ARTICLE: “You Need All of You for Ministry” | Rev. Victor Atenaga | @Atenagavictor |

#dearidahosa Praying heavily in the spirit, I began to ask questions about my assignment and being that I have been popularly known as a Worship Music Minister, I felt my singing will no more be needed. To my greatest amazement, I found out based on what God told me that God calls a man with all that he has.

In ministry, God needs the experience and lessons learnt from all life’s situations to make you the kind of minister He wants you to be.Jeremiah 1:5 “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.” New Living Translation

#dearidahosa You might be an Artist before you got the call. God wants you to use it in order to succeed as a ministry person. No lesson, good or bad is wasted.

Peter was a successful fisherman, God asked him to be a fisher of men. Moses was a trained leader and God used his skill learnt in the most prestigious university of his days to lead the Israelites. I know you would ask, if he was good enough why did God leave him in the wilderness for forty years before He called him to lead his people?

#dearidahosa, My answer sincerely is this. Your experience might be good enough but your heart must be right and until your heart becomes right there are dimensions God will never take you into. Same reason He left the first Church, Israel, in the desert for forty years so He could take Egypt from them.

Remember when He wanted the Ark of covenant built, he required them to seek for those with the skill of building and forging things and He got them out.

#dearidahosa, When you learn a skill, your heart becomes knitted with the procedure to the extent that when you gain mastery, you can almost carry it out without thinking. It is figurative of the Armor you are familiar with to defeat your enemy at war times, it is only the skill you have mastered that you can easily assess in your head as fear tend to quiet your reasoning to the point of incapacitation.

Jesus in the parable of the talents, gave some five talents, some two and someone. If you happen not to be among those God gave more than one gift, do well to prosper with all because scripture says”But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.” I Corinthians 12:7

When Paul was confronted with lack during his missionary assignment, He had to go back to their family business of tent making. By the earning he got from this business, he took care of Himself and the ministry delivered into His hands by God. Whether he worked with his hands or people gave, you must realize that those where Gods ways of meeting the needs in the kingdom#dearidahosa If God called you, He will start funding the ministry in your hands most times, with whatever resources you have. What you have is usually very good enough for God to start whatever
One of the greatest mistakes you will make is to think that for you to enter into ministry you should dump all your skills, thinking they will no more be needed. If they are negative skill, you have to turn it on in the positive way so as to be able to use it for the Kingdom.

“Then the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied.” Exodus 4:2 ISV.
Years before we started our church SWIM [Simply Worship International Ministry], I had a revelation of my team (The Worshipers) and I ministering in a Crusade-like meeting. I was doing this with the mind of preparing the ground for a preacher who will come after my segment. Along the line, I saw two of God’s greatest Generals come into the scenario and I told them I would soon wrap up so they could come take over. Their reply to me was, we just came to see what and how you are doing, the crowd is yours to reach. Whatever you want to do, do with all your heart, it is your season.

It spoke volumes to me that if I like I sing, preach, teach or dance before them, they will hear.

Are you good at talking, singing, praying, poetry, and writing? Whatever! God can reach our world with it. Take note that it is only the Gospel that has the capacity to give us a world of wholesomeness and sanity because it is the power of God.Always remember that the ministry you choose not to express could just be the reason why what you hate keeps thriving.God said to me, some years ago, If you do less than your training and exposure, you have first sinned against yourself before anyone else.

#dearidahosa heaven has vested great things in you, our world awaits your manifestation do not let us down.

Rev. Victor Atenaga is the Senior Pastor of SWIM-The Glorious House, Benin City, Nigeria – W-Africa.

International Worship leader, Voice Coach, Author and Songwriter. Follow him on Twitter: @atenagavictor

Check out his blog: https://atenagavictor.wordpress.com