If you are anything like me, it has taken you several years to realize that while you might have some really good gifts, they are of little consequence unless God is operating through them. Many ministers have walked down the road of denial, believing that transformation in the lives of others is due to their hard work and amazing gifts. All the while, God patiently watches and (I suspect) giggles at our efforts.

Unfortunately, the culture has affected us such that we feel better if we do it ourselves! Don’t you feel more valuable when you have done the “good job?”

“I don’t have time to pray, I have to get this done!”

For years, this was my standard phrase. I was so busy earning God’s love that I had to prove it through serious effort.

Everywhere I go, I am talking with full-time and part-time lay ministers and clergy and watching how hard they are working and the countless hours they are putting into their service. I am certain that God is very pleased with their efforts, but He would also like to get in there and work too.

It is my hope that you will not have to spend so many years of service to learn this critical lesson – GOD IS THE ONE WHO TRANSFORMS PARISHES! The more I began to apply authentic faith in God to my ministry, the more I began to let him work through me and the more people were being transformed. The question that kept coming back to me when I am preparing to teach or preach is:

“Am I giving them God or just me?”

If the Holy Spirit is the one who will bring about the New Evangelization through a “New Springtime” or a “New Pentecost,” then why do we continue to minister devoid of God, utilizing only a few token prayers asking Him to bless OUR plans?

If HE is the true transformer, why are we leaving Him out of a majority of the process – from planning through implementation? Has fear crept into our ministries such that we fear to act in accordance with the will and power of the Holy Spirit?

Let us return the ministry to the one who accomplishes all things – God. Let us ask for the grace to die the death of waiting upon him to move in our midst. Let us restore our discernment process to prayer, where we seek to follow the Spirit’s guidance individually and corporately.