Serving God as His Daughter

Sometimes you might feel like nothing in your life is going right! It’s during those times that you must try to find the good in your life – even if it is something that you may often take for granted, like the simple fact that God put breath in your body that day! We walk through many different seasons in our lives. Though trials and tribulations may test our faith, it’s our job to remain steadfast and strong. You may be thinking right now about a difficult situation you are facing, but I challenge you to stop and think of three things for which you are thankful. Then, take it one step further, and praise God for them! Yes, right now, praise Him!

A common stronghold we are bound by is pride. Pride has a way of keeping us in a stale, lonely place. I have seen this time and time again, and I recently began to pray that the Lord would give me the wisdom I needed so I wouldn’t fall into this trap within my own life. As I prayed, God clearly spoke to me, “You will never deal with pride issues if you take pride in Me and all you do for Me, and keep a pure heart through your faithfulness.” Wow! How many times do we show up at church, scheduled to serve, and we are just simply not in the mood to be there? Maybe we got into an argument with someone before we got there. Or, we have a lot of other things we could be doing, and in our mind it is a huge “sacrifice” to be there, and we are doing the church a big favor by serving that day. But is that a pure heart? We are technically being faithful and upholding our end of the commitment, but the heart is not pure.

The Bible tells us in Proverbs 16:18 that: “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall” (NIV). What if we took a different attitude with serving the house of God? Let’s look at how God wants us to look at “pride” in our lives when it comes to serving His house.

P is for Privilege. We need to consider it a privilege each time we step foot into His house and serve His people. As we serve God, we need to imitate Christ’s humility, no matter what level of leadership we are in. Whether we are on the maintenance team, work in the children’s ministry, or are the pastors of a church, we need to serve others unselfishly and consider our positions a privilege. We should feel honored that God would trust us with our position in His house.

R is for Responsibility. We must take responsibility for our duties. If we only have one job and that is to straighten chairs, then we will straighten those chairs better than anyone has ever straightened chairs! If we somehow mess up or fall short, then we’ll step up and take responsibility for it.

I is for Independence. There may be times when we are promoted to the next level of leadership, and in order to fulfill all that God is calling us to do, we may have to separate from those who tend to pull us down. We shouldn’t depend on others; we need to learn to depend on God. Through His Word, He will encourage and lift us up when we are feeling down.

D is for Desire. When we remain faithful to the Lord, He will grant us the desires of our heart. Yes, it’s that simple! We can’t allow ourselves to become overwhelmed with pride, because all our heart’s desires will still be there and will just never come to fruition. When our hearts are not pure before God, we find ourselves frustrated with the positions in which we are serving, and that opens the door for other negative spirits to creep in.

E is for Enthusiasm and Encouragement. We should serve with such enthusiasm that it becomes contagious and begins to encourage others serving around us. As daughters of God, we should have a contagious flame always ignited within us, and whether someone has known us for 10 years or 10 minutes, they should feel that spark each time they are around us!

Don’t look to man for accolades; you will find yourself disappointed more often than not. Look to God, and know that your reward in eternity will be worth the wait as our Father in heaven crowns you with your crown of righteousness, and says, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” Take pride in all you do for the Lord.  Look at “pride” in a positive light reflecting privilege, responsibility, independence, desire, and enthusiasm as you serve the Lord and His house!

“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you” (Romans 12:3 NIV).