Ministering To The Lord

As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. Acts 13:2

Often it seems the only kind of prayer we are familiar with is the petition prayer. We're always petitioning (or asking) God to do something, and of course that's scriptural. But in the Scripture quoted above, those Christians were not petitioning God to do anything. They "ministered to the Lord, and fasted...."

We know God is concerned about us and wants to meet our needs. Jesus said our heavenly Father knows what we need, and we should ask Him to supply these needs. But, too much of the time we're like the little boy who said, "My name's Jimmy, and I'll take all you'll gimme!" We need times of waiting on God and ministering to the Lord; times when we're not asking for anything—not petitioning —but ministering to Him.

God made man to fellowship with Him. He is our Father, because we are born of God. I'm sure of this: There are no earthly parents who enjoy the fellowship of their children more than God enjoys the fellowship of His children.

I'm sure of this: We miss a lot of what God has for us because we don't take time to get into an attitude of worship and minister to the Lord. (See Acts 16:25).

In spite of persecution, adversity, and depressing surroundings, "At midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them." They weren't quiet about it! They were praising God at midnight right out loud in jail.

A characteristic of the early disciples was their continual praises to God. We read in Luke 24:50-53:

LUKE 24:50-53 50 And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. 51 And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: 53 And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.

Then notice the second chapter of ACTS 2:46,47

46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat with gladness and singleness of heart, 47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

Notice the expression, "with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God." One reason the ministry of the early Christians was so effective was their continual gladness of heart and praising God. Worship and praise to God were a part of the daily lives of the early Christians. It wasn't something they did occasionally. Too many times today we see people who pray through about once every six months. You'd have to write of them that they praised God "occasionally" or perhaps "semi-annually" rather than "daily" or "continually," as did the New Testament believers.

An Old Testament example is found in Second Chronicles 20, when Jehoshaphat went out against the enemy. Three armies—the Ammonites, the Moabites, and the inhabitants of Mount Seir—had banded together against Jehoshaphat. He didn't have the manpower to stand against them, so he called a prayer meeting. The people fasted and prayed. The Spirit of God moved upon a young man in the congregation, and he stood and prophesied. The Lord told them not to fear. He told them where the enemy was and said to go against them because the battle was the Lord's. The next morning they marched against the enemy, and the Bible says they put the praisers up front. Picture these men going against three armies of trained soldiers who had swords, javelins, and spears. Right up front to lead the parade of God's army were the praisers. They weren't led by a man with a sword or a spear. They were led by men singing and praising the Lord. They ministered to the Lord. As they marched along, they shouted, "Praise the Lord; for His mercy endureth for ever" (2 Chron. 20:21). We see in the next verse what happened as a result: "And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten." When they began to sing and praise, God did something for His people. They saw a manifestation of His power. They didn't have to draw a sword or throw a javelin. The enemy ran off and left all their goods. There was so much spoil it took three days to gather it up and carry it home!