I just want to just talk about ministering to people. Now, I notice I’m doing a lot of praying for people at night time. Partly that’s because people have this huge expectation some man of God will pray for them; and I understand that, you know; but the problem is if we continue to give in to that, then it minimises what you can do. So, I want to talk about a couple of things in ministry that can be of help for you.
There is always a spiritual warfare around ministry. It’s just recognising what it is, and then learning how to deal with it as it comes up. The first conflict is before you pray for the person. The second conflict is while you’re praying for them. The third conflict is after you’ve prayed for them. Get the picture? You’re ministering the Holy Spirit, there’s going to be some conflicts; and the battles are all inside you.
I want to just show you quickly how you can deal with them. If you want to become good at ministering the Spirit, you just have to practise. No practice, never become good. You’ve got to practise. You want to play the piano? Practise! If you look at the piano, ‘Ah I might get it wrong!’ You never play. You have to practise. So, it’s a humbling thing that we have people to practise with. We have to be willing to stretch out and take risks.
I’ll just show what I mean. I just need one person to volunteer. Here’s the first part. What if nothing happens? What to do? “Just stand there. Face me.” So, the first conflict is the willingness to position yourself to minister to people. So I’ve put myself in a place of being vulnerable now. I’m taking a risk. So, many people, the battle is just to get to that place. So, you have to make a decision. I’m called to be a minister of the Spirit, God is with me and I will step up and take risks. To take risk means: I’ll step out, looking for God to do something. So, every time I step out, I feel a little bit nervous. It never stops, because you’re becoming vulnerable each time you do it.
So, what can you do about that? You just make a decision, “I’m called to be a minister of the Spirit, and the way God teaches me, is by engaging with real people, with real problems. I will make myself available. Yes, I’ll do it.” You’ve just got to make that decision. If you don’t make the decision to put yourself where ministry is happening, you can read all the books but you never really learn. If you want to ride a bike, first, get on the bike. “Oh, I read so many books about how to ride a bike. I have so much information. I know all about the bike.” “Hey, did you ever get on one?” “No.” “Then you can’t ride a bike.” See, knowledge is different from experience. There are some things you can only learn it with experience.
So the first battle is to say: ‘yeah I’ll come and pray.’ Now, here’s the thing some of you are missing. When I take a meeting, there is an anointing released, and anyone who prays gets to tap in on that anointing. One of the best times to learn is when we have a big meeting, there’s a flow of power. That’s the easiest time to get to learn, because there’s an anointing present; and the only way, see I can lay hands on you, and I can release an impartation to you. This is what happens - 95% of the time, within 3 weeks it’s gone. You have to hold things on your life. You have to make it your own; and you make it your own by practice, you make it your own by meditation. You have to give yourself to ministering. So the first battle is this.
The second battle is, when I come to pray, I start to think “Oh”, all the pressure now to try and solve her problem. So what I’ll do is, I’ll just direct. “I want you to close your eyes, and just open your heart to Jesus. I want you to look to Him.” What I’ve done is I’ve got her attention on the Lord, not on me; and that just stops so much pressure. Now, if I focus on “Oh, what to do?” I become afraid, and I start to close up my spirit. So you have to set your attention towards the Lord. I just, as I close my eyes, I just begin to think about Jesus being very near to me. Of course, I’ve done that every day. I did it this morning. So when I close my eyes, I become very aware of Jesus near me and His presence is here. I can feel His presence straight away.