Many people do not give themselves fully to their vocation or their work. There is an aura around anyone who makes great sacrifices as they give themselves completely to their work. He is respected and held in high esteem by people around him. People see this leader doing things that they fear to touch. This inspires confidence and stirs up his followers to do same. As the verse below signifies, great profit is the result when you give yourself wholly to something.
Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.
1Timothy 4: 15
How To Give Yourself Wholly
1. To give yourself wholly is to give your energy. I am constantly amazed at people who have no energy for the church. Yet they have energy to stay up watching films for hours on end. Indeed, energy is released for everything else but God! Throw in your energy as well. Give your energy to God. Get tired doing the work of God giving Him the best days of your life. What is your work? Give your energy to that work and you will be amazed at the result. Remember that in all labour there is profit!
2. To give yourself wholly is to give your time. You must give your morning, evening and noontime to the Lord. Any minister who has enough time to do other things must realise that what you give to business is what you could have given to the Lord. I was running a business when the Lord asked me to give myself wholly to the ministry. I then gave up my hybrid ministry and all the time that I would have spent following my truck around, I spent serving the Lord.
3. To give yourself wholly is to give your ideas. An idea can make the difference to your work. Everyone receives heavenly ideas that are actually words of wisdom. These ideas float into your mind when you are relaxed. These ideas can be deployed to make a bank prosper, to let a petrol station make more sales or to make the church advance.
4. To give yourself wholly is to give your connections. Whom do you know? You must know somebody important. Use that connection to advance your work. Have you noticed how businessmen are constantly seeking to use their connections to make more money?
5. To give yourself wholly is to give your skills. There are certain skills you have acquired as you grow up. I can play the piano, the drums and guitar. I have used these skills to develop the church and the music ministry. What skills do you have?
6. To give yourself wholly is to give your intelligence. Were you good at school? Did you do well in Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Chemistry or Statistics? God can use your intelligence and it will make a big difference to the ministry. Look around and you will notice that the projects that deploy the minds and intelligence of the leaders last much longer than those who do not.
7. To give yourself wholly is to give your temperament. Are you a choleric or a melancholic person? Use it for your work. I have used my personality to develop the church into a worldwide and structured denomination. The melancholic part of my temperament has helped me to structure a complicated network of churches. The choleric aspect of my temperament has helped me to work with speed and to take decisions that are necessary for true advancement.
Think about Jesus. He neither wrote a book nor published an article. He never campaigned for votes or support. In fact, He constantly told people not to publicize the good things He had done for them. He never travelled more than two hundred miles from His hometown. He never preached on TV or on radio. He did not build any institutions to His memory! His picture was never on a billboard and He never owned a car. What is the reason for the long-lasting effect of His ministry? The answer is simple. The sacrifice! He gave all of Himself for what He believed. He sacrificed Himself for us! That is why the whole world has gone after Him. Two thousand years have gone by and millions still believe in Him. Thousands are converted to Him daily and there are volunteers who are ready to die for Him today. Will you give yourself wholly?
To give yourself wholly to the ministry is to throw in everything that you possess. Throw everything that you have control of into your work. When you give yourself wholly, you will not have any time or strength to do other things. There are different things that you must give in order to say that you have given yourself wholly. Every single one of these components makes a difference to your life and work. Your level of fruitfulness changes when you give each one of these items!
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By Dag Heward-Mills