Chosen for the altar series- 10

Complete Surrender

Those who want to do the Work of God on the altar should be aware that they are no longer in control of their own lives, their objective is to dream Gods’ dreams. This means that the person will live their life according to Gods will and the plan He has for her.

Not everyone is willing to surrender their career, their job, leave their family, their country and go wherever God sends them, without having a say whatsoever. Aware that she will never be able to decorate her own house, knowing that she can be moved at any moment to an unknown place, with a different language and possibly a completely different culture.

Having to adapt to a different climate, and different foods; all these things are part of what the people who decide to leave everything to do the Work of God, must do. Plus, your not always transferred to a country that is structured and developed, some times your faced with hardships that you have never had to face before, but the love for souls doesn’t allow you to look at all of those difficulties, it makes you look at our only focus, which is to win souls for the Kingdom of God, and have it grow everyday more.

Not to mention that you could spend years without seeing your family, and visiting your home town, that why it is important to always be focused on the souls and trust that the Holy Spirit will take care of your loved ones.

Always have this in mind; if there is a personal dream or goal, then the person is serving herself and not God.

Be honest. Not being sincere impedes a person from being chosen from God, because he searches the mind and the heart and knows our true intentions to everything we do.

So don’t be worried, and don’t be afraid, even though no one has faith in you, if you often feel forgotten, or as if no one has paid any attention to you, God knows you and He will honor your faith and the desire you have to serve Him. Considering that you truly are willing to surrender, to get rid of everything, to abandon your dreams and personal goals to serve your God. This is something personal that only you can decide to do.

There is a big difference between doing the Work of God and doing the Work for God.

“ But Jesus said to him, ‘No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.’ ” Luke 9:62

Chosen for the Altar Series - 9

Capacity

Maybe you think: " I have the desire to serve God and I feel that I am chosen for the altar, but I don't have even the minimal capacity. I don't know how to act, or how to express myself, and I'm actually quiet shy, I'm so young and inexperienced, where will I even begin? I don't think I'm capable of doing something so important and holy."

My friend, don't be frustrated, I also felt the same way but when God chooses he also gives you capability and wisdom needed for each situation and need.

You will be able to do things you never imagined being capable of doing. Don’t let this be an obstacle to serve Jesus, because with time all of those things will change.

The only thing you should worry about is having a sincere heart, free from all things and ready to serve God, He will do the rest, because the work is the Holy Spirits and not ours.

Be ready and let God use you, as simple as that.

"It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God. He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life."

2 Corinthians 3:5,6

Chosen for the Altar series- 8

My friends married pastors

" All my friends are married to a pastor, I don't want to be left out, I want to marry one too. It's all so exciting, to see the preparations, how everyone admires them, today she is an assistant, but tomorrow she'll be married and be a pastors wife, she'll sit with the others wives and it will all be so nice"

How many times have we seen this type of situation, and of course we know that this is not the right reason as to why a person may want to be a part of the work of God on the altar.

Such a serious decision cannot be made based on emotion.

You don't have to do what your friends do, instead you should be doing the will of God for your life.

Maybe your friend who is dating a pastor is being used more in the church or she has more responsibilities, or the pastor counts on her more because she is being prepared to do the work of God, and seeing all of that makes you jealous, because you too want the pastor to count on you for your help and so you decide that the only way to achieve these objectives is to date a pastor as well.

But we cannot achieve our objectives in the wrong way.

If you have the desire to be used in the work of God as an assistant, surely God is going to use you, if your intentions are honest.

The mistake is wanting to achieve some kind of personal benefit from the altar, be what it may be.

"Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly—not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God." 1 Peter 5:2

Chosen for the Altar Series- 7

Authority

Many girls think, "oh if I am a pastors wife I will have authority in the church! I will be able to give orders, tell the assistants what to do and run the Kids Zone, people will respect me more and I will be more important in the church!"

This is a thought that is completely wrong and not the will of God at all.

The Spiritual authority that God gives us, is to help, teach and pass on to other people with the objective to help them become closer to God and grow spiritually, on top of receiving their salvation.

Those who use their authority to humiliate, put down others, give orders, aren't using what God gave them appropriately. The obedience and respect that people show to women and men of God, is due the fact that they recognize a spiritual authority that was given to them by God himself and not an imposed authority.

The person who does the work of God with the purpose to misuse their authority, will not be successful and certainly will not be approved by the Holy Spirit.

"Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock."

1 Peter 5:3

Chosen for the altar series- 6

Double intentions

The only intention a person should have to serve God on the altar is exclusively to save souls, the desire to serve God without caring where.

Lets consider some intentions that show that the person has the wrong intentions when she says she wants to leave it all behind and follow Jesus:

• She has lots of problems at home and she wants to be far away from her family, and so she thinks that the best solution is to marry a pastor and get out of her house as soon as possible

• She looks at the other pastor’s wives and she feels a great admiration for them and she has the desire to be just like them, she thinks that they have a perfect life with no battles.

• She thinks that if she does the work of God she will have the opportunity to travel to many different places and countries, because the man of God never stays in one place for too long and that calls her attention.

• Maybe she has never had the opportunity to study and lives a life with limited resources and she sees the church as an opportunity to be stable and life a nice life, at least she’ll always have food and a home.

• As we already spoke about in a past post, she likes the assistant pastor and wants to marry him, even though she knows that she doesn’t have the minimum desire to do the work of God, but she thinks her love for the pastor will be enough.

So analyze carefully and realize what are your true intentions, so that God may honor you in all that you do.

“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart. “ Hebrews 4:12

Chosen for the altar series- 5

Be before doing

She says she wants to do the work of God on the altar, but she acts like she doesn’t really want to.

Lets see some actions that show the following:

- She doesn’t evangelize

- She only comes to church, Wednesdays and Sundays

- When she does come to the meetings, she spends more time outside than inside.

- She doesn’t attend to the people in the church

- She doesn’t involve herself in anything in the church, she doesn’t belong to any group, she isn’t interested in being in the youth group, Kids Zone, groups of rescuing other souls, she doesn’t want any responsibility to not be attached to anything.

- When she has time off, she doesn’t give that time to God, she prefers to go out with friends or do anything else.

- She is always in the moon, daydreaming, she never knows what is going on in the church and never participates in any of the purposes.

- She seeks an opportunity to escape, to do some kind of errand outside of the church to escape from the meeting.

To resume it all, we can see a person with this behavior not ready to do the Work of God on the Altar.

Those who have the desire to serve God act like they are already doing the work of God, even if they study or work, they give themselves completely when they come to church. All of their time off is dedicated to God; she wants to do everything possible to help. She shines in the meeting, not because she wants to be seen, but because of her dedication and love for the people.

Everyone can see she is different, and even though she is not married to a pastor yet, she already forms part of the altar.

"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. " 2 Timothy 2:15

Chosen for the altar series- 4

"I like the assistant pastor"

This happens often, the assistant falls in love with the assistant pastor and wants to marry him in any which way.

But there is a small problem, she doesn't have a calling to serve on the altar, but she isn't thinking about that, right now all she wants is to be with the person she loves, and she isn't worried about anything else.

Marrying a pastor is not the same as getting married to a lawyer or a teacher. A man of God needs a woman of God by his side, who also has the calling of God to serve on the altar, and a woman who is willing to surrender her own life.

If not, she won't be happy and she won't be able to make her husband happy either, because even if she loves him, because to her she'll be in a strange atmosphere and she'll end up frustrated in the work of God.

Because the pastor thinks about the work of God, how to help the people, what else can be done for them. If his wife doesn't have the same vision, she will think In her own desires, in going out, in spending time with friends, became in reality she doesn't feel pleasure in doing the things of God and the work of God for her becomes a burden, something boring.

So be honest. If you don't want to serve God on the altar, you cannot marry a pastor, because the work of God cannot be done by force or as an obligation , she is of maximum responsibility.

“Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.” Psalm 51:6

Chosen for the Altar Series – 3

Love for souls

It’s of no use to be in the church, helping in the meetings if you don’t feel an immense love for souls. The person who serves God on the altar gives herself completely for the people, she doesn’t accept to see the peoples lives in ruins, their souls lost and far from salvation.

This is the main reason to serve God on the altar, the care of the people, the constant prayers and fasting in favor of others, to forget oneself and give yourself for the people.

Analyze your heart and see if in reality you feel that desire to help those who are suffering and far from the kingdom of God, see if you really have that thirst to win souls for God.

How frequently do you talk about Jesus? How often do you sit with a person at church and attend to them and help them spiritually? How often do you make a purpose for the people of your church without thinking of your own needs?

If you’re an assistant, what kind have you been? The one who is really pretty in the meeting and after rushes to go home or rushes to go and talk to your friends, or are you the last one to leave the church, in search of someone to help?

Those chosen for the altar their focus is souls, because without a doubt the person who is saved desires to save others.

“Again Jesus said, Simon son of John, do you truly love me? He answered, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Jesus said, Take care of my sheep. John 21:16

P.S Friends we are going to pause this series since the entire Universal Church is living the month of the Holy Spirit. Lets focus all of our faith and lives to being filled with the Holy Spirit. I will be back on April 18^th with this series of “ Those Chosen for the Altar”

God bless you all!

Chosen for the altar series– 2

A true calling

"How do I know if this is what I really want, because it’s a huge decision and a serious one, sometimes I feel a great desire to serve God, but then other times I am not too sure?"

If these are your thoughts, then you have to prove what your true desires are, what makes you feel happy and complete.

If you are a person who has personal plans for the future, you want your own profession, to grow economically, travel, posses material goods, then the altar is not your objective.

If you miss the life you had before coming to the church, or if you miss the world and the things it offers, then this is another sign that you are not ready.

My family always went on vacations, went out on Sundays, that’s the way I was brought up, but when I was raised as an assistant, my pleasure was to be in the church, do the things of God, the trips no longer mattered for me, going on vacation to pretty places no longer attracted the smallest desire in me, I couldn’t be far from the church, and I couldn’t even think of missing a Sunday meeting. The calling from God is like this, you no longer have the desire in anything else, and your only desire is to serve.

I have been serving God for 17 years now, two years as an assistant and fifteen on the altar, and I cannot remember of a single day where I thought about or wanted to go back to my life before serving God, today I do not have vacations, my own life, but why do any of those things matter if I have the privilege to serve?

One thing is for sure, if the person does not have a true calling to serve God, then she can even want to enter into the Work of God, but she wont give spiritual fruits and will make followers of the flesh, but on the contrary those who God calls, but they try to resist their calling they can try to do everything to be happy but nothing will work, because who can escape God?

Those who are called to the altar, can’t imagine doing anything else but serving God.

Observe yourself and see if the biggest desire in your life is the altar or if the world still calls your attention and seduces you.

“Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.” John 12:26

Chosen for the Altar Series – 1

Born Again

To serve God on the altar is a glorious thing, but there are many people who have doubts about if they truly have a calling to serve God on the altar or if it is just an emotion. Through this series of ten articles you will be able to analyze well and make your own conclusion.

To begin with we are going to talk about being born again, a requirement for those who truly want to serve God on the altar and help those who are suffering. We should not confuse being blessed with being born again, because blessings are conquered though faith and it isn’t necessary to be born of God to receive blessings, anyone who uses their faith can conquer these benefits.

I remember when I came to the church, I began to read the Word of God and to understand the meetings, and with that my eyes were open and I accepted the Word and I converted to it. I received miracles like most you know through my testimony, but my encounter with God didn’t occur until almost two years later.

Being Born again is something that happens inside of you, when you really change from inside and you feel strong, and you no longer feel doubts and fear, or sadness in your heart, the Holy Spirit is with you and that assurance no one can take it away from you, because only you know the you before and the you after this encounter.

Don’t be fooled if you have been blessed or if you have changed in certain things because if your thoughts and actions, your bad desires and the sadness continues, then you haven’t been born again just yet.

The person who has not been born of God yet doesn’t have the spiritual structure to serve God on the altar; he or she will not be able to handle the fire of the Work of God. When that person goes through the desserts and the difficulties he or she will want to give up and leave it all behind.

That’s why we sometimes hear the phrase “this wasn’t what I was expecting, I thought it would be different, this isn’t for me.” The person who says this never truly had a calling to serve God on the altar because this person maybe was imagining something that was pleasing to his or her will and never really knew the meaning of surrendering, so they will never be happy or feel complete. Those who are chosen for the altar are aware that they no longer have their own lives, their life is to save souls, to serve God, those who are not ready to do these things cannot serve God on the altar.

If you have the desire to serve God on the altar, but you haven’t had a true encounter with God yet, then get to work, start seeking, leaving everything that doesn’t please God behind and be ready.

“Jesus answered, Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit” John 3:5