Ministry

Serving God: Patience With Everyone
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Serving God: Patience With Everyone

It is my prayer that every Christian recognizes the importance of serving God through the way we serve others.  There are few things, if any, that are as emotionally exhilarating, and draining, as the task of serving others.  Having worked in a variety of ministry settings, including various roles within Christian camp ministry, I understand the excitement that often comes with the beginning of a new ministry or ministry season.  I also understand the weariness than can develop when our focus begins to drift away from the ministry of serving and onto ourselves.

This is day four in the eleventh week of devotions from the book, “Serving God: Devotions for Active Worship”.  This devotional book is laid out in thirteen weeks of daily devotions with each week wrapped around an aspect of how we can serve others.  Each of these devotions are designed to help a person spend time with God to see how serving others is an act of worship.

Serving God:
Patience With Everyone

“And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.  Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.“
1 Thessalonians 5:14-15 (NIV)

Are there certain people that you find it difficult to be patient with?  Are there times when people are not as patient with you as you think they ought to be?  What characteristics of people do you find you have the least amount of patience with?  How does losing your patience with one person affect how you serve someone else?  Why is having patience with everyone important to those you serve?

It is easy for most of us to let certain actions of people irritate us to the point that we have no patience with what they are doing, or with them.  Unfortunately, not only is our ability to serve them well diminished as our patience decreases, the lack of patience becomes contagious and spreads to others around us who we would otherwise have great patience with.  As we serve, we usually need people to have patience with us.  Yet when our lack of patience infects those we are to serve, we soon discover an atmosphere where everyone has a really short fuse.  As you pray, ask God to help you to have patience with everyone.  Pray that you would have particular growth in your patience with those whom you have difficulty with.  Pray that the way you patiently serve others would be reflected in their level of patience with you.

In prayer,

Tom

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Encouragement and Prayer: Patience Produced By God’s Spirit (03/23/21)

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This is the audio from the March 23, 2021 live social media broadcast of encouragement and prayer by Impact Prayer Ministry’s director, Tom Lemler.

You can find the live video feeds of these encouragement and prayer times on Impact Prayer Ministry’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.

In prayer,
Tom

Serving God: Patience Produced By God’s Spirit
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Serving God: Patience Produced By God’s Spirit

It is my prayer that every Christian recognizes the importance of serving God through the way we serve others.  There are few things, if any, that are as emotionally exhilarating, and draining, as the task of serving others.  Having worked in a variety of ministry settings, including various roles within Christian camp ministry, I understand the excitement that often comes with the beginning of a new ministry or ministry season.  I also understand the weariness than can develop when our focus begins to drift away from the ministry of serving and onto ourselves.

This is day three in the eleventh week of devotions from the book, “Serving God: Devotions for Active Worship”.  This devotional book is laid out in thirteen weeks of daily devotions with each week wrapped around an aspect of how we can serve others.  Each of these devotions are designed to help a person spend time with God to see how serving others is an act of worship.

Serving God:
Patience Produced By God’s Spirit

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.“
Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)

What are some things that you find difficult to do on your own?  How much help would it be to have someone who knows what they are doing assist you?  How readily do you accept help when you know it is available?  How do the things that surround patience as part of the fruit of God’s Spirit help you to serve with greater patience?  How often do you turn to God for help in having patience with others when patience is not what you feel?

Many times people will pick apart the fruit of God’s Spirit and claim the elements they find pleasing while avoiding the ones that seem like extra work.  For me, the good news when we lack patience with people and situations is that I don’t have to come up with the necessary patience on my own — God’s Spirit will produce it in me if I seek it and allow it to take place.  Serving others often calls for a level of patience that can be difficult to have on our own.  Without the presence of God through His Spirit, we simply don’t have what it takes to be as patient as we ought to be.  As you pray, ask God to give you the courage necessary to allow His Spirit to produce patience in your life.  Pray that He would be seen as His Spirit produces a patience in the way you serve others.

In prayer,

Tom

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Encouragement and Prayer: Patience Because Of Love (03/22/21)

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This is the audio from the March 22, 2021 live social media broadcast of encouragement and prayer by Impact Prayer Ministry’s director, Tom Lemler.

You can find the live video feeds of these encouragement and prayer times on Impact Prayer Ministry’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.

In prayer,
Tom

Serving God: Patience Because Of Love
by

Serving God: Patience Because Of Love

It is my prayer that every Christian recognizes the importance of serving God through the way we serve others.  There are few things, if any, that are as emotionally exhilarating, and draining, as the task of serving others.  Having worked in a variety of ministry settings, including various roles within Christian camp ministry, I understand the excitement that often comes with the beginning of a new ministry or ministry season.  I also understand the weariness than can develop when our focus begins to drift away from the ministry of serving and onto ourselves.

This is day two in the eleventh week of devotions from the book, “Serving God: Devotions for Active Worship”.  This devotional book is laid out in thirteen weeks of daily devotions with each week wrapped around an aspect of how we can serve others.  Each of these devotions are designed to help a person spend time with God to see how serving others is an act of worship.

Serving God:
Patience Because Of Love

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.“
1 Corinthians 13:4 (NIV)

How patient are you with the people you love?  Is that different than your level of patience with those you simply tolerate?  How about with people you can’t stand?  Would your answer to any of those questions need to change if you were to view patience as a result of God’s love toward you rather than your feelings toward a person?  How has God’s patience toward you been demonstrated through His love?

Young love is a fascinating thing.  We often use the phrase, “a honeymoon period”, to describe a time when faults are overlooked and patience is at an all-time high.  While the phrase comes from a marriage relationship, it is used in many situations where love for a person, an idea, a job, a friendship, or a variety of other things makes us appear, for a time, blind to the everyday faults that everyone else can see.  When God says that love is patient, He is talking about a love that helps us serve others when the people around us say they don’t deserve it.  As you pray, ask God to fill you with His love in a way that gives you patience in serving others.  Pray that you would daily see God’s love as He is patient with you.   Pray for a patience that overlooks the offences of others in the same way God overlooks yours.

In prayer,

Tom

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Encouragement and Prayer: Patience From Wisdom (03/21/21)

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This is the audio from the March 21, 2021 live social media broadcast of encouragement and prayer by Impact Prayer Ministry’s director, Tom Lemler.

You can find the live video feeds of these encouragement and prayer times on Impact Prayer Ministry’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.

In prayer,
Tom

Serving God: Patience From Wisdom
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Serving God: Patience From Wisdom

It is my prayer that every Christian recognizes the importance of serving God through the way we serve others.  There are few things, if any, that are as emotionally exhilarating, and draining, as the task of serving others.  Having worked in a variety of ministry settings, including various roles within Christian camp ministry, I understand the excitement that often comes with the beginning of a new ministry or ministry season.  I also understand the weariness than can develop when our focus begins to drift away from the ministry of serving and onto ourselves.

This is day one in the eleventh week of devotions from the book, “Serving God: Devotions for Active Worship”.  This devotional book is laid out in thirteen weeks of daily devotions with each week wrapped around an aspect of how we can serve others.  Each of these devotions are designed to help a person spend time with God to see how serving others is an act of worship.

Serving God:
Patience From Wisdom

“A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.“
Proverbs 19:11 (NIV)

Are you a patient person?  Would your friends agree?  In what ways are you more, or less, patient now than you were a year ago?  What caused the change?  How has your level of wisdom changed in the same time period?  How does wisdom increase your patience?  How does patience increase your wisdom?

The old joke says to never pray for patience because God may answer by putting us into a situation that requires great patience.  While many would view patience as a noble quality, few in our culture are eager to wait for anything.  Wisdom is gained through a combination of experience and the time necessary to see that experience from God’s perspective.  The more we grow in wisdom in this manner, the more patient we become as we learn to wait with expectation for how God will work out our current situation for a greater good.  When we apply that wisdom to serving, it should give us a greater patience in watching for how God will bring about transformation in our life as well as in the lives of those we serve.  As you pray, ask God to fill you with a wisdom that will produce patience with those you serve.  Pray that you would have a greater practice of patience in your interactions with others as you grow in godly wisdom.

In prayer,

Tom

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Encouragement and Prayer: Listen For Instruction (03/20/21)

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This is the audio from the March 20, 2021 live social media broadcast of encouragement and prayer by Impact Prayer Ministry’s director, Tom Lemler.

You can find the live video feeds of these encouragement and prayer times on Impact Prayer Ministry’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.

In prayer,
Tom