There are millions of paths we can go down in our lives. Each opportunity, relationship, career or context is unique and full of possibilities. In a world of countless opportunities how do you ever decide what God wants you to focus on in ministry or how He wants you to reach out?
It all comes down to intentionality. God reveals His plan to us as we move along in our journey of faith. He is expecting obedience and attention to detail that is difficult to sustain. And because it is difficult we seldom bring that kind of intentionality to our ministry endeavors.
As I read his entry, I began to think about this topic of intentionality. Truth be told, I have been thinking about it for a long time. When we are intentional every step in our journey has value and purpose. That means that every phone call, every meeting, every quiet time, every blog post, every walk in the part . . . can be a significant next step in your ministry.
If we take this idea of intentional ministry seriously, the implications are significant and quick to show themselves. If you are about to go to bed, look on your night stand. The book that sits there has specific lessons you need to learn to grow. If you are planning out your day, look at your calendar and ask God how He will use each of the meetings that you have in front of you today. If you are about to take a trip for business or for vacation, look at the stops you will make. There will be people that God puts in your path during this trip that will teach you many things and will need a word from you.
So how are you approaching ministry today? Are your efforts going in a million directions? Are you debriefing your opportunities? Do you spend time praying ahead of the events that populate your day? If not, let me encourage you to bring that intentionality to your ministry and see what God will do.
Participate: Take one thing on your schedule tomorrow and do the following: 1) Ask God to reveal to you what He wants you to learn through the activity. 2) Write down some key questions that you want to get answered as a result of the activity. 3) Debrief the activity with someone you trust. 4) Pray through the follow-up items and ask God what He might be doing through these tasks
Engage: Identify a ministry that you are involved in regularly and come up with a list of 5 things you can do to be intentional in that ministry.
Own: Next time you go to a meeting without much of an agenda, challenge the people around the table to approach their topic intentionally.