YOU CAN BE SUCCESSFUL

II Timothy 1:6-9

Many people promise to provide the secret to a successful pastoral ministry. Conferences, curricula, and consultants like to offer products for discouraged pastors. Attend this conference and you will come away with a ministry-changing model. Purchase this curriculum and you will regain interest. Listen to this expert who can diagnose your problem and lead you to renewal. Pastors soon feel as if they cannot possibly lead a ministry with only the Word of God and the Spirit’s gifts.

Everyone wants to succeed in what they do. Pastors are no exception. God wants all ministers to have a good and fruitful ministry at whatever He has called them to do; whether that’s being a pastor, a missionary, an evangelist, or whatever. God wants to crown our efforts with success. The first thing we must have to be successful in the ministry is God’s anointing on our lives.

The apostle Paul had this in mind when he prayed, in Ephesians, that we might experience the “exceeding greatness” of God’s power in our lives (Ephesians 1:19). We are all candidates for it. But, what point would there be in God anointing us with His power if we’re not going to do anything with it?

We all want God to fill us with His Spirit; but for what reason? To accomplish what? The primary reason we need God’s anointing is so He can accomplish something through us.

It isn’t easy being a pastor. Pastors get discouraged more often than they care to admit. There are steps we can take to overcome discouragement and thereby changing our lives and ministry dramatically!

The primary difference between the person who is doing a great work for God and the one who’s just getting by is this: one is enjoying the anointing of God on his life; he is ministering in a fresh and living way in every service; the other one is not, he’s relying mostly on his own ability to get him by.

God is not impressed with our “cozy” little churches where everyone is always in agreement, where no one ever disturbs the water. A pastor is not successful simply because everyone is in agreement. A pastor is successful when he is obeying God, not when he is pleasing the people. A pastor should constantly be “stretching” himself, attempting things for God which couldn’t possibly succeed without His anointing.

 Another thing that is important for a successful ministry is the setting of proper goals. A pastor who doesn’t set goals for the church or his ministry usually doesn’t accomplish very much. Setting goals isn’t a sacred cow or anything like that; it is, however, a very important ingredient for success. Goals aren’t difficult to set. It’s nothing more than outlining in advance the things we feel God wants to accomplish through our ministry. If you don’t know what God wants to do through you, how can you concentrate your energies on bringing it about?

What is it that makes a pastor succeed and what is it that makes a church succeed? Some churches are always thriving in the Lord. They’re growing, their people are giving, and they’re having a tremendous impact on their community. What is it that makes this happen? It’s a combination of the anointing of God in their services and the “goals” they have carefully outlined for their ministry.

The main reason why some pastors don’t set goals is that they’re afraid of failing. They’re afraid to set goals because they’re afraid if they set them and fail they will be ridiculed and thought of as a bad administrator.

Goals have a way of broadening our faith, of helping us reach our full potential. Without them, there’s too much of a temptation to drift and do less than our best. They encourage us to stretch ourselves just a little further. They encourage us to pray and work just a little harder to accomplish just a little more.

God didn’t call us to be “cozy”. He’s commissioned us to evangelize the world. That means getting up, getting out, and getting on with the work he has committed us to do. But, first, we must have a sense of what He wants to accomplish through our ministry.

Over the years I have counseled and worked with a lot of pastors and I have discovered that the pastors who have no specific goals for his ministry tend to lack excitement. They are prone to mediocrity. They tend to drift and usually become critical of those who succeed. They tend to experience a great deal of disappointment in their lives and ministry because things don’t usually work out.

There are many pastors who are leaving their lives to chance. They are just sort of drifting along; never asking, “Where I am headed, what is God’s direction for my ministry, what is it that God would like to achieve through me, and am I willing to commit myself to this regardless of the consequences or costs?”

Mediocrity is not of God. Wastefulness is not of God. Drifting is not of God. Dullness is not of God. A pastor who has a clear set of goals and has the anointing of God on his life, who knows what God wants him to accomplish has an energy within that is always abounding. He has an excitement and an attitude that’s positive. He is not depressed because it’s raining. It doesn’t make any differences if it is cloudy, snowing, or whatever because God is still on the throne and that’s all that matters. He has been on his knees before God and has risen from the place of prayer with a sense of enthusiasm and expectancy of what God is going to accomplish.

Be filled with the Spirit; don’t settle for less than that. Then ask God to give you a clear vision of what He wants to accomplish through your life and ministry. Write these down in the form of immediate and long-range goal, and you will begin to experience wonderful things began to happen in your ministry, in the church, and in your life.

Pastor, your “success” is based on Jesus’ finished work on the cross, not the amount of work you accomplish in a given day. Keep working hard using your gifts while trusting God. This is the secret to a successful pastoral ministry!