Hurry Up & Wait!!

Just the other day I randomly read out of Habakkuk (with the understanding of course, that in a life devoted to God, nothing is as random as it seems!) and what hit me between the eyes was God telling the Israelites that the reason they were suffering is that they were spending time building their own fine houses while His House lay in ruins. Now, I don't believe that God was concerned with the paint colour or stained glass windows or whether He had an en suite bathroom in His House. God's Kingdom is not of this world. His Kingdom is one in the Heavenly realm. His Kingdom is souls, just like us.

God challenged me to ask myself whether I am building "my ministry" or HIS Ministry. Just as I believe that everything I own is not really mine, but belongs to God, so I should bear foremost in mind that the Ministry I am busy building is God's and as such it is under His authority. I need to diligently follow where He leads, listening to His voice for guidance, asking Him "what now" when I come to a fork in the road.

This holds true for all of us in whatever ministry we are, from homemaking to workplace ministry to fulltime missions work.

When I view what I am doing as "my ministry", I will call the shots. Not good. What He wants me to do is wait on Him. To be efficient, but wait on Him to do the real work. He wants me to have that urgency to get something done; He wants to see me filled with desire to see His Kingdom established on Earth, but He doesn't want me doing the work myself, because it can then too easily become "my work" and cease being God's work. So I have to wait on Him for each and every step. Kinda like, "Hurry up and wait!"

And whenever I get busy with something ministry related I need to periodically pause and ask myself: "Whose house am I building?"

Shalom!
;o)

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