Lay Ministry Weekend

This weekend was a great weekend for me. I always love when I get to go on my Lay Weekends because it gives me a renewal of spirit. I have to be honest with all my blogging friends. I have not been going to church or walking in my faith like I should. This weekend and Sunday has given me a renewed spirit that I hope will last my lifetime. I don't know if you all know about the Lay ministry that Anthony and I are involved in so I will briefly explain it.

As Lay people, we go to different churches on weekends and minister to the churches. We minister to them in a variety of ways. When we do what we call Lay Renewal Weekends. It’s exactly what it says. We go in and lead sharing groups and the services. It’s like a big D-Now for the whole church. It is to create a revival in the church. When we do Lay Ministry Weekends, it is usually after they have already done the Lay Renewal Weekend. We go in and teach the importance of Spiritual Gifts, Ministry and the how it relates to our daily lives. In all the weekends, as the Holy Spirit leads we share our testimonies. This was not always what I like to do but it seemed to have an effect on people. We don't do the weekends for ourselves, we do them to build up the Kingdom of God. We usually get more out of the weekends than the church does really.

This was a really excited weekend for me. I had always known that Christians had spiritual gifts but never really knew the importance of them. I guess that is because this is the first time in the 3 years I've been saved that I really heard about it. Spiritual Gifts are given to only believers in Christ. It is a supernatural ability that is given by the Holy Spirit when we get saved to enable us to minister and serve. They are not to be confused with Talents. Spiritual Gifts are given to us to create a lifestyle of Ministry. Everyone (Believers) are called, gifted, equipped, and sent by Jesus to ministry to the world around us. It very important that we know what our gifts are so that we can effectively minister to others. There are lots of ways to find out what your gift(s) are either through study (prayer), trial and error, tools that analyze, or input from other Christians. I think that it is easier to find your gift through ministry that it is to find a ministry to fit your gift. Your Spiritual gift is something that your enjoy doing or passionate about that you can use for the Glory of God. Now this is not to say that the only ministry you can do has to involve your Spiritual Gift. That is not true. We have things that God has commanded us to do that are not comfortable for us to do and don't involve our Spiritual Gift. We are still commanded to do these things. We are given Spiritual gifts to motivate us to minister to the lost. Wouldn't you rather do something you like than something you don't? This is what all I learned this weekend. Now I was really nervous going into this weekend because I have not been involved in my church like I am suppose to be. I even thought about backing out but I knew that this is what I needed to do this weekend. God provided everything that I needed to accomplish His will for this weekend.

What really stuck on my heart was the passage in 2 Peter 1:10-11. Ready from 3-11 but basically what 10-11 is saying is that there is an urgency to make sure that we are all saved. It can also be interoperated as making sure that we are doing what God has called us to do; that we are living the life worthy of the calling. A lot of times we get scared about what other people may say or if they will still be our friends if we stand up for what we believe but in Isaiah 43:5 it says "DO NOT BE AFRAID, FOR I AM WITH YOU" God is going to take care of all our worries and fears if we would just step out in faith and believe in him. He is not asking for much just our lives. Wouldn't it be so much easier and simpler if we let someone else tell us what to do and how to live our lives? Well God wants to be that person. He wants us to give our all to him and in return He will bless us not only in this life but the life after this one as well! Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. I have wasted so many years of my life doing what I wanted to do and not caring about the people around me or God. I am tired of wasting my life away. I know that I am still young enough to start now and make a difference.

So I have committed my life to the ministry of Christ. I by no means am an evangelist, but I do have the gift of knowledge and prophesy. I want to take what I am learning in the Bible, what God is speaking to me through the word and tell the world about it. I don't know where God will lead me but I will go. I pray that you all will do the same! God loves ya and I love ya!