Tag: Serve

A Position of Power to Serve

Philippians 2:3-4 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interest of the other.”

This week the Lord spoke to me through his word and through the words of others about serving. He told me that he did not put me in a leadership position to grab power but to serve others. That statement really made me stop and think. I don’t think of myself as a person that is trying to be powerful, but I also don’t think of myself as a person that is trying to serve others. So, what does that make me, lukewarm? I don’t want to be lukewarm. I want to be serving others. I don’t want to be selfish or vain. I want to be humble.

During my studies, the Lord reminded me that he has given each of us gifts or strengths that we can use to serve others. Those gifts are seeds that you can sow every day in every aspect of your life. If your gift is leadership, you can sow seeds of encouragement. If your gift is positivity, you can sow seeds of enthusiasm. If your gift is coaching, you can sow seeds of improvement. The more seeds you sow, the more other people will be blessed. As you learn to exercise your “sowing muscle”, serving others will come naturally and it will refresh you.

Proverbs 11:25 says “A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.”

So, what can you do this week to sow into someone else? How can you use your gifts and strengths to serve others? Take a moment today to think about your strengths and write down how God can use them in every aspect of your life. As Michael Todd would say, “Be a serial sower.”

Lord, thank you for putting me in a position where I can serve others every day. Open my eyes to see the opportunities you put before me so that I can sow the seeds of your love in others. Amen.

Are You Humble?

Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Are you humble?  That is honestly a trait that I have had to work on this past year. On a regular basis I ask God to give me humility.  It is an intentional prayer that I pray.  It is not that I go around bragging about what I have or what I have accomplished in life.  But sometimes I find myself thinking that I am better than someone else.  

I am sure you have done it before. Maybe you were at the gas station and a car pulled up at the pump behind you and it backfired before the driver turned it off.  Just for a brief second you thought to yourself, “Wow, I’m glad that is not my car.  Of course, my car would never do that because I take better care of my car than that.”  Or perhaps on your way in to work and saw someone sitting on the ground against a building and thought to yourself, “So glad that is not me. But if it were me, I surely wouldn’t sit here in front of everyone looking so sad.”

The fact of the matter is that God sees value in everyone He made, and he wants us to do the same.  I know that God made me in His image, so therefore I know that I am A-W-E-S-O-M-E. But He made others in His image too, so I need to see the worth of those around me. I need to honor and serve them as Jesus did.  The Holy Spirit gives us the power to overcome our flesh.  He also gives us the power to choose. So, like Colossians 3:17 says, “Whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus.”  When you find yourself thinking something negative, stop and remember that they are a child of God too.  God loves them just as much as He loves you.

Dear Jesus, please send the Holy Spirit to show us the worth of those around us and give us the humility to honor and serve them as Jesus did.