F Words at the Missions Conference

I heard a lot of f words at the Missions Conference last week.

And they were words I needed to hear.

The message was based on Nehemiah 2 and it was truly an encouragement to hear.  Nehemiah was given a really important task from God. How would he go about doing it? By using his f words.

• Find out the facts

Stick to what you know God has given you to be your ministry.

• Focus

Nehemiah had to focus specifically on what God had called him to do. Now, most of us are not going to be rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, but our tasks are equally important. They are important because God assigned them to us. I have to remind myself of that. Being a wife and mother doesn't always seem as grand as what Nehemiah was tasked to do, but it is. God doesn't give us busy work. He gives us important tasks. 

This also encouraged me in the area of ministry. For those of us who don't serve the Lord in an occupational position, we may often find ourselves feeling as if our ministry is not as important as what our pastoral staff does. Well, our pastoral staff is really important, but we are in the ministry too. We must serve diligently too. 

Lord, give me fresh vision and encouragement about the ministry you have given us.

• Form a fellowship

In Nehemiah 2:17, we see him saying, "Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach." (KJV)

Notice the pronouns? He used them, we, and us. Nehemiah gathered people to help him carry out the   task God had given him. One area in our life where we have formed a fellowship is our weekly prayer group. I cannot tell you how much that encourages us to keep at the ministry and to persevere in reaching out to others for Christ.

• Fortify

It is so hard to serve the Lord if you're burned out. Once I called it "ministry fumes". I really felt I just could not do more. Why? Oh, because I was thinking I was supposed to do it on my own. Forgot the little item of calling on the Holy Spirit to give me the strength to do what God has called me to. 

• Fulfill the function

Bottom line– finish the assignment. When I teach writing to students, I always tell them the most important thing is to fulfill the assignment exactly as specified. If you write a great narrative essay when the teacher called for persuasive essay, did you fulfill the assignment? No. No matter how great that essay was, if it wasn't the one you were assigned to do, then you wasted your time and talent. Do what God has given you to do, without changing your "assignment".

Just like the image above, I am a singular person in the body of Christ. But my part, my function, works with others to spell out the Gospel to the world that desperately needs it. I hope these f words encourage you as much as they did me.