lord's teaching to those He has given you to minister
unto. God looks into each person's heart and knows what that person
needs. He has His own agenda of what they need to hear, and when they need to
hear it. It is up to the minster or teacher to follow the
Spirit's leading, and give out what He tells you to. Let Him be the
Shepherd and the Teacher, and you be the scribe.
So here are a few principles which a christian
minister or teacher needs to add to his/her life and christian experience
to be able to minister the Word of God to others, either by speaking or writing
or by living the Christian life:
1) Read, mark, learn, love and inwardly digest the
scriptures.
Read the Word in every spare
moment of time that you have..lunch time, break time, bed time, quiet
time...give up time from amusements or tv to study it. Listen to tapes or
Christian radio preachers while driving or working. Read it in other
translations. Get dictionaries, concordances, commentaries. Listen to excellent
radio and TV preachers. Use Bible searching software and any other Bible study
helps that are available on the internet. Take classes at your church or
elsewhere to help you learn more about the Word. Ask God for wisdom to tell you
what the difficult passages mean, ask Him to explain scripture with scripture,
so you get it as correct as possible. Let the understanding of God's word be
your hobby, your obsession, your food, your life.
(Psa
119:11-16 KJV)
Thy word have I hid in mine
heart, that I might not sin against thee.
{12} Blessed art thou, O
LORD: teach me thy statutes.
{13} With my lips have I
declared all the judgments of thy mouth.
{14} I have rejoiced in the
way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches.
{15} I will meditate in thy
precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.
{16} I will delight
myself in thy statutes:
I will not forget thy
word.
2) Ask for
improved memory for the scriptures.
Claim this promise, which the Lord gave to the
disciples, for yourself:
(John 14:26 KJV)
But the Comforter,
which is the Holy Ghost,
whom the Father
will send in my name,
he shall teach
you all things,
and bring all things
to your remembrance,
whatsoever I have
said unto you.
This promise was not only given to the apostles for the purpose of remembering what Jesus taught so that they could write down the Gospels; it is given to all of us to claim when we are studying, witnessing, writing, or just meditating about God's Word while sitting in the dentist's chair. Claim it as your own, and expect God to honor it. And remember, the Word has to be IN your soul, so that the Holy Spirit can bring it to your remembrance. 3) Ask for Wisdom...as
much wisdom as it takes...even more than it
takes.
Ask God for as much wisdom as He wants to pour into
your hungry soul. The Bible says, Solomon was the wisest man that ever
lived or ever would live. However, what's wrong with being number 2, or number
3, or number 100? How big is your faith? How much wisdom is enough? How much
wisdom do you seek?
(James 1:5 KJV)
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God,
Who giveth to all men liberally, and will not criticize;
and it shall be given him.
4) Pray that God would reveal to you what is you spiritual gift(s)
that you need to do this kind of spiritual
work.
a)
prophecy (in the sense of
forth-telling God's Word and will),
b)
teaching (instruction in sound
doctrine, both for yourself and your
hearers)
c)
wisdom (application of truth to
individual circumstances),
d)
consolation, (empathy with the
pain of another, showing genuine concern)
e)
exhortation (calling near
or encouraging people to hear God's message),
f)
any other gifts the Lord may lay
on your heart to ask for as described in these
passages:
Romans 12:
6-18; 1 Cor 12:
1-31; 1 Cor 14:
1-33; Eph 4:
8-16
(Mat
25:14-15 KJV)
For the kingdom of
heaven is as a man travelling into a far country,
who called his own
servants, and delivered unto them his goods.
{15} And unto one he gave
five talents, to another two, and to another one;
to every man according to
his several ability;
and straightway took his
journey.
(Eph 4:11-13
KJV)
And he gave some, apostles; and
some, prophets;
and some, evangelists; and some,
pastors and teachers;
{12} For the perfecting of the
saints, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of
Christ:
{13} Till we all come in the unity
of the faith,
and of the knowledge of the Son of
God,
unto a perfect man, unto the
measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
5) Be prepared to experience suffering, and let God turn it into
wisdom.
The experience of enduring suffering,
sorrow, pain, discomfort, disease, or loss, is the University of God's Practical
Learning. It is what He uses to allow us to feel the pain of others in a real
way, to empathize with what they are going through, to have a practical
knowledge of how to endure or overcome the adversity, how to understand where
they are coming from, so we know where to start to help them. Believe that
at some future time, our painful experiences will be used by God to help someone
else.
(James 5:10-11
KJV) Take, my brethren,
the prophets,
who have
spoken in the name of the Lord,
for an
example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
{11} Behold,
we count them happy which endure.
Ye have heard of
the patience of Job,
and have seen the
end of the Lord;
that the Lord is
extremely compassionate, and of tender mercy.
(2 Cor 1:3-4
KJV) Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of mercies, and
the God of all comfort;
{4} Who comforteth us in
all our tribulation,
that we may be able to
comfort them which are in any trouble,
by the comfort wherewith
we ourselves are comforted of God.
6) Be prepared to be
honest and transparent about what God has taught you.
This is related to the
experience of suffering, i.e. the sharing of suffering experiences. Not going
around looking for sympathy because of what you are going through; or hiding
some negative experience because it might be personally embarrassing; but be
willing to open your heart and let someone peek in...at the appropriate
time. Share with them how God delivered you, and how He can therefore
deliver them too, then share whatever comfort you feel the Holy Spirit leads you
to give.
(Luke 2:19
KJV)
But Mary kept
all these things,
and pondered
them in her heart.
(Mat 6:16-18 KJV)
Moreover when ye fast,
be not, as the hypocrites,
of a sad countenance:
for they disfigure their
faces,
that they may appear unto men to
fast.
Verily I say unto you, They
have their reward.
{17} But thou, when thou
fastest,
anoint thine head, and wash thy
face;
{18} That thou appear not
unto men to fast,
but unto thy Father which is
in secret:
and thy Father, which seeth in
secret, shall reward thee openly.
(2 Cor 11:29-31 TLB)
Who makes a mistake and I
do not feel his sadness?
Who falls without my
longing to help him?
Who is spiritually
hurt
without my fury
rising against the one who hurt him?
{30} But if I must
brag,
I would rather brag about
the things that show how weak I am.
{31} God, the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who is to be praised
forever and ever,
knows I tell the truth.
7) Pray and ask that the Holy Spirit speak through you the very words
you should speak.
Ask Him to hide you
behind His Word, so that the reader or listener would not see you, but Jesus
only...
(2 Pet 1:20) (LIVING
BIBLE)
For no prophecy
recorded in Scripture
was ever thought up
by the prophet himself.
It was the Holy
Spirit within these godly men
who gave them
true messages from God.
(John 3:27-30 KJV)
John (the baptizer) answered and said, A man can receive
nothing, except it be given him from heaven.
{28} Ye yourselves
bear me witness, that I said,
I am not the Christ, but
that I am sent before him.
{29} He that
hath the bride is the bridegroom:
but the friend of the
bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him,
rejoiceth greatly
because of the bridegroom's voice:
this my joy therefore is
fulfilled.
{30} He must
increase, but I must decrease. (Gal 2:20 KJV)
I am crucified with
Christ: nevertheless I live;
yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me:
and the life which I now
live in the flesh,
I live by the faith
of the Son of God,
who loved me, and gave
himself for me.
(Mat
17:8 KJV)
And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man,
save Jesus
only. 8) Use the actual Bible verses
in your work, not just the reference.
Human nature, being what it is, is
lazy...as such, if you just give the
reference (example-Gal 2:20)
instead of typing out the whole verse, you run the risk that people will
just go on reading your tract with the intention to look it up later, but
may just not get around to it.
The Word of
God has its own inherent power, it is capable of
convicting and changing people's minds. Our words, no matter how learned or
clever they may be, are but a vague shadow of what we have already been
taught...kind of a pre-digested form of the real food. If we consider our
words are more important than God's words, we miss out on using
this power to its fullest extent.
This is why we need to so extensively
learn the Word, and quote it in its proper meaning and context. If we quote a
verse outside of the context that God has intended it to mean, we are not
actually quoting the truth, and so God will not honor our words. Be sure to read
some verses before and some after the verse that you quote, (ie. the context)
, so that you can be sure the verse actually means what God has intended it
to mean.
(Heb 4:12 TLB)
For whatever God
says to us is full of living power:
it is sharper
than the sharpest dagger,
cutting swift and
deep into our innermost thoughts and desires
with all their
parts,
exposing us for
what we really are.
And although the following
verse is specifically warning against changing any of the content of The
Book of the Revelation, you have to believe that God's Holy Zeal guards all of
the scriptures with the same passion...
(Mat 5:17-19
KJV)
Think not that I am come to
destroy the law, or the prophets:
I am not come to destroy,
but to fulfil.
{18} For verily I say unto you,
Till heaven and earth pass,
one jot or one tittle shall in no
wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
{19} Whosoever therefore
shall break one of these least commandments,
and shall teach men
so,
he shall be called the
least in the kingdom of heaven:
but whosoever shall do and teach
them,
the same shall be called great in
the kingdom of heaven.
(Rev 22:18-19 KJV)
For I testify unto
every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book,
If any man shall
add unto these things,
God shall add unto
him the plagues that are written in this book:
{19} And if
any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy,
God shall take away
his part out of the book of life,
and out of the holy
city,
and from
the things which are written in this book.
Luke 21:33 (KJV)
Jesus
said:
Heaven and earth shall pass
away:
but my words shall not pass
away. 9) Pray that God
would bless each one that hears or reads your message in some
way.
(Rev 1:3 KJV)
Blessed is
he that readeth,
and they that hear
the words of this prophecy,
and keep those
things which are written therein:
for the time
is at hand.
(Num 6:24-26 KJV)
The LORD bless thee, and keep
thee:
{25} The LORD make his
face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
{26} The LORD lift up his
countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
God Bless you as you seek to serve the
Risen Saviour. In Christ....brother
bob.......<>< IXTHEUS CHRISTIAN GROWTH DEVOTIONALS
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bob.......<><
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