(43) Where do I find strength to serve when I feel like I’m all used up?

Let’s be honest, all of us who have been involved in ministry to any extent and for any length of time have had times when we felt like we just didn’t have the energy or the will to keep going. There are times when you just feel spent! There’s nothing left to give.

This can happen for a number of reasons. It can be a matter of physical fatigue where the primary solution may just be a little R&R. It may be because of challenges in ministry – unmet expectations and disappointments, people resistant to the Word of God, opposition, petty criticisms, even family demands. Most often there is a mixture of spiritual and physical exhaustion working together.

You may need a little break to get some rest, but you also need to refocus. You need to get your thoughts focused on a great and glorious God and the promises of His Word. Carefully consider what Paul says:

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. (1 Corinthians 15:10 ESV)

Easy for Paul to say, he was so successful in ministry, right? Wrong! Oh yes, he did see success, and had a tremendous impact on his world for Christ, but don’t forget the failures and setbacks! Remember, Paul was kicked out of cities, beaten, imprisoned. It might be an interesting debate whether Paul was received or rejected more. But what does he say here? He tells us that he kept going and worked hard, by the grace of God. Paul didn’t do it on his own. He did it in the strength supplied to him by God.

The duties God requires of us are not in proportion to the strength we possess in ourselves. Rather, they are proportional to the resources available to us in Christ. We do not have the ability in ourselves to accomplish the least of God's tasks. This is a law of grace. When we recognize it is impossible for us to perform a duty in own strength, we will discover the secret of its accomplishment. – John Owen

Remember what Jesus said about this?

"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. (John 15:4-5 NAU)

OK, so that’s Paul. He had a special measure of God’s grace on his life, that’s what kept him going, right? Wrong again! Look what he says to the Corinthian believers:

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:8 ESV)

Check this out. Paul didn’t have any more grace available to him to do what God wanted him to do than you and I have to do what God wants us to do. In whatever it is that God wants you to do, He will also supply all you need to do it. Oh, and by the way, He will even work in you to give you the will power to do it! Look what Paul tells us in Philippians 2:13. I will list it in three different translations so you can really get the depth of what he is saying.

For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13 NAU)

For it is God who is the cause of your desires and of your acts, for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13 BBE)

It is God who produces in you the desires and actions that please him. (Philippians 2:13 GWN)

With all this biblical truth in mind, let’s consider three principles for serving when we feel like giving up:

➊ Determine to trust God and believe His promise to give you the desire and the ability to do His will.

➋  Determine to abide in intimate personal fellowship with Christ through a lifestyle of worship, Bible study, and prayer.

➌  Determine to choose to be faithful in the ministry God has given you, serving to the best of your ability, pursuing growth and excellence.