[gn_quote style=”1″] If you are free as a one-kingdom steward and your life is a joyous response to the grace of God, you can undertake your development work in a way that sets people free for their own response of joy. [/gn_quote]
[gn_dropcap style=”1″ size=”4″]D[/gn_dropcap]f you are responsible for raising resources for God’s work, you are a sower. Your seed is your work of cultivating hearts to be rich toward God. And your seed bag is full only to the extent that you start with your own heart first. If you are free as a one-kingdom steward and your life is a joyous response to the grace of God, you can undertake your development work in a way that sets people free for their own response of joy. This work is intensely personal; it starts with us, and then it allows us to be instruments in God’s hands to bring about transformation in the lives of the people to whom we minister.
Here are five spiritual disciplines to practice as you continue on your journey to becoming a sower in God’s kingdom.
-
Start each morning with a conscious commitment to go through your day with the mindset of a sower.
-
Pray that people come into your life who need good seed sown in their lives.
-
Pray for discernment to see them, hear them, recognize them, and to have the capacity to sow into their lives exactly what they need.
-
End each day with a prayer of thanks as you name the people into whose lives you were able to sow good seed.
-
-
Start each morning by opening yourself up to God’s correcting spirit to help you see in yourself the places where you most need to grow as a godly steward.
-
Pray for openness to see your own kingdom-building attitudes.
-
Ask for forgiveness where you have played the lord over your own kingdom.
-
Re-submit everything you have and everything you are to Christ and his absolute Lordship of your life.
-
-
Start each morning asking God to fill your seed bag.
-
Pray for godly wisdom in every decision you make;
-
Pray for discernment that you may hear God’s voice and know His leading as you walk through your day;
-
Pray for a deep sense of God’s love and grace that you might truly be God’s worker sowing life, hope, and joy in the lives of your colleagues, co-workers, supporters, friends and family.
-
-
At work, start each day praying with your team (or trusted colleagues).
-
Pray fervently for your supporters and partners, that God would use you and your organization to help them develop hearts that are rich toward God.
-
Pray for pure motives and right attitudes as you plan for and interact with every supporter.
-
Pray for opportunities to share your ministry and its goals with people who have a similar passion.
-
Pray in faith for God’s abundant blessings on your work.
-
-
Celebrate and rejoice over every act of giving.
-
Ask God to help you cultivate a heart that searches for the support of God’s work through the generous and joyous response of God’s people.
-
Celebrate it wherever and whenever you see it.
-
Strive for a culture of joy and celebration in your development work as you see God ‘bring the increase’ into your daily work of sowing.
-
One plants, another waters, but God—and God alone—brings the increase. May we dedicate our lives to sowing good seeds into the lives of everyone around us, and trust God to bless that work a hundredfold. To God be the glory!
