Serving The Lord By Serving Others (Joshua 1:1)

Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, Joshua 1:1

What Joshua did when he was younger influenced what he did later in his life.  As a young man, Joshua chose to follow The Lord and did so by supporting the Man of God.  This passage tells us that Joshua ministered to Moses.  In other words, he served Moses by meeting his needs.  It probably was not surprising that when Moses was to pass on, Joshua would be the new leader.  The only difference between him ministering as a youth and as a leader was the capacity in which he served God.  All along Joshua was serving The Lord.  He was used by The Lord to meet the needs of Moses and to support him as leader.  To some it may not seem like much.  There was not any glory in his service and probably not any social recognition, but because he was truly serving God, it did not matter. 

You too can and must serve The Lord.  Each time you enable or strengthen a believer, you have served The Lord.  Those in ministry are under attack and need encouragement from other believers.  Whether it be a note, a phone call or a secret gift, these acts of encouragement are used by The Lord.  Shut-ins, the elderly and the sickly need encouragement and support as well.  If you keep your heart sensitive to The Lord and your ear to the church grapevine, it will not be long before you will find somebody who needs ministering to.

As you put this mind set into practice, you will be influencing the recipient and others who may hear of how you were an encouragement.  You will influence others around you and be an example to the church of what it should be.  

I have preached many times and have seen many different responses to the preaching, but the greatest response that I always see is when I preach about trials and try to encourage those in the midst of them.  People everywhere hurt.  We hurt because we are a fallen race in a world of sin and we will continue to hurt unto we are taken out of it, but until then, those who encourage others are greatly used by The Lord to help us along the way.

Will you decide to minister to somebody? Right now, ask The Lord to direct your heart.  He will and you will be blessed.