Being Slow about Ministry
by Pastor Dag Heward-MIlls
Many pastors are slow about advancing in their ministry. Sometimes they are slow in obeying the call of God. Perhaps, this is because many pastors have a phlegmatic temperament. Slowness is a very dangerous thing in the ministry. One of the determinants of our lives is the speed at which we move.
What is the time according to God’s clock? There are three times that are running simultaneously. These are “my time”, “your time” and “the time”.
Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready.
John 7:6
Take a look at your watch right now. In the natural that is your time. Take a look at some one else’s watch. That is his time. But what is the time?
In real life, every watch has a slightly different time. My watch is usually set a few minutes fast to help me overcome the spirit of lateness. Other people have more accurate watches. This phenomenon gives rise to a multitude of different times for everyone.
In the spirit realm, we all have different times. My time is different from your time. That is why Jesus said, “My time is not yet come but your time is always ready.”
A few years ago, Princess Diana shocked the world by making a sudden and tragic exit. No one expected her to die when she did. No one expected her to die on the Sunday morning that she died.
A week before she died, if you had asked me, “What is the time?” I would have said, “It is Sunday morning, and time for church”. If you had asked her the same question she would probably have answered, “It is another Sunday morning; and a few days before I go to be with my boyfriend in France”. But the time was actually seven days to her death. Unfortunately she didn’t know it.
On the Saturday before she died, she was having dinner with her Egyptian boyfriend in Paris. If someone had asked you, “What time is it?” you might have said, “It is eight o’clock.” If someone had asked her she may have said, “It is Saturday night, and a time of lovemaking and dreaming of a better future.” But she was wrong; the real time for her was a couple of hours before the end. She was also one week closer to her funeral.
“My time” speaks of where I am in the timetable of my life. “Your time”, speaks of where you are in the timetable of “your life”, and “the time”, speaks of where we are in God’s overall timetable.
Unknown to many people, this earthly life is very time-related. Every instruction or opportunity is time-related. Hear this and hear it very well: every instruction that God has given to you has an invisible timer. A countdown begins the moment God speaks to you. The available time to perform that duty reduces with every passing hour. Many think they are just biding time and will take God seriously later. Do not be deceived! The expiry date of your grace period is fast approaching.
Like I said, Princess Diana might have been planning for her wedding. What she didn’t know was that she was not far from the night of her exitus. She was oblivious to the fact that she was to be the subject of the largest funeral of all time. She didn’t know the time.
Do you know the time? Do we know the time?
If God has told you to do some work, the clock has begun to tick. A time will come when you will no longer be able to fulfil that instruction.
Sometimes God speaks to you: “Finance my Kingdom.” Perhaps that comes along with a five-year period wherein you can obey Him. Perhaps He tells you: “Go out as a missionary.” Maybe that instruction has a ten-year lease. Some people spend eight years of that period doing other things and then in the last two years, attempt to obey God. But their time is almost up. Nothing effective can be done in the remaining two years.
One day, God is going to remove the element of time from our lives. This has been prophesied in the book of Revelation where He swore that there would no longer be time. But until then, everything we have to do is very much related to a ticking clock.
Dear Christian, if you think you have forever to please Him you are living in the highest kind of deception.
And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:
Revelation 10:6
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
Ecclesiastes 3:1
I read a book in which the author said, “Write the books you intend to write and write them now.” He continued, “At another stage of your life, you will not write the same things you would have written then.” How true that is. Perhaps if I were to write the books I wrote some years ago now, I would not write them in the same way today.
Five More Lives
Once, my children were playing on their play station. There was this creature that was making its way through a jungle with all sorts of amazing traps and ambushes. Gigantic wheels would appear and roll over their player. Deep ridges would appear into which the player would fall. Eagles flew over trying to kill the player. As I watched, my son’s player was suddenly destroyed by a huge animal, which came from nowhere.
Then I said, “Oh, sorry, that is the end of the game. You’ve lost your player.”
But he answered “Oh, don’t worry I have five more lives. The game is not over at all.”
The computer games of our world have deceived us into thinking that we have multiple lives. We have nothing but one life and one death. The clock is ticking and opportunities are passing by.
There will even be a time when you will hear the Word of God but will not be able to repent. In the book of John, Jesus said, “Do not say that there are yet four months.” In other words do not give yourself extra time. This is the time of the harvest. It is time to respond now.
Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
John 4:35
Gordon Lindsay, a man of God, who built Bible schools and churches in the sixties, wrote this powerful poem. It depicts the life of a young man who was offered the opportunity to get involved in the harvest. He procrastinated until he was too old to obey God. He never intended to disregard the call of God. But before he realized, his life was over. Read this poem by Gordon Lindsay. I believe it will bless your heart.
Sunrise and skies are fair. A day begins without a care! A day for joy! A day for leisure! A day for thrills! A day for pleasure! Youth is merry and young. Youth is gay. The great reaper is far away.
But there is a call, ‘tis the master’s voice! I need you today, may I be your choice. A harvest is waiting and the fields are white. Will you join the reapers in the morning bright? Awake, oh youth, to the heavenly vision. Because multitudes, multitudes are in the valley of decision. The morning sun high above the earth!
A cry of distress in the midst of mirth! Heathen are born and heathen are dying.
Is there none to hear them crying? “Oh yes,” said the youth. Count me as one to help in this harvest till the day is done. Yet he lingered on for a little more fun.
High sun, high noon; you’ll be hearing from me soon. I’ve married a wife, I’ve property to see; five yoke of oxen acquired by me. I’ll soon heed the call. I’ll join the band. Ready to give the reapers a hand, but he carried on. He had a bargain in hand.
Afternoon sun and afternoon light, the golden ore hastened its flight. Conscience still hard memories daunted. Wealth, he had acquired, yet more was wanted. Many were the possessions he proudly flaunted; houses and barns, lands and farms, streams and ponds, stocks and bonds. Chickens and hogs, forest and logs, crops and flack, meadows and haystacks, orchards and berries, vineyards and cherries.
Day was waxing, day was waning, still the rich man was entertaining for a sinister voice had spoken and said, ‘On with the fun, on with the dance. Go ahead and make merry while you have the chance. You’re a man of the times, you’re ten feet tall. He saw time yet for the call. So a little more jolly and a little more fun.’ And the hours slipped away until there were none.
Sunrise to sun fall. The day was wasting on the western wall. Hands still busy with a thousand thing. As evening descends and curfew brings. The day had faded into twilight red. As multitudes hasten to join the dead.
“I am ready”, “I am ready” said the man at last. But shaking hands could not hold fast. His hair unnoticed had turned to gray. Still he thought it was yesterday. Alas, harvest past, it was too late. To save those who had gone to a Christless grave.
Where is the silver and where is the gold? Where are the possessions to another soul? Where are the sheep that grazed the hill? And where are the cattle that drank from the river? Where are the barns that were filled with plenty? And where are the thoroughbreds one hundred and twenty? Where are the heirlooms? Where are the treasures? Where is the laughter? Where are the pleasures? Where are the porters? Where is the wine? Where are the delicacies? And the dinners that are so fine?
Sun sunk low. And night descended. The summer is gone, the harvest is ended. O for a chance for time extended!! A wasted life was never intended!! Sun fall and noon rise. What is left of the rich man’s prize? Go out to the valley to yonder hill, and see the marble standing still. Treasures were offered in heaven. But he took instead the cold reward of the unsaved dead!
And what of us who live today? This is our home let us not stay!! A call to the harvest till it shall end. Work now, work fast, and reap my friend. New dawn and sunrise! Till the faithful the master will give the prize.
by Dag Heward-Mills
Many pastors are slow about advancing in their ministry. Sometimes they are slow in obeying the call of God. Perhaps, this is because many pastors have a phlegmatic temperament. Slowness is a very dangerous thing in the ministry. One of the determinants of our lives is the speed at which we move.
What is the time according to God’s clock? There are three times that are running simultaneously. These are “my time”, “your time” and “the time”.
Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready.
John 7:6
Take a look at your watch right now. In the natural that is your time. Take a look at some one else’s watch. That is his time. But what is the time?
In real life, every watch has a slightly different time. My watch is usually set a few minutes fast to help me overcome the spirit of lateness. Other people have more accurate watches. This phenomenon gives rise to a multitude of different times for everyone.
In the spirit realm, we all have different times. My time is different from your time. That is why Jesus said, “My time is not yet come but your time is always ready.”
A few years ago, Princess Diana shocked the world by making a sudden and tragic exit. No one expected her to die when she did. No one expected her to die on the Sunday morning that she died.
A week before she died, if you had asked me, “What is the time?” I would have said, “It is Sunday morning, and time for church”. If you had asked her the same question she would probably have answered, “It is another Sunday morning; and a few days before I go to be with my boyfriend in France”. But the time was actually seven days to her death. Unfortunately she didn’t know it.
On the Saturday before she died, she was having dinner with her Egyptian boyfriend in Paris. If someone had asked you, “What time is it?” you might have said, “It is eight o’clock.” If someone had asked her she may have said, “It is Saturday night, and a time of lovemaking and dreaming of a better future.” But she was wrong; the real time for her was a couple of hours before the end. She was also one week closer to her funeral.
“My time” speaks of where I am in the timetable of my life. “Your time”, speaks of where you are in the timetable of “your life”, and “the time”, speaks of where we are in God’s overall timetable.
Unknown to many people, this earthly life is very time-related. Every instruction or opportunity is time-related. Hear this and hear it very well: every instruction that God has given to you has an invisible timer. A countdown begins the moment God speaks to you. The available time to perform that duty reduces with every passing hour. Many think they are just biding time and will take God seriously later. Do not be deceived! The expiry date of your grace period is fast approaching.
Like I said, Princess Diana might have been planning for her wedding. What she didn’t know was that she was not far from the night of her exitus. She was oblivious to the fact that she was to be the subject of the largest funeral of all time. She didn’t know the time.
Do you know the time? Do we know the time?
If God has told you to do some work, the clock has begun to tick. A time will come when you will no longer be able to fulfil that instruction.
Sometimes God speaks to you: “Finance my Kingdom.” Perhaps that comes along with a five-year period wherein you can obey Him. Perhaps He tells you: “Go out as a missionary.” Maybe that instruction has a ten-year lease. Some people spend eight years of that period doing other things and then in the last two years, attempt to obey God. But their time is almost up. Nothing effective can be done in the remaining two years.
One day, God is going to remove the element of time from our lives. This has been prophesied in the book of Revelation where He swore that there would no longer be time. But until then, everything we have to do is very much related to a ticking clock.
Dear Christian, if you think you have forever to please Him you are living in the highest kind of deception.
And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:
Revelation 10:6
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
Ecclesiastes 3:1
I read a book in which the author said, “Write the books you intend to write and write them now.” He continued, “At another stage of your life, you will not write the same things you would have written then.” How true that is. Perhaps if I were to write the books I wrote some years ago now, I would not write them in the same way today.
Five More Lives
Once, my children were playing on their play station. There was this creature that was making its way through a jungle with all sorts of amazing traps and ambushes. Gigantic wheels would appear and roll over their player. Deep ridges would appear into which the player would fall. Eagles flew over trying to kill the player. As I watched, my son’s player was suddenly destroyed by a huge animal, which came from nowhere.
Then I said, “Oh, sorry, that is the end of the game. You’ve lost your player.”
But he answered “Oh, don’t worry I have five more lives. The game is not over at all.”
The computer games of our world have deceived us into thinking that we have multiple lives. We have nothing but one life and one death. The clock is ticking and opportunities are passing by.
There will even be a time when you will hear the Word of God but will not be able to repent. In the book of John, Jesus said, “Do not say that there are yet four months.” In other words do not give yourself extra time. This is the time of the harvest. It is time to respond now.
Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
John 4:35
Gordon Lindsay, a man of God, who built Bible schools and churches in the sixties, wrote this powerful poem. It depicts the life of a young man who was offered the opportunity to get involved in the harvest. He procrastinated until he was too old to obey God. He never intended to disregard the call of God. But before he realized, his life was over. Read this poem by Gordon Lindsay. I believe it will bless your heart.
Sunrise and skies are fair. A day begins without a care! A day for joy! A day for leisure! A day for thrills! A day for pleasure! Youth is merry and young. Youth is gay. The great reaper is far away.
But there is a call, ‘tis the master’s voice! I need you today, may I be your choice. A harvest is waiting and the fields are white. Will you join the reapers in the morning bright? Awake, oh youth, to the heavenly vision. Because multitudes, multitudes are in the valley of decision. The morning sun high above the earth!
A cry of distress in the midst of mirth! Heathen are born and heathen are dying.
Is there none to hear them crying? “Oh yes,” said the youth. Count me as one to help in this harvest till the day is done. Yet he lingered on for a little more fun.
High sun, high noon; you’ll be hearing from me soon. I’ve married a wife, I’ve property to see; five yoke of oxen acquired by me. I’ll soon heed the call. I’ll join the band. Ready to give the reapers a hand, but he carried on. He had a bargain in hand.
Afternoon sun and afternoon light, the golden ore hastened its flight. Conscience still hard memories daunted. Wealth, he had acquired, yet more was wanted. Many were the possessions he proudly flaunted; houses and barns, lands and farms, streams and ponds, stocks and bonds. Chickens and hogs, forest and logs, crops and flack, meadows and haystacks, orchards and berries, vineyards and cherries.
Day was waxing, day was waning, still the rich man was entertaining for a sinister voice had spoken and said, ‘On with the fun, on with the dance. Go ahead and make merry while you have the chance. You’re a man of the times, you’re ten feet tall. He saw time yet for the call. So a little more jolly and a little more fun.’ And the hours slipped away until there were none.
Sunrise to sun fall. The day was wasting on the western wall. Hands still busy with a thousand thing. As evening descends and curfew brings. The day had faded into twilight red. As multitudes hasten to join the dead.
“I am ready”, “I am ready” said the man at last. But shaking hands could not hold fast. His hair unnoticed had turned to gray. Still he thought it was yesterday. Alas, harvest past, it was too late. To save those who had gone to a Christless grave.
Where is the silver and where is the gold? Where are the possessions to another soul? Where are the sheep that grazed the hill? And where are the cattle that drank from the river? Where are the barns that were filled with plenty? And where are the thoroughbreds one hundred and twenty? Where are the heirlooms? Where are the treasures? Where is the laughter? Where are the pleasures? Where are the porters? Where is the wine? Where are the delicacies? And the dinners that are so fine?
Sun sunk low. And night descended. The summer is gone, the harvest is ended. O for a chance for time extended!! A wasted life was never intended!! Sun fall and noon rise. What is left of the rich man’s prize? Go out to the valley to yonder hill, and see the marble standing still. Treasures were offered in heaven. But he took instead the cold reward of the unsaved dead!
And what of us who live today? This is our home let us not stay!! A call to the harvest till it shall end. Work now, work fast, and reap my friend. New dawn and sunrise! Till the faithful the master will give the prize.
