Ministering to the Lord Pt.1

Acts 13:1-2 ‘Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.’ That seems like a strange phrase to us, ‘they ministered to the Lord’, as if He needed anything! We don’t seem to think in those terms much today. Maybe we should, because it seems like He actually wants something. Why do I say that? I say that because He seems to have responded to their ministry to Him. They ministered, He spoke. It looks like cause and effect.
I don’t know about you, but I believe that I could stand to hear from the Lord more often. When He speaks and we obey, things happen. Just follow through the book of Acts and the Pauline epistles and see the mighty things that happened as a result of Paul’s and Barnabas’ ministry, as well as others that Paul ministered with. They turned the world upside down!  It all began when a group ministered to the Lord, heard His voice and acted on what He said.
Could we minister to the Lord like this today? Might it result in His speaking and leading us into effective ministries and lives for Him? I believe so. God never changes. These verses were put there for a reason.  That reason is so that we can follow their example and be a part of His will being done on earth as it is in heaven.
That being the case, we should be acting on their example, but how do we do that? How do we effectively minister to the Lord? Well, this passage doesn’t say exactly unless you include the fasting that followed. He’d already spoken to them by that time. There’s really nothing exactly revealed here that shows us how to proceed. However, I don’t think that the Lord has left us high and dry on this subject. Throughout the New and Old Testaments there are clues that we can follow that will shed light on how we, too, can take advantage of this God-given opportunity.
So, over the next several articles, I’m going to reveal to you the list of things that I’ve gleaned from Scripture as to how we can effectively minister to the Lord. We’ll expound on them a bit and, hopefully, give you some tools that you can add to your tool chest.  These will bring you into a place with the Lord where He will speak to you the things that He wants you to hear.  Join me over the next several blogs as I share these thoughts. God bless you!
Mike Bond