Ministries

         Ministries should not be determined by man's motives but by God's direction. He leads and we follow. Some ministries begin and fizzle out shortly while others go on because God is directing it. I have felt that the ministry of these devotions has been directed by God and that they have endured over the years because of His direction. This month marks the 20^th anniversary of the devotions that have been meant to be an encouragement on the road of life. Twenty years ago, Darrin affolter suggested to me in the hallway of the lower level of Bethel Baptist Church that we send out a daily devotion, church calendar and prayer list to our college students scattered in different schools in the state of West Virginia. Thus, the ministry of the devotion began. I may have missed a couple of days during my two strokes or my two surgeries but for the most part we have kept up with the daily encouragement ministry through the internet. The ministry has always been just Monday through Friday. I am not saying that the weekend does not need to be a time of encouragement as there may be more needs during the weekend than those of the week days. The Lord has blessed during these years as He always does. Acts 16:10 says, “And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.”

        The Apostle Paul was looking for guidance during his second missionary journey and the Holy Spirit closed two doors and finally the evangelistic team settled in to wait for God's leading. The outcome was the ministry to Europe that began in the vision at Troas. Paul was faithful to the heavenly call from macedonia and never faltered even though there were many instances of hardship along the way. The incident at Philipi that included going to the local jail for the night would have been a discouragement for many but Paul and Silas just sang songs praising God at midnight and God was faithful in the ministry that He had given to them. Ministries come and go and quite often fail because they are man made and not God made. Paul certainly could have been discouraged as indicated by the books that He has penned in the Scriptures under the leading of the Holy Spirit. The churches at Corinth, Thessalonica and Philippi brought all kinds of difficulties, yet Paul remained faithful to the ministry to which he had been called. Utilizing the internet may be a strange way to present the Good News of the Gospel but you never know just how far it often goes. The messages of the devotion go our to about 48 different people plus a personal blog and then to Facebook. Several others however forward the same devotion to their own personal list which amount to many others. Who knows where they go from there. All that to say, that God takes it and multiplies it far beyond what I could ever plan to do. You never know just how far God uses your own lives in the sending forth of the Gospel message. It may be your prayers, your care for someone, your helping another person and certainly your righteous acts for the needs of another. May we all be faithful to the ministry that God has given to each and everyone of us. Praise God for His use of believers for the propagation of the Gospel.