MINISTRY HERE AT HOME

There's a deception that lurks cunningly, a force that seeks to distract and somehow we subscribe.
There's a lure of confusion, an excuse at times that beckons we think we must get on a plane, don a bandana, or wear a garland of labels in order to serve God in ministry.

This just isn't true. Ministry for the sake of Jesus' name is all around us every day in every corner of our lives...especially as parents. Ministry is in our homes, in quiet unseen moments, at the grocery store, in the church parking lot, and it doesn't require titles.

Ministry, for the sake of God's kingdom, approaches us daily, hourly if we're open to seeing it. As Christians we are always living in ministry...as parents we are always living in ministry. 

Oh, that parents might not miss the valiancy of ministry in the home!
Please, Lord, open eyes that we all might see with hearts turned intent toward our children!

"And he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

Luke 1:17

As children of a godly father who gave much of himself to outward ministry, my siblings and I find ourselves in a balancing act as parents who desire to participate in outward ministry as well. We all want to be present for our families in addition to the ministries we pour into. This requires sacrifice sometimes, even of things we might tend to desire in outward ministry. It requires finesse while our children are young as we seek to discern God's will in using us beyond the scope of family, beyond the discipleship our home lives deserve. And, we accept the fact that this choice for parenting as we've been called
may bear at times a cost, may bear at times a cross.

"Then Jesus told his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.'"

Matthew 16:24

I remind myself to keep the focus on Christ, to set our hearts on following HIM, to remember that we are where He's called us in this season of rearing our {many} young disciples to also follow HIM...a ministry we're committed to.

We live a simple life, not busy outwardly, but certainly busy at home while our little disciples nest under our wings. This ministry asks for our time...Quantity Time...more and more with each child we're blessed to love. We pray that we might bear good fruit through our family tree as we take the ministry of parenthood very seriously. We believe this is how God's Word calls all parents to invest in the parenting years. And, we believe there will be a rich harvest
which multiplies for the glory of God as our family tree spans generations.

"Tell your children about it, and let your children tell their children, and their children the next generation."

Joel 1:3

"Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord."

Ephesians 6:4

"Older women...are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled."

Titus 2:3-4

We parents must hold fast to that which we've been called during the fleeting and precious years of raising and honing young arrow warriors for God's glory. By His grace, may we live it well through Him alone who is the Supplier of all we ever need or could hope to produce for His kingdom!

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,

the fruit of the womb a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior

are the children of one’s youth.

Blessed is the man

who fills his quiver with them!"

Psalm 127:3-5

 

Ministry...it doesn't require position or airfare. It IS every single day...behind closed doors, on tear stained pillows, through one-on-one encounters which matter. It IS everywhere we go...and don't go sometimes for the benefit of ministering at home.

 

Parenthood IS ministry.

 

I'm reminding myself today.

We know that we know that this parenthood ministry is where God has called our family for right now, and we pray to be a bridge that our children walk over as they enter into ministries of their own someday. We cry out to God for wisdom and discernment that only He can provide, for strength only He can give, for fruit that only His Spirit can yield and a grin can't help but press inner joy to the crevice of my lips :) as the thoughts well up inside. What a blessing to partner with God in sharing His love with others wherever, however He has us positioned. We want to be in the center of His will.

I bubble over from the inside out and think, YES!
This feels right for where we are right now. We're where we should be in ministry RIGHT NOW...deep, engulfed, entrenched at times, and faithfully committed to the awesome call God's entrusted us with in our ministry here at home.

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

Deuteronomy 6:5-9