Serving With The Holy Spirit

The pursuit of God prepares you for what God is planning. Click To Tweet

The Prerequisite Of The Chosen

And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’

Acts 13:22 

God is looking for those who look for Him (Hebrews 11:6). This was the prerequisite in the calling of David as King of Israel. God wants you not only to be called but chosen. Many of us get called but don’t get chosen. There is a prerequisite that distinguishes the chosen from the called. God testified of David that He was a man who was after His own heart. What would God’s testimony be of you?

David’s pursuit of God started to prepare him for what God was planning for him. Ministry is an overflow of our pursuit of God. It is not an overflow of our talents, connections, or education. God’s calling on your life is only connected to your pursuit of Him.

When I look at the lives of people who give up, it is not that the church hurt them, the ministry burned them out. Their root system was too shallow and the weight of their responsibilities overwhelmed them.

Being on fire for Jesus is the only protection and guarantee we have that whatever we go through in ministry will not completely consume us. What separated David from every other man was that he was a passionate pursuer of God.

There is a furnace hotter than any breakup or hurt and that furnace is the liquid love of God. When it burns on the inside of you, you become unstoppable.

Private discipline brings public reward. Click To Tweet

2. Power is needed to meet the demands of service.

Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah. But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the LORD troubled him.

1 Samuel 16:13-14

Anxiety can come from demands of service (Mark 5:30), the demise of sin (Judges 16:20), and the device of satan (1 Sam 16:14; Is 61:3; 2 Tim 1:7). 

The call of God can bring:

• Pressure from the position.
• Pain from people.
• Pushback from the enemy.
• Problems from within.

This is why God’s appointing requires God’s anointing.

God is interested in renewing our strength, not just removing our stress that comes from the demands of service (Isaiah 40:31, Ephesians 3:16).

Inner Anointing Versus Outer Anointing: 

• Inner anointing is in you for you (1 John 2:27), and outer anointing is upon you for others (Acts 1:8).
• Inner anointing is for my walk; outer anointing is for my work. 
• Inner anointing stills you; outer anointing stirs you. 
• Inner anointing teaches you; outer anointing teaches others.
• Inner anointing can’t be transferred; outer anointing can be transferred. 
• Inner anointing produces fruit; outer anointing releases power. 

Cultivate the inner anointing by not grieving the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30). Cultivate the outer anointing by not quenching the Holy Spirit (1 Th 5:19). We all have access to that power, but it’s activated by visitation or impartation.

You can have the anointing upon your life, but if you don’t do what the occasion demands, that anointing will lie dormant. (1 Sam 10:7)

Paul told young Timothy to “not neglect” God’s gift but to “fan into flame” the gift of God. (1 Tim 4:14; 2 Tim 1:6)

3. Slow Success Grows Character, Quick Success Grows Ego

David was around 15 years of age when Samuel anointed him. David became a king over one tribe at the age of 30. Then, at the age of 37, he became the king of all Israel. Don’t be disappointed when God anoints you, but men don’t appoint you (1 Samuel 17:15). 

If you are too big for the sheep, you are too small for the throne. Click To Tweet

If you don’t serve another man’s vision, no one will give you yours (Luke 16:12). When you honor the anointing in others, God will increase it in you. Just because God has anointed you, it does not mean men will appoint you straight away. Develop in your desert; don’t waste your wilderness (1 Samuel 22:2). You need to be mature and developed to fulfil the purpose of God in your life.

4. Serve God In Your Generation

God didn’t give David the nation. Instead, God gave David to his nation.

“For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption.”

Acts 13:36

It’s not about serving our generation by the will of God but serving God in our generation by the will of God. We serve the King, not the spotlight. Let us be passionate for God in our generation. It is not about our agenda but God’s agenda in our generation. We are not serving our generation but serving God in our generation.

Those who lack purpose distract themselves with pleasure. Click To Tweet

Serve God’s purpose, not promotion, power, popularity, or position in your generation (Deuteronomy 28:47-48).

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