Four Components of True Ministry

What is true ministry? What is it comprised of, and how is it accomplished? 

1. True ministry is accomplished by the work of the Holy Spirit.  

Without the work of the Holy Spirit, nothing is accomplished. The Holy Spirit is not to be thought of as a necessary ingredient that is added to our efforts to prosper our ministry. The Holy Spirit is the only one who can minister to people's souls, and He uses our efforts in the work He is doing. We do not accomplish ministry; we participate in God's work.

"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart form Me you can do nothing." John 15:5

"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life." John 6:36

2. True ministry is accomplished by prayer.

Since we have no power in ourselves to minister to people's souls, we must pray for an outpouring of the Spirit. We must pray that God would do what only He can do: change hearts, give strength, provide comfort, and build up His Church. Prayer is the key to joining the ministry God is doing. In prayer we intercede on behalf of our fellow men, and God does the work.

3.True ministry is accomplished through sharing the Word.

People do not need our wisdom or our ideas. They need God's Word and His wisdom. "The grass withers and the flower falls off, but the Word of The Lord endures forever." God's Word is never outdated. It is"the power of God unto salvation." It is sufficient to revive men's souls and to sustain them after salvation. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds form the mouth of God." Scripture is sufficient for ministering to others' various spiritual needs, and it is an indispensable tool in ministry.

"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of the soul  and the spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Hebrews 4:12

"All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." 

2 Timothy 3:16-17

4. True ministry is accompanied by ministry to physical needs.

Jesus set an example of caring for people's spiritual and physical needs. God also cared for His people's physical needs in the Old Testament. God knows our physical and spiritual needs and cares for both. We should do likewise. We are told to love our neighbors in Scripture. Man is both spiritual and physical. We should love their their soul and care for their body. 

Ministry to men's souls and physical needs is important. One should not be without the other. 

"If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,' and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?" James 2:17

"We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has the world's goods and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth." 1 John 3:16-18

May we be faithful ministers of the gospel, and may we faithfully minister to our fellow men through the power of the Spirit and the Word of God, praying on their behalf and caring for their physical needs.