Am I supposed to perform work for God or Abide in Him?

Tonight was another amazing night of ministry.  Each week we minister in the Juvenile detention center.  Each week we take turns praying about the word the Lord is speaking for the week.  That way each week we don't come in with 3 different ideas then try to merge them.  This is also a good way to make sure we have a base line, to have a goal for the night. So tonight the Lord led me to the verses about bearing fruit.  We bear fruit if we remain in Him.  If we are in him He prunes and bears us up and carries us close to Himself, so we can bear fruit.  If we are not in Him we are like a dead branch on the ground that gets picked up and thrown away.  During prayer, before we went in, I told us all to stay focused on ministering to the kids.  Whatever the Lord is pruning in each of our lives is not going to be what He is saying to them.  When trying to minister what you believe the Lord is saying.  We must love the person and speak what God says for them.  The temptation is to speak what the Lord is showing us in our lives. But lets reach for revelation and truly speak what He is saying for the other person.  So I told us to stay on course. Tony used to tell me that this ministry will have fruit that remains.  Like in John 15. He also always used to say that apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, and evangelists would come out of the ministry.  So I encouraged us to expect BIG results and fruit that will remain. Also to preach God as He is, super attractive, the Answer the One they been looking for.  When we got in the jail we were informed that we would minister to the girls only.  Last week I was in the jail on my own, so I wanted one of my other guys to speak because half the girls just heard me talk last week.  I wanted them to hear from someone else.  Because when God says something to us through multiple people we get to really see the Lord is talking to us. It is a tool I like to submit to, to help those we minister too.

Josh taught them about remaining in God, that if they do they will bear fruit. What kind of fruit? The fruit of the Spirit.  I love this because I was just talking to my son, he is 5, about the fruits of the Spirit earlier. and although I knew the Lord wanted us to minister about remaining in Him I never thought to put the fruit of the Spirit as the fruit we bear. So he also showed us that since the beginning God made us just like Him.  He made a garden to bless us, not harm us. Now He wants to just pour out Himself, Love, on us.   As he was speaking I seen the Lord show me a picture of each fruit on each of the 9 or so women in there.  Then I thought why don't we ask them which fruit of the Spirit they are lacking the most.  So I asked each one, and they said the one. My goal was to pick the Hardest one and That way they know God has done a work in them because the hardest one is the one He is after giving them. So then after they confessed, I asked them all who wants to be close to God who wants to be in Him.  All but one raised there hand.  I wanted to first establish and continue on with what Josh had preached and make sure they were all "connected to the vine" before they received the fruit "results" of being connected.  Then I Prayed for each one to receive the thing most lacking.  Self control, Joy, Patience, Peace.  I spoke the bible verses I knew about each as I prayed, then Josh asked if anyone here had a chronic sickness that they were struggling with.  One person said I deal with depression. Josh said yes, anyone else with a physical need? no one responded. So he prayed for the one who had depression and now she is free.

Then we walk out to the main lobby and there is a Yoga instructor who teaches the same night we go in. She said ohh great the Church is here.  She asked us if we would pray with her in the parking lot.  At one other time Josh asked her if she needed prayer and she said yes. Come to find out She is now teaching at a school and was struggling. We prayed and ministered to her about the love of God and how God was pleased with her and for her to let go of any pressure and for her to be healed.   It was great, then as she was leaving she started yelling to us... Wait, wait,,, we are like what's up, she said it worked, it worked,   She said someone called her and she was wanting to do yoga for people with a physical limitation and its been 4 months since she contacted this person.  And they called right as she got in the car.  She turns around and says I'm getting Chinese tonight. we were like great. God is so loving to all. What a great promise that if we seek the truth with all our hearts we will find it.

Now to answer the titled question.  Much of ministry in the Lord is about ministering to others. Now we get excited when the person in an extreme situation gets results that we can see.  But what about the ones that are not so obvious, or even glorious.  

In order to answer this question we must look at Jesus.  How does He minister to others.  More importantly what is His mindset.  Today we look in John 15 1-17. Jesus literally says we can do nothing without Him, but if we abide, stay close, live, in Him, we will bear much fruit.  This is not an invitation for us to go run around and do a bunch of stuff expecting and needing results. He is the goal, He is where we put our efforts in.  Then we just simply bear fruit.  Relax He has got us. He knows how to do it.  You don't really need credit.  You need Him. I need Him.

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. ⁵ I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷ If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. ⁹ As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹ These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

¹² “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants,^[a] for the servant^[b] does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. ¹⁷ These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

Ministry is always about the person we minister to.

Journal Entry 2,

For those of you who are reading. I have the opportunity to serve as a leader in Rock Solid Ministries southern division. We get a chance to visit our local juvenile detention center each week.  I have always wanted to "keep track" of my thoughts and experiences as I serve in this capacity.  Thanks to the internet its easy to put this out there for myself mainly to look back on all the Lord has done.  These are my personal thoughts and events that happen while we minister.

This week, like always, is amazing that God would want to visit with us and meet many people even though they never asked Him too.  I didn't feel a direct direction this week.  Last week I was led to tell my friend who goes in with me to preach on a parable that the Lord showed them.  What I originally heard from the Lord was that He wanted us to spend time preaching about the Kingdom of God.  Like Jesus did as He was here.  This week as we met before we went into the building, my friend agreed that we continue preaching the kingdom.  He shared a parable about the boy who had a demon that would throw him into a fire and cause a seizure. and the fact that Jesus asked the father if he believed.  The father said I believe but help my unbelief.  This is an amazing principle that shows up many times in the Word.  Abraham despite unbelief believed God and it was credited as righteousness (Rom 4:18).  We get to minister twice each night so I felt like that may be for one of those.  We started at the girls. I felt led to start. to sum it up I preached on the fact that we look to be numbed from reality or what we are going through.  This is not a bad desire but when we do this without the Lord we always end up empty and the result is not what we desired. But with the Lord we get peace that passes understanding ( no understanding why to have peace but we do), and joy unspeakable and full of Glory.  We also have a Father who loves us and gives us Grace that surpasses everything we go through. Ultimately His plan for us is the best possible life available. 

Then at our church, my pastor has set a goal for us to get at least 365 people saved.  Although this ministry is not part of that church I still have felt led to tell him those who receive the Lord each week. and for that number to be counted.  Now this was most difficult for me.  I never count how many who make a decision for Christ.  Its just not me.  King David once counted how many troops he had to show how powerful he was.  God frowned upon that and he paid a price.  So its not bad to count.  Many times God had His people count.  But only count when the Lord leads.  But we are a body and no matter what ministry we are its all 1 Kingdom.  So I was glad to report that 5 out of the 6 who we preached to received the Lord. I usually bring the people I preach to, to the place in the night where they can make a decision this can be done many ways. As the Holy Spirit leads. some times we do it silently in prayer as I pray I tell those who want to receive the free gift of Salvation to get it... so they know they did it.  this time I provided that but I felt led to have them repeat a prayer of salvation.  I seen in the Lord, that many needed to hear themselves say it.  So despite me being uncomfortable.  I did that for them.  Because in ministry its not about me.  and many times the Lord will have us do things that are uncomfortable for us. but its not about us its all about the people and what they need.  Then I asked them if they wanted individual prayer.  They all wanted it.  I prophesied to all of them.  then we were done.  the guards a the jail said that they didn't have enough guards for us to go into the boys to minister so we went home.  this was difficult because I didn't have my friend minister.  This also goes against much of what I believe.  My heart is to provide opportunities for those who come in with me to minister to so they can grow by exercising their faith.  but many times as a leader in ministry, you minister to "show how it can be done" or to provide a night where those who come in with me understand how the ministry operates. or how to handle situations as they arise. so its important for those who come in to see different ways to minister.  so the next time they minister they believe they can do that too.  or add that type of ministry to the way they do it.  because its effective and they got to see it in real time with real people.  Opposed to being in a conference hearing about how to do it. 

So a unique night.  But good praise to the person who came in with me.  It didn't bother him that he didn't get to minister.  Its all about God all the time and the people.  Thank God I have people coming in with me that are not concerned about themselves and what they can do.  We can all flow and we all play a huge part.  I know that he was praying as we were ministering and that helped the peoples heart to receive all that the Lord had for them tonight.