Here’s a confession … I’m getting more and more disillusioned with the “business” of the ministry. My email box constantly receives promotional materials for the “how-to’s” of ministry … how to grow a church, shut the back door, gain more volunteers, keep visitors, discover the “WOW” factor, increase the finances, etc. Enough already. I’m suffocating. And, in the midst of the deluge of “how to’s”, I never, I repeat NEVER, receive emails encouraging me to turn off the computer, NOT attend their conference or buy their book, or stay away from their $500 DVD teaching package and instead go into the prayer closet and hear from heaven.
Let me give you Jesus’ take on this. I’m using the World English Translation to eliminate the “thee” and “thou” that Jesus didn’t use.
“But you, when you pray, enter into your inner chamber,
and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret,
and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”
Matthew 6:6
It’s not formulas that will build the church and the Kingdom. Jesus said that the open reward comes from the presence and power that is gained while being with Him. Without this presence and power, we always revert to man’s how-to concoctions. Let me let you in on a secret. Today’s formulas trumpeted in conferences and books will be replaced in days to come by new revelations and studies. But, Matthew 6:6 has stood the test of time and is unchangeable.
Let me close with a quote from one of my all-time favorite authors, Leonard Ravenhill.
“You never have to advertise a fire. Everyone comes running when there’s a fire. Likewise, if your church is on fire, you will not have to advertise it. The community will already know it.”
Now go to the secluded inner chamber and in secret ignite the fire that can only come from heaven. Your community is waiting on you!
