Four Ways To Travel Light In Ministry

Whether the destination for your travels be an exotic overseas holiday, a local cosy B & B, a romantic getaway or a mid-year break the first question on the lips of every pastor’s wife is, ‘What shall I wear?’ Followed closely by ‘What do I need to pack in my luggage?’ Unless a pastor’s wife learns to live life leaving behind excess luggage there is a strong possibility she will not make it all the way through to successfully fulfill the destiny planned for her by God.

Once I arrived at the airport luggage counter with an itinerant minister friend who was departing my city to continue on to the next leg of her journey. Having already made several stops before Perth her luggage was bulging at the seams with all those little things one picks up along the way.

My suggestion to leave some of the excess behind was stubbornly rejected as she was determined to leave nothing behind.

When my friend placed her luggage on the scales they registered as being overweight, her luggage was tagged ‘heavy load’ and she was required to pay for the kilograms above the allowance.

Living life lightly is so beneficial and vitally important for your success in achieving God’s purposes. Every kilogram of excess weight you carry in the luggage of your life will bring with it immense ramification and personal cost to yourself.

Four Ways To Travel Light In Ministry

1. Keep short accounts with God.

Deal with issues that arise between you and God quickly before they have opportunity to place a wedge between you.  Take the initiative as soon as possible to put the matter right with Him. 1 Jn 1:9

2. Do not hold onto offenses, disappointments, hurts and the like.

Work diligently to not let your thoughts dwell on the issue or allow them to keep rerunning over and over again in your mind by capturing the thought and replacing it with Scripture. Deal with the matter, talk to the person, forgive and release them. 2 Cor 10:5

3. Develop forgiveness as a life-style rather than an event which happens only occasionally.

Forgiveness as part of your life-style assists incredibly to release all those daily niggles from your mind and emotions. Matt 6:14,15

4. Maintain an attitude of thankfulness, gratitude and praise to God.

Your thankfulness, gratitude and praise will attract the presence of God to you, enabling you to become more God focused. This God awareness brings a life-changing priority shift resulting in your turning to God first, before focusing on the issue you face. Ps 22:3, 1 Thess 5:16-18

Are you like my friend, travelling the ministry journey accumulating rather than off-loading items of excess?

Let me encourage you to take a moment to contemplate on the weight of your life’s luggage and if necessary chose today to offload any excess.