Is One Enough?…

If God has me working with one person, and that person takes up all the ministry time I have to offer… does it count as A ministry? How many people, tasks, or places, must I have on my agenda to be an official ministry &/or a mission? If I am a mom, or a CEO of a huge corporation, or a volunteer at any number of needy organizations, am I on a mission field? And… if I don’t give up all and go to a 3rd world country… can I really fulfill the calling of Jesus to go and make disciples? And how many disciples are enough?

Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

I love what Heidi Baker says (“About IRIS” at www.IRIS global.org)”But we were so impacted by the condition of the poor that we changed direction drastically and began to stop for the one and prove the love of God by first addressing the temporal needs of the broken and humble, “the least of these.”

She and Rolland have spent 30 years in this miraculously growing ministry in Africa (I strongly encourage you to CHECK IT OUT)… but I believe “stop for the one and prove the love of God” works anywhere! And I believe it is the good pleasure of God… Philippians 2:13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. 

Stop for the one is my husband… my kids… my neighbor… my best friend… and my enemy!

Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. 

Am I saying you shouldn’t go to the mission fields in other places? No! But I am saying that God prepared our good works ahead of time and THOSE are the good works we should seek to walk in.

Ephesians 2:19-22 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner-stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. 

If God fits you in Mozambique… run in order to walk in those works prepared for you. If God has planted you in a little town, in a little house, in the U.S.A… march boldly to the song… “God Bless America” through the works He has prepared for you.

1 Peter 4:10-11 As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

And most importantly…

Colossians 3:17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

Wherever you are, whatever you have been called to do… stop for the one and SPEAK the heart of God…

Matthew 25:35-40 For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’

Now that my friends, is the truest, most glorious MINISTRY you can have… Ministry to Jesus Himself!

And He… the One… is more than enough!

**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB      version of the Bible