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Full-Time Ministry

by Jerry Ousley  
2/04/2011 / Christian Living

Have you ever had something inside of you that just nagged in your craw? It's a feeling that you can't escape and is always the main goal whether you've shared it with someone else or not. You push toward that one thing that seems to drive you. At times you feel that it will never be accomplished and so you try to forget it; you push it into the recesses of you mind. But then, just like trying to make a hollow plastic ball sink to the bottom of a lake, it pops right back up.

That's the way I felt about full-time ministry. Since a child it was the desire of my heart to spend my life teaching about the Bible and being about my Father's business. I spent some time in Bible College and read every Christian book I could get my hands on. I took correspondence courses and attempted to meet the world's educational standards that would qualify me for full-time service. But it never materialized.

I made some pretty stupid decisions regarding my occupation all in effort to spend less time making a living and more time teaching and preaching the word of God. But everything I did pushed me in the opposite direction. Instead of having more time to serve God it seemed I had less. I tried selling insurance thinking that I could work fewer hours per week. Instead I spent more hours driving trying to find enough sales to bring in my share of the needed household funds. I jumped from one factory to another believing that the next one wouldn't require me to work long hours and Saturdays and instead they demanded more of my time. I joined the Army as a Chaplain's assistant believing that this would be like getting paid to do God's work but it really wasn't. I even quit my job two times, twice to actually start a full-time evangelistic ministry and once to start my own business. The two times I tried to be an evangelist I failed miserably and the time I started my own business I nearly went broke.

Today I'm once again in my own business. But so far it has been successful because I have finally learned the true definition of full-time ministry. And I have come to know that it isn't just for preachers but for each and every believer in Christ Jesus.

We learn just what full-time ministry really is from the example of the Apostle John when he was stranded on the island of Patmos. He was abandoned on this prison island because he was convicted of sedition because of his faith in Christ. He had witnessed to thousands and seen many of them come to the Lord in salvation. He was one of the leaders of the Church. On the surface he appeared to be a very successful full-time servant of God.

All of that changed when he was left a prisoner on Patmos. Now he was considered an outlaw because of his faith. He was a jail-bird and perhaps he felt that he had brought shame to the very Church his beloved Lord Jesus had established. Certainly by today's standards John was a failure. Today he would be sadly measured by the current standard of success: He had no congregation, no church building, and no money to rent or buy a structure. He had no vehicle to travel in, no house, and didn't own a decent suit to preach in. He had no ministry agenda, no outreach to the community, no plan to win the nations. Leaders today would quickly write him off saying, "This man has nothing. He's finished. Why was he called to ministry in the first place?"

But oh how wrong they would be. On that lonely island filled with murderers, robbers and evil wicked criminals John established a relationship with God like he had never experienced before. Revelation 1:9-10 says, "I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet." What a wonderful place in which to be; not on the prison island, not among the evil of the world, and not in the midst of hunger, thirst, cold and pain, but in the Spirit regardless the surrounding conditions. He had learned to shut out the distractions of his terrible situation and be alone with Jesus despite circumstances.

He learned that full-time ministry is not being paid to be a pastor or preacher; it is not spending your time and occupation in the service of the church, but it is actually found in being in the Spirit in one on one fellowship and communion with the Lord. And that has not changed. Yet today regardless of our financial position, our social status, or any other circumstance that may seem to be an obstacle in our lives, when we find that place where we can be alone with Jesus no matter who is or isn't around us, then we have discovered our true full-time service for the Lord Worshipping, adoring, and loving our wonderful Father, God!

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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