“Lord Jesus, have mercy on us. We have been living only to fulfil our own agenda in life. We have not sought to know Your call and purpose for our lives. Please forgive us. Reveal Your purpose for us so that we will realize it during our lifetime. In Your name, we pray. Amen.”
Acts 3:9-10 And all the people saw him walking and praising God. (10) Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
God moved this man from a state of hopelessness, into His Shalom. This is ministry. Each of us must fulfil the ministry that the Lord has for us, during our lifetime. This is seeking first His kingdom.
Sadly, many of us are busy pursuing our own agenda in life. We go to God asking for His blessing and favour to accomplish OUR plans. Whereas, God’s heart breaks over us that we are not seeking first His kingdom.
God has designed a purpose or ministry for us and we must endeavour, in the enablement of His Holy Spirit, to discover God’s purpose for each of us and for us, as His church, and achieve the same.
I Corinthians 2:9-10 But as it is written: “EYE HAS NOT SEEN, NOR EAR HEARD, NOR HAVE ENTERED INTO THE HEART OF MAN THE THINGS WHICH GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.” (10) But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
We see God revealing His purpose for John the Baptist, even before John was born. Zachariah had to play a role in God’s purpose being fulfilled in the life of John.
Luke 1:13-17 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. (14) And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. (15) For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. (16) And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. (17) He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS TO THE CHILDREN,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Zachariah and Elizabeth longed for a child but it was a prayer of their heart of God. God heard their desire. Zachariah’s longing was not only for a child but he longed that his people, Israel, would return to God.
This is where our ministry is birthed. Do we see needs around us, amongst our own people, as to how they are weary and scattered, like sheep without a shepherd? We need the eyes of Jesus to see the true condition of our own people.
Matthew 9:36-38 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. (37) Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the labourers are few. (38) Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest.”
John would give gladness to the heart of Zachariah for he would turn people back to God.
Zachariah and Elizabeth had to raise John as a Nazarite. He had to be set apart for God and from the world.
Do we see ourselves and our children as set apart for God and from the world? Yes, we are in the world but we ought not to be of the world. It is the training that we give from God’s word that will enable us and our children to be set apart for His purposes.
This is the Lord’s prayer for us. John 17:15-18 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. (16) They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. (17) Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. (18) As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
Here we see ministry being explained. John baptised people. Yet, that was not his ministry. His ministry was to turn the people of Israel to Lord their God. John’s target audience was clear. He had to move people from where they were, which was away from God, and turn them towards God. This is what John accomplished during his brief time on earth.
Just as the lame man, transitioned from his lameness in body, mind and spirit, into the Shalom of God, each of us must know and be engaged in His kingdom purposes here on earth, which is brief.
It would be tragic if, at the end of our lives, all that we have accomplished was to make ourselves and our families secure and well-settled but did not know nor accomplish God’s kingdom purpose for us.
Will we as His church, humble ourselves before God, repent and seek His face, to know His purpose for us and fulfil the same?