WRITE2SHINE...
Words to Encourage, Motivate & Inspire
An Attitude of Giving
Three (3) points to help you along the road of 'Servanthood'By Janice Ramkissoon
1. Give God the best of you – Not what’s left of you
Here’s what happened to me:
My soul wasn’t satisfied – I wasn’t growing spiritually. So I stopped and created some quiet time, away from all the daily tasks, church activities and community projects. During this time I did some soul-searching and was found wanting in many areas. I needed to get closer to God and get to know Him better. Giving God the best of you is worship being your first focus – not work. “One of the failings of modern day Christians is to put work before worship…”*
2. Be generous in the time you spend praying. A rush job as you leave for work; a quick ‘Thank You’ for meals or thanking Him for taking you there and bringing you back safely is ok but remember that through prayer you can develop a closer relationship with Christ and often receive guidance. So spend quality time relating to/ with him. Then listen and watch for His direction. Prayer opens many doors that are otherwise left shut.
Here’s what Vince [my husband] has to say: It is easy to fall into the trap of being so busy that you forget to say: “Thank You Lord” or take time out to pray and ask for guidance for a particular situation. Creating quiet times gives me the opportunity to reflect on a particular situation and to say a prayer. However, I don’t do this as regular as I would like to.
3. See the need of others even when you are going through the trials of life – that’s LOVE.
JESUS is the true ‘Servant King’ and we need to learn how to follow His example. It is our human nature to think first of self. However, selfishness is a tool that the devil uses to rob you of your joy and hold you firmly to the ground when you fall – his objective is to keep your thoughts negative, resulting in you not knowing how to or wanting to rise again. But when you feel this way just be reminded of those wonderful words sung by Donnie McClurkin ‘a saint is just a sinner who fell down and got up again’.
Many times my problems seem so small and insignificant, when I’m called to offer a helping hand to others. Often I receive my healing through this medium, where helping provided the answer I needed for the situation I was going through. When we learn to think of others first we often find that our ‘major’ trials really are minor ones. We also have less time to hold ‘pity parties’ (prolonging the hurt and feeling sorry for self) and more time for God to shine a light into our heart and to direct our path.
So when selfishness becomes the order of the day just ‘Get back up again’, for someone is out there suffering and could do with your saintly input.
Let us strive to give instead of receiving and in so doing, develop an attitude to serve others.
© 2006 Janice Simone Ramkissoon
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*____ Applying (The 7 Laws of Spiritual Success by Selwyn Hughes), Jennifer Oldroyd
