1.Enter full-time ministry because you love God.

…the greatest of these is love.              

1 Corinthians 13:13, NASB

There are many good reasons for someone to be in full-time ministry, but the greatest of these is love.

Believing and obeying a command from God is a very good motive for doing something.  However, the greatest of motives is love.  Going into full-time ministry with hope for eternal or earthly rewards is also a good thing. After all, you must believe that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.  However, an even greater motive is the motivation of love.

I realize that my reason for serving God has gradually shifted from doing things because I need to obey His calling to doing things because I love Him.  And that is a major shift!

Choosing the Best of Three

If I had to choose between three employees:  one who was very qualified, one who was very experienced and one who simply loved and believed in me, I would choose the one who loved me.

Peter Worked for Love

Peter loved Jesus.  That was the basis of all the work that he did.  The ministry of the apostles was not for money or fame.  The money lover (Judas) was kicked out at the beginning of the ministry.  Jesus capitalized on Peter’s love and urged him on in the ministry.   

So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My lambs.”   

He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.”   

He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?”  And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep.”  

John 21:15-17, NASB

Paul Worked for Love

Paul was constrained by his love for Christ.  He was not just a hard worker trying to achieve many things at the same time.  He loved the Saviour!   

For the love of Christ constraineth us…

2 Corinthians 5:14

2.Enter full-time ministry because you fear God.

For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for necessity is laid upon me; yes, woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!  

1 Corinthians 9:16, NKJV

Elijah said to Elisha, “What have I done to you?”  He knew that by throwing the mantle on him he had changed the young man’s life forever.  He had no options.  He had to go.  If he did not obey the call, there would be plenty of trouble.  Jonah found out first-hand what it meant to run away from the call of God.  His troubles never ended until he obeyed the call.      

Come into full-time ministry now because you have no other options!  One of the great problems of modern Christians is a lack of the fear of God.  You can detect that there is little fear of God by the way Christians treat God’s representatives.  When Miriam criticized Moses, the Lord asked her, “Were you not afraid to speak against my servant?  

Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant, against Moses?”  

Numbers 12:8

3.Enter full-time ministry to fulfil your calling.

…make full proof of thy ministry

2 Timothy 4:5

Do not die without discharging all your duties.  Do not leave anything undone!  Many ministries cannot be fulfilled until you do it on a full-time basis!  You will not live for long.  That is not a curse.  It is the truth! Your days are numbered and so are mine.

We have a very short time in which to finish our work.  How sad it will be if you get to Heaven and find out that you could have done much more with your ministry.

As with everything, if you give yourself wholly to it, it will blossom.  Another version says  “…Leave nothing undone that you ought to do” (2 Timothy 4:5, TLB).  Yet another version puts it this way, “…discharge all the duties of your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:5, NIV). 

4.Enter full-time ministry to finish your work.

I have fought the good fight, I HAVE FINISHED THE COURSE, I have kept the faith;  

2 Timothy 4:7

A Visit from the Dead

I had a vision in which I found myself sitting at a dining table with two dead pastors who had come back to life for a short period.  The men, who were brothers, had died years ago and had been brought back to life and given a chance to revisit the earth.

Whilst on this short visit they had gone around some churches that they had established in their lifetime and tried to minister to them.

We Talked

I was privileged, in the vision, to have a meal with them before they returned to be with the Lord.  Actually, my home was the last place they were visiting on earth. As we ate and shared fellowship, I asked them a few questions.

“How was your stay on earth and how did you find the churches?”

They shook their heads and said, “Our messages did not work.  They seemed irrelevant to the people. No one wanted to listen to us.”

He continued, “Our songs also did not work.  No one wanted to sing them.  They had new songs and were not interested in our old songs.”

They seemed discouraged and disappointed that they had made no impact at all.

They Warned Me

I asked, “Is there anything you would like to share with me before you leave?”

One of them answered, “There are some things that we would like to tell you.  First of all, we were very surprised to die when we died!  We never expected to have died when we did.  You see, we were very fruitful and active in the ministry.  Of course, we thought that this was a good reason for us to live much longer.  Why would God remove someone who was doing so well in ministry?”

He continued, “The second thing is that even though we tried to influence people during this visit, the people were not impressed by our ministry at all.  We had no impact at all.”

Then he turned, pointed to me and said, “You have the best chance now.  This is your time to be fruitful.  Our time is past.  Our chance is gone. This is your best chance now.”

The vision ended and I realized that God had spoken to me.  It was clear that I could depart from this earth at any time in spite of what good works I was doing.  God had told me that this was my chance to do His will and to finish His work.

Dear brother, this is our best chance.  Soon you will be out of this world.  You will not have a chance to work for God.  Why do you want to serve Him in drips and drops?  Throw fear and caution to the wind.  Launch out into full-time ministry and give God your best.  This is your best chance now.  Make sure you finish your course.

5.Enter full-time ministry to be able to travel.

In journeyings often…

2 Corinthians 11:26

Ministry involves a lot of travelling.  The souls Christ died for are not in one place.  They are scattered all over the surface of the earth.  They are found in cities, towns and villages dotted all over the world.  We can never fulfil God’s calling by staying in one place.  We must go, we must travel, and we must spread out our wings and fly!

When you work for secular institutions, you will not be able to travel freely.  Every normal job will restrict and restrain you from true ministry.  Enter full-time ministry so that you can travel to where God sends you.

6.Enter full-time ministry to be able to be sent.

And Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus.

2 Timothy 4:12, NKJV

How can you be sent if you are tied down to a particular job?  Your boss will dismiss you for absenteeism.  This is the first thing that I realized when I entered full-time ministry.  I was free to be sent.  The Lord could send me anywhere, any day.

Here am I, send me!  We sing it but it is not real.  How can you be sent to the villages and towns when you have to report to the bank at 8.00am???

7.Enter full-time ministry to be able to live at certain places.

For this cause LEFT I THEE IN CRETE, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee:

Titus 1:5

I have left several young men in different towns of the world.

How could I leave them there to “set in order things that are wanting” if they had to be at work on Wednesday morning?  The young men that I have left in different towns are called missionaries.  Paul sent Titus as a missionary to Crete.  How can you be a missionary when you have to go to work in the bank every morning?

8.Enter full-time ministry because you despise earthly things.

Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

Philippians 3:8

It is sad to see Christians aspiring to join the ranks of the world’s great. Pastors want to be numbered among society’s elite.  We love to take pictures with earthly presidents and to be associated with rich people.  Forgive!

Somehow, rich worldly people are the best friends of many pastors! What do they talk about?  That spirit of worldliness in ministers is transmitted to the church.

Our churches are filled with people who are in awe of this world!  If they were heavenly-minded they would be despising the world.

How different we are from the Apostle Paul.  Paul considered these things as dung and we consider them as glamorous treasures.  Heaven cannot relate with our strange desires for things that fade so easily.

It is time to put everything in its right place.  Every earthly achievement is dung in the light of the glory of God.

Spiritual men must despise the riches, the accomplishments and the prestige of this world.

For all flesh is as grass, and all the GLORY OF MAN AS THE FLOWER OF GRASS. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away…

1 Peter 1:24

It is time to set your affection on things above.

Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

Colossians 3:2

Falling in love with full-time ministry is setting your affection on things above.  The rewards of serving God can be found in Heaven where our hearts and minds should be.

9.Enter full-time ministry to be able to fight a good war.

No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

2 Timothy 2:4

Ministry is war!  To fight a war well, you need soldiers that are committed to fighting.  Soldiers cannot go shopping when they want to.  The American soldiers in Iraq  cannot go to their old jobs in Houston, Texas.  They cannot go shopping in the beautiful shopping malls of America.  They cannot go to McDonald’s or watch films in the evenings with their girlfriends.  They have to watch out for bombs.  They cannot fight the Iraqis from  their comfortable and safe positions in America.  They have to go away from their comforts and luxuries and join the battle.  They will risk their lives and everything they have ever known for the sake of their mission.

That is how full-time ministry is.  You have to leave behind the old life with its routine and launch out into a completely different life.  Come into full-time ministry so that you can fight the war properly.

10.Enter full-time ministry because of the rewards in Heaven.

There are many rewards for God’s servants.  I am looking forward to mine and I hope you have yours.   

Peter began to say to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You.”  

Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.”  

Mark 10:28-30, NASB

by Dag Heward-Mills