Humility, surrender, discipline and living out the gospel. Clowney affirms are the some characteristics of a Minister. These arent easy to swallow, especially because any one of these would take a lifetime to "master" or take on as a character trait. If left to our own devices, minister or not, we would probably tend to become proud, independent, lazy and sinning. Thank you Holy Spirit for the beckoning back to you and into your service.
Our natural tendency is to savour the praise that we receive from others, but I guess when God works through our weakness that everyone can see it was Him and not us. All the glory would be his. We aint gonna be stealing any. O Lord, grant us the desire for more of you and to conform our lives to your will, more than we desire of any other thing from you, gifts or possessions or anything else. Let us find more joy in pleasing you than chasing the fleeting pleasures of this world. Amen.
From Page 60-63 of: Called to the Ministry
If this survey of the function of the minister has not given you pause, please abandon all thought of becoming a minister. If it has, be encouraged. To the degree that you are overwhelmed you show a willingness to take the ministry seriously...
A man's "natural" gifts cannot add up to a probability that he should choose the ministry. God has chosen the weak and foolish, not the mighty and wise, so that it might be quite clear that he alone is the Saviour. If you are a gifted speaker you should be effective as a lawyer or a salesman, but nothing can be said about your effectiveness as a preacher. The glib confidence of a ready tongue may be the very pride that bars you from the ministry. Not one of the apostles was an orator. If God calls you to speak for him, the speaking will be made possible...
A minister's gift of faith draws him to a life of commitment to Christ. We have seen that the calling of discipleship is the calling of the cross. This must be particularly evident in the life of the minister. Examine your calling in this respect. Are you a slave of Jesus Christ, already "bound in the spirit" to go wherever he calls you? (Acts 20:22). Are you willing to leave all and follow him, to rejoice in sufferings, to become a fool for Christ's sake? (1 Cor. 4:9-13).
The commitment of faith is measured by action—the ready obedience of spiritual discipline. The minister is a good soldier of Jesus Christ, trained to obey at once (II Tim. 2: 3,4), a practiced athlete (I Cor. 9:24-27), a hardworking farmer (II Tim. 2:6), a faithful steward (I Cor. 4:2). Growth in this discipline marks Christ's calling. Timothy had to be reminded by Paul that God had not given a Spirit who produced fear, but a Spirit of love, power, and discipline (II Tim. 1:7 A.R.V.)...
The minister's commitment of faith must be grounded in the knowledge of faith... Calling to the ministry and love of the Bible go together. If you do not share the privileges of Timothy's childhood you have the greater obligation to read and study the Word of God... The knowledge of faith is more than a grasp of Biblical facts. It includes a living response to the Biblical message.
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