Prayer: My Lord Provides

“Therefore, brethren, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

Dear Jesus, as I read this, I am struck by the fact that the apostles did not allow financial concerns to distract them from practicing the ministry to which you called them. They devote themselves to “prayer and the ministry of the word.” They trust that they Lord will provide for their basic needs, and for the active ministry, and their focus is on contemplation and conversation with You.

Lord, all my life I have believed that my talents of ministry and outreach would be an additional pursuit apart from financial concerns. That I would work at a job, and in the overflow of my time, volunteer for ministry. I believed such pursuits are a luxury one can engage in only when not earning an income. To me, I see ministry and making money as two separate enterprises: one is to love my neighbor, and the other to make money. The idea that both could go hand in hand, that I could receive recompense enough to live a comfortable life from serving my neighbors, that I could live in deep communion with you at all times, was completely foreign to me.

But yet, how glorious! And of course it would be so. How good of you to ask me to employ my gifts every moment – to ask me to glorify you through my talents, and bring love to all I encounter! And you have offered me the gift, in return, of providing for my needs.

I do not need to earn the right to love and serve others.

How strange that I should ever have believed it! But I still struggle with that belief – Lord, help my unbelief.