What's In It For Me?

After the message, "Wants & Needs" we were challenged to ask ourselves the followings questions. 

What is it that I want from:

• Church
• Marriage / Relationship
• My Job
• Ministry
• Life
• etc.

I have been asked that question a lot lately.  

• "What's in it for you?"  
• "Why do you work such long hours Monday through Thursday, to get Fridays off to work all day for free serving the homeless?"  
• "Why do you go to church so much?"  
• "Why do you do what you do?"

The easy answer that joyfully flows out is, "Because I want to."  However, to be frank, "I desire to do what I do, I feel I need to do them."

I go to three different churches for three different reasons.  All three are different, they are on different days at different times and they happen to fit into my busy life.  I don't think it is coincidence (which I don't believe in, but that is a discussion for a later time), I believe that God has set it up that way.  I receive different things from each of them.  

Fridays at noon, if I am done serving the homeless there is a worship service down the street from where I serve.  I have a deep, deep desire…an explainable need to just drop to my knees and worship God.  Thank Him for using me.  Thank Him for bringing those in need to the place where they can not only be fed but ministered to.  They not only have physical needs to be filled, but spiritual.  Fridays are my favorite day of the week.  I get to serve God by serving His people.  I get to love on folks that need it the most.  I can't help but worship God when I am done.  He is so worthy of praise that I just have to!  No one knows me there, they probably don’t even notice if I am there or not.  That is okay, I am not there for anything except to worship God and thank Him for being such a good, good Father!

Saturday evenings I get to attend church, pray and take communion with my husband. (This alone means the world to me!)  Before church I get the honor of setting up communion.  I get to bake rolls for the after service fellowship. I also get to minister to folks that I wouldn't meet if I wasn't there.  One of the things that I get out of it that is for me is that I get challenged (every service) to act upon the heard word.  The following week we are asked about it. "Do you remember what we talked about last week?  How did you implement it?" (Etc.)  I love to be challenged.  I feed upon it as I know I am going to grow for the better.  I also love the en-depth conversations that take place after service.  Dissecting what we heard.  Getting the perspective of others.  Going deeper.  Discussing God with others is something I could do for hours if time permitted.  

Sunday mornings is where I get to go to my deepest worship of the Lord.  I get to be in His very presence.  I used to have holy jealousy of those that got to experience God during worship and now that it is happening to me...I want more!  I love the visions He gives me.  Most are just for me, however there are those that are corporate that are to be shared.  I am taught about intimacy with God and manifesting of God's power through the Holy Spirit in me.  One of my deepest desires is bringing Heaven down to earth just as Jesus taught us in the Lord's Prayer.  I have been given a platform in which to grow in my gifts and experience others growing in theirs.  It is awesome!

What about marriage, what do I want from my marriage?  I love my husband with all of my being.  He is my best friend.  I can't imagine life without him.  I look forward to having coffee with him in the morning, meal time at the table, and even watching TV with him. I love talking with him.  I may not always care for the conversations, but I love hearing about what he thinks about.  I love hearing about his hopes and dreams for the future.  I love how someone who is so quiet out in the world has so much to say to me.  I like how he is the chatty one in this relationship.  Don't get me wrong, I do get my chance to utilize my gift for gab, but he is the one who talks the most.  I find it amusing that he doesn't realize it.  I also like how he wants my opinion even if I don't think I have one.  I like how he knows me so well that he can react to what is going on with me without me having to tell him.  I love being with him.  What do I want from him/our marriage?  His love, his companionship, his friendship…I want us to grow together in our love, in God and in our lives together. 

As I go through this life I look for the three "E's".

• Expected
• Exceptional
• Extraordinary

Expected - Taking the easy route, doing the same old, same old that is accepted as the normal thing to do.  Live the ordinary life.

Exceptional - Stepping out of the comfort zone, doing the unexpected.  Rising above the norm to do what Jesus would do.

Extraordinary - What God does when you do the exceptional in His name!

These last few years doing the same old, same old wasn't/isn't enough for me.  I want to do more.  My desire is to "do" and "live" the word.  Jesus said that we are to love God and love people.  That right there is my ministry, to love on folks like I love God, "With My All!"  My personal motto is, "I am blessed, not just to say that I am blessed, but to BE a blessing!"

What do I get out of life?  What's in it for me?

I get to love on folks, I get to share Jesus with them, and I get to do the exceptional so that God can do the extraordinary.  I get to see God bless folks that need it the most.  As I do, God blesses my socks off.  There is not a day that goes by that I don't have a new testimony of what God has done for/through me or blessed me with.

In the Bible we are told, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Basically where you spend your money and your time is what you value.

I value God, I value doing what God wants me to do.  I know that I add value to the Kingdom of Heaven because God gave me the gifts to do what I do.   Being who I am is why I do what I do.  I'm about doing the Father's Business.  What's in it for me, an inheritance greater than this world can even comprehend.  

I get God and all the promises that He has given me/us.  

Do you know who you are?  Do you know why you want/need what you want/need?  

Are you willing today to take action?  Fulfill your wants with your needs.  Start by asking yourself the above challenge questions. 

I pray that God shows you how valuable you are and that you take each area to the next level.  Each time growing into the next level and the next.  Growing in Him as you grow in this life to do the exceptional so that He can do the extraordinary in/through you.

Until Next Time, God Bless!