As we have crossed over into the year of 2020, let me say Happy New Year! This is the year to bring clarity to your church vision and mission in preparation of having an extraordinary year. I suggest you have a strategic plan, determination and spiritual tenacity to maximize your ministry and expand the kingdom of God.
In order to maximize your ministry, you need to keep everything in its proper perspective. God first! (Matthew 6:33) The Word of God is filled with verses that keep us grounded knowing God’s power is at work through us. John 15:5 says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Philippians 2:3 says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.” Finally, Hebrews 13:20-21 says, “May the God of peace equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever.”
It is time to maximize your ministry! “Maximize” according to Merriam-Webster: to make the most of, to increase (something) as much as possible, to use (something) in a way that will get the best result.
Now let’s look at Antonyms of maximize according to Merriam-Webster Thesaurus: minimize, decrease, diminish, subtract (from).
Peter penned in 2 Peter 1:3, His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. John 4:34, KJV: "Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." It is here Jesus is making it clear that He was following the call of His father and was going to maximize His ministry.
Let me paraphrase Galatians 6:9, we are not to grow weary in well doing, because we will reap if we faint not. We are called to maximize our resources and do ministry under the direction of the Holy Spirit, and the grace and power of our Omnipotent God. The Apostle Paul said, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them (He maximized his ministry efforts.) – yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me” (1 Cor. 15:10).
In conclusion, we need to appreciate that God loves to maximize ministry beyond our imagination: Ephesians 3:20-21 (AMP) “Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams], according to His power that is at work within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen.”
Maximize Your Ministry,
Dwayne Lewis
Church Planting Strategist
A man will maximize what he loves. –D. Lewis