Friday, July 13, 2012

Ministry Pressures - Jeff Turner

Please, don't be offended at the following words. I don't want to, in the name of removing your condemnation, put you under condemnation. However, these issues need addressing:

An ungodly amount of pressure concerning evangelism has caused many Christians to become cold, unfeeling, mechanical repeaters of rehearsed rhetoric.

An ungodly amount of pressure concerning healing has caused many Christians to settle for cheap parlor tricks, and adrenaline rushes instead of real signs and wonders that confirm the Gospel.

An ungodly amount of pressure concerning prophetic ministry has caused many Christians to become glorified cold readers, and detail fishers, instead of edifiers, exhorters, and comforters.

You are not performing for your identity. Your identity is secure. You're a son, not a Holy Ghost Pez dispenser, or a miracle vending machine.

You don't have to preach to everyone.

You don't have to prophesy over everyone.

You don't have to pray for everyone.

I'm not promoting a form of spiritual pacifism, but when we become burdened by a pressure to perform, we wind up perverting the purity of that with which we have been entrusted. You are to move in response to the Spirit's voice, not out of a sense of pressure and condemnation. When you perform under pressure, you subconsciously bring to the table your insecurities and feelings of inadequacy, and are tempted to employ certain tactics that you know will work in order to keep your confidence level high. This might be good for you, but not for the person at the other end.

Let your confidence be in Christ, not the accuracy of a "word", or the speed at which a shortened limb grows. Be at rest in your place as a son of God! You don't *have* to do the works of Jesus, you *get* to do the works of Jesus. Not to become a son, but because you're a son. Stand firm in your identity, and don't settle for anything less than what Christ paid for.

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