The ministry can be a very stressful occupation! As rewarding as ministry can be, it also reminds me of a whole bunch of work! As I have studied children’s ministers over the past thirty plus years, two things that are apparent are: we have a tendency to want to do things all by ourselves, and at times (more times than most), in our own strength. This is not good. I should have listened to Three Dog Night, years ago when they told me “One is the loneliest number that you’ll ever do!” Or maybe the Beatles—they not only sang about needing “help” but also “help from our friends.” Better yet, I should have listened to Jesus.
John 15:5: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” God never intended us to do the work of the ministry by ourselves! For that matter, He never intended us to live the Christian life by ourselves. Jesus told His disciples that He would send them a helper or another counselor to be with us forever. He also said in John 14:26, “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” Verse 27 adds, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” This is good news! It’s also the only way to live and lead effectively and handle the stress of the ministry.
Mr. Webster defines stress as “the physical, mental, or emotional pressure, pull or force exerted on one thing by another; strain; tension.” Pressure is normal and can be helpful at times, but not knowing how to handle it causes us problems. Trying to handle it by ourselves is not God’s plan for us; that is why He has sent us the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is our teacher, He is our guide, He is our helper, and He is our comforter! Just because stress exists doesn’t mean it cannot be managed and controlled. Electricity, like stress, can be deadly, but when it is harnessed and controlled, it is a powerful and helpful resource. Pressure is an excellent test of your ability to lead or your current leadership level. But when pressure and problems come, you don’t need to try to handle them in your own strength but in the strength and power of the Spirit of the living God! Just because you are doing the “Lord’s work” doesn’t mean you won’t have problems. We all have problems; Psalm 34:19 tells us, “A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all.” Second Corinthians 4:8-9 says, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” I believe this verse describes us as “getting up people”! When we lead with the help of “our helper,” the Holy Spirit, we are not leading in our own strength but in the strength of the promised power source.
I learned a very valuable lesson about relying on my helper several years ago. One day as I was leaving for work, I had an impression in my spirit that I needed to bring my bass guitar with me to church. Rather than be quick to obey, I started reasoning with myself, and to make a long story short, I blew off the leading and went to work.
No sooner than I walked in my office, the phone rang, and it was the Wednesday night bass player in my pre-youth class informing me that he just got to work and found out he was late and asked if I could play bass myself for him. My helper (The Holy Spirit) wanted to help me save time. As I drove back home to get my bass, I saw that the more I listened to the voice of the Spirit in small things, the easier it was to hear Him in major decisions. I also realized it would have better for me to bring my bass and not need it than to blow off the voice of the Spirit. I’ve also learned through the years never to disobey a check in my Spirit. If I sense a strong leading not to go somewhere or not to do something or to pass on a worker, even if I can’t explain, it I trust my helper.
With these things in mind, here are eight ways I allow the Holy Spirit to help me lead in ministry.
1. Let the peace of God rule and reign in your lives. How do you do that? I’m glad you asked. Make time to meditate the Word about peace daily as well as in stressful times. Make time to pray! When you don’t know how to pray, let the Spirit guide you and lead your prayers. Give no place to fear! Fear is faith in reverse.
2. Meet every situation with a spirit of faith. The Holy Spirit gives us boldness.
Be positive and speak faith words! Speak what God’s Word says, not your doubts. Remind yourself what God has done for you. One of the jobs of our helper is to remind us about what Jesus has done and said. Don’t go by what you see, feel, or hear. Second Corinthians 5:7 says, “For we walk by faith, not by sight…” Don’t listen to the devil, his messengers, or to bad or evil reports.
3. Be strong and courageous. Acts 1:8 says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.” I believe a good measurement of the Spirit in us is how strong we are. Whatever you are full of comes out of you when you are shaken. When you are full of the Spirit, His strength and courage comes out of you when life shakes you! Don’t be a baby—be strong! Thirty-three times in the Bible, we are told to be strong; an additional ten times, we are told to be strong and courageous!
4. Ask for the Spirit to guide your plans. The Bible could not be more plain on the subject that God’s plans are different than our plans. That’s why we should be sensitive to the leading of the Spirit for God’s plan. Don’t be afraid to be detailed in your planning. Learn to think backwards from the desired outcome and break your plan down into steps. Don’t wait until the last minute. Never equate flowing with the Spirit to flying by the seat of your pants.
5. Learn to allow the Spirit to help you. Identify things that need correcting and ask Him to teach you why it needs fixing, as well as how. To me, the Holy Spirit works in our lives like a spotlight: He shines or illuminates things that need to be changed. I also rely on the Spirit to help me identify areas of improvement in my ministry. The Spirit is a safe guide, One whom can always be trusted. The voice of wisdom and the voice of God is always the same thing. Our helper the Holy Spirit will lead us to all truth and will never disagree with the voice of wisdom or God’s words!
6. Trust your guide. I used to illustrate this in children’s church by blindfolding a child and giving them verbal instructions that they had to carry out without bumping into things. It’s impossible to walk by faith not sight in our own strength. Then I would ask another child to come be a guide (just like the Holy Spirit is our guide) and guide the blindfolded child to safety. It’s much easier with a guide to follow the Word of the Lord. I have found practice makes perfect not only in playing an instrument or developing a skill, but also in trusting our guide!
7. Rely on the help of the Holy Spirit to lead you to people you need to develop. I refuse to wait on people to show up that I need to lead. I’m on a mission from God to connect with those He leads me to. Jesus was out and about when He found the twelve disciples. I ask the Lord daily to lead me to the right people who need to be a part of the team He is building!
8. Let the Holy Spirit help you discern what is right for you to be involved in. What’s of God and what’s not? Learn to be sensitive to the Spirit and recognize or discern if something is good or of God as well as bad or evil. Not every good idea is God’s will for me now. Not everything that is wrong or bad now is evil. If every believer has the Spirit on the inside (and they do), then how much more do we in leadership need the Spirit’s help to be the leaders God has called us to be?
Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” Are you glad we have a helper to lead us to be the leaders we need to be? Listen to our guide; our helper is right beside us. Listen to Him, learn from Him, do what He says. Every leader leads better with help!
