A SUCCESSFUL MINISTRY
And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep: That the Lord called Samuel: and he answered, Here am I. 1 Samuel 3:3-4
Samuel did successful church ministry and he was known as great Prophet and man of God. From the above verse, in a successful ministry, you may observe the following: –
(a) God’s servant spends more time in
the presence of the Lord:
Till ere of the lamp of God went out, Samuel did not sleep in the church. As you see in the Bible, “In the tabernacle of the congregation without the vail, which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall order it from the evening to morning before the LORD: It shall be a statue for ever unto their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel. Exodus 27:21.” God Servant Samuel lay down to sleep after he spent twelve hours (from the evening to morning: twelve hours) in the presence of the Lord in ordering the lamp of God. You may also compare it with other verse – Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any men walk in the day, he stumbles not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbles, because there is no light in him. John 11: 9-10. The night represents the darkness of the world. One may stumble during nights. Therefore, a true servant of God prefers to spend his time during nights with the Lord. You may see our Lord also spending all night in prayer to God. “And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. Luke 6:12.” You may also perceive only those overcome the flesh can wait on the Lord as it is written- “watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak Matthew 26:41.” God servant Samuel overcame the flesh and was successful, like our Lord Jesus, he did not sleep till ere of the Lamp of God went out.
In the same temple of God, you may see the arc of God. In a God speaking ministry, man of God honours arc of God- where in exists (i) the law of God or the word of God (ii) the rod of Aaron (iii) manna. As the Servant of God spends more time meditating the word, he shall feed the believers with strong meat (Hebrews 5:14)) and make them strong in Christ. Therefore, the sheep shall not fail to follow the Lord. As they hear more and more the word of God, their faith increases and the result would be miracles since the faith itself brings out miracles in our life (as the rod of Aaron budded supernaturally).Further, the manna represents the resurrected body of Christ “so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is the bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. John 6:58.” “Take,eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me I Corinth 11:24.” . A man of God builds the church on the basic doctrine –the resurrection of the Christ so that the believers will continue in the faith till they live on the earth.(not on the doctrines giving much attention to the healings, miracles etc., neglecting the basic principle of resurrection of the dead). Resurrection of Christ should be the centre of faith.
(b) God’s servant corrects the people of his Church:
The man of God Eli could not restrain his two sons from doing evil things which was the reason for the wrath of God and Prophet Samuel was chosen in their stead. God’s servant observes his people and cares for his people that none of the spirits of the church be fallen into the eternal fire. As seen from this verse “Aaron and his sons shall order it from the evening to morning before the LORD Exodus 27:21”, in a successful church ministry, a good shepherd of God shall order (or say exhorts or corrects) the spirit of all believers (The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD. Proverbs 20:27) and never lets ere of the light of them to go out. As we know, there are seven lamps in the light of God. Seven is the number that represents wholeness or unity. The church does not show discrimination between the people who ever they may be. It also includes our family members too. In a successful church, the man of God does not show discrimination. He corrects all people.
(C) Believers support the church:
A man of God alone cannot lead a church successfully. The role of believers is also important in successful church ministry. In such a church believers –
(i) spend money for the work of the Lord: Consider this verse:“And thou shall command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil live beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always Exodus 27:20.” From this verse, you may observe they have to bring in pure olive oil to the temple of God. From where will they bring the olives? Are they free? They have to purchase olive which means spending money for the benefit of the church apart from giving tithes. We may see most of the believers are not willing to give their tithes, how will they give something other than tithe? People should know the more they give to the Lord, the more he will multiply.
(ii) Work at home for the Church: They have to beat the olives at home. The same oil will be used by the man of God for the light of the lamp. This means they have to spend time at home to bring out olive oil. The olive oil also represents the prayer. Therefore, it may be understood that in a successful church, believers spend their time at home to support the church in prayers.
Therefore, in a successful church ministry,
(a) Man of God spends more time in the presence of the Lord
(b) Man of God corrects his people without discrimination in the light of word of God and
(C) Believers are willing to give for the needs of church development and support the church with their prayers at home.