“Pastor, I really want to pray for the kingdom and do the works of God, but sometimes I’m just not in the mood. What’s the secret to consistency in the place of service?”
I know I’ve taught you the benefit of creating a routine for your prayer life, but I’ve come to realize that we can still default even with heavily guarded routines. Just because you’ve created a daily routine to pray by 12 midnight doesn’t mean you’d sustain the discipline to maintain it.
So beyond creating a system that would subject or compel you to pray or serve, our mentality or mindset towards serving God must be in the right order. Serving God isn’t something we do when we feel good or feel right, that’s why the idea of creating a routine was introduced in the first place, serving God must be a personal devotion or commitment to Him.
God may pour out His Spirit upon you when you create a routine, but if your mind is not committed, the help of the Holy Spirit can be neglected. That’s why commitment is important.
Speaking of commitment, a word that is often used in scriptures to describe our commitment to God is “Faithfulness”. Let me show you a few scriptures:
SCRIPTURE 1:
Matthew 24:
44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming
49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken
50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Did you see that? A faithful servant is one who his master would find on duty when he comes. Believe me, a person who only serves God by emotions may not be found in his duty post when his master comes. Verse 50 clearly reveals that. As long as you are not consistent in your service, then you can be sure that God will come visiting in a day or moment that you’re not on duty. This truth already reveals why the service of many believers appears unrewarded. God must have come but didn’t find them on duty.
I looked up the meaning of “faithful” in the dictionary and what I found is quite interesting. It means to be loyal, adhering firmly to a person or cause. It also means to be reliable or worthy of trust. This already tells you that a state of faithfulness isn’t a state you get to by emotions. Ofcourse creating a routine for disciplined service would put you on a path to faithfulness in service, but much more than that is to have a mindset that is committed to service, in and out of season.
Think about it, the reason why you still have your job is because you show some level of commitment to the job. If you go to work only when you feel like it, chances are that you’d lose that job. You don’t get paid to feel, you get paid to be committed to the things you’re responsible for. Likewise, God isn’t going to reward you for feeling like serving, He’d reward you because you are faithful in service.
SCRIPTURE 2:
Proverbs 20:
6 Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?
It’s probably clear now why it’s difficult to find a faithful man, a man who God can trust with an assignment. The flesh is an enemy of God, any man who must be found faithful must know how to put his flesh under subjection at all times. One of John Wesley’s popular quote is “Leisure and I have parted ways, and we would never meet again”.
Speaking of John Wesley, it is said that the movement that brought about the revival or spiritual awakening in his time was initiated by a group of faithful men and women who prayed 24 hours for hundred years. They split themselves into groups of twos and alloted times that each group was expected to commence their prayers. So there was someone praying for a spiritual awakening every hour for one hundred years. That’s not something the flesh would want to do, it clearly requires faithfulness. Honestly, you may not know what your service to God is doing until after some years.
There are so many scriptures to reference on the subject of faithfulness. Explaining them would make the article longer, so I’d such quote them
Proverbs 25:
13 As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them that send him: for he refresheth the soul of his masters.
Numbers 12:
7 My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.
1 Samuel 2:
35 And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever.
Proverbs 28:
20 A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.
Proverbs 25:
19 Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint.
Proverbs 13:
17 A wicked messenger falleth into mischief: but a faithful ambassador is health.
Did you notice the scriptures that says “a faithful man shall abound with blessing” and “a faithful ambassador brings health to his master”? That’s how powerful faithfulness is.
So awake, there’s nothing God will not give to a faithful man. But, who can find a faithful man? It’s one thing to have faith in God, but an entirely different thing for God to have faith in you.
I hope this has brought enlightenment to someone.
Remain ever blessed, in Jesus precious name!
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