Monument Ministries

“If I say, I will not make mention of [the Lord] or speak any more in His name, in my mind and heart it is as if there were a burning fire shut up in my bones. And I am weary of enduring and holding it in; I cannot [contain it any longer]. ” Jeremiah 20:9 AMPC

My beloved friends and family, for years I tried to do what Jeremiah said in the verse above. I was told to stop talking, stop convicting, stop speaking of God’s truths because it was too much. But I can no longer hold these truths in… I have to share it and I ask that you join with us together in no longer walking in the ways of compromise or comfort. Rather, cleave steadfastly to Christ alone, conforming wholly to His example in living and if need be, in dying also.

An example to be imitated demands believers to be worthy of imitation and the strength of holiness is the fuel for endurance. Spare no effort, with all haste, earnestly accomplishing, promoting and striving after those walks of faith in order to daily present yourselves in the practical realities of your faith being exhaustively exercised. Only participate in those things that require your faith to flourish. Live in such a way as one who has had their faith tried and tested and approved genuine only by God, not man, then put on display for the world to see.

Think about it for a minute, if local believers say all their needs are met, then how are we to, through love, serve one another? In Galatians 5:13, Paul gives a command that is described in the Greek to keep on serving one another continuously, never ceasing. The word is δουλεύω (douleuō, dü-lyü’-ō) and it means to become a slave in subjection to another as you yield and give yourself up in obedience.

Disciples of Christ are to zealously advance the interests and will of God, along with esteeming others higher than themselves, while never living for themselves. Some of the believers we encounter are rich and have become very wealthy. They have come to believe they are in need of nothing. This makes it difficult to relate with believers who are desperate for help. Again I ask, how can the body of Christ take care of each other, if no one is honest with their desperate need for God and His children? I am not saying that being rich is evil but I am convinced of Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:24-34 (AMPC), that we cannot serve God and covetously desire more and more money for our pleasures. Along with that, I add the words of Agur from Proverbs 30:8 (NLV) “Take lies and what is false far from me. Do not let me be poor or rich. Feed me with the food that I need.”

We only need in this life what is necessary to fulfill the task given to each servant. Everything else is what Hebrews 12:1-2 (AMP) tells us: “stripping off every unnecessary weight and the sin which so easily and cleverly entangles us.” We all are sinful (Genesis 6:5), wretched sinners (Isaiah 64:6) without God and are all in desperate need for Him and others, even if we are unwilling to admit it. Without God having full access to every area in our hearts, He is not Lord there. Without opportunity for others to minister to us, how can the Body fully utilize all of their gifts? Do not store your gifts on a shelf, lest our Master return and we must give an explanation as to why we refuse to use what He gave us for equipping the saints for the work of service and building up of the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:12-16 NASB). The practical reality of living on faith, by faith and through faith alone is the ONLY way to be well pleasing to our Creator who created His children to righteously live for God and never for themselves (Philippians 3:7-11).

Father, help us to continue on humbly serving You and one another.