Some of the most challenging seasons in ministry we endure are those marked by failure, opposition, or discouragement from others. But they are made all the worse when they arrive at a time when your own devotional life has begun to dry up. It’s a very deceiving situation. Why?
Well, when you neglect the Word and prayer in your own personal life, you can still serve. You can still show up. You can still teach. But something inside starts to suffer. Your outward life looks healthy, but inside, you are very spiritually sick. That’s why a pastor’s personal devotional life with the Lord is not optional. It’s essential and must grow and grow.
Pastor, Everything flows from your time with Jesus. Can I say that again? Everything flows from your time with the Lord. The strength to shepherd, the wisdom to counsel, the clarity to teach, they all come from your fellowship with Him. Your calling isn’t sustained by talent or experience. Your connection to the Lord sustains your ministry. When that connection is strong, everything else falls into place. When it’s weak, it shows, even if no one else notices it right away.
Don’t forget Joshua 1:8.
Joshua 1:8 (NKJV) “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”
The Lord instructed Joshua to keep the Word close, to meditate on it day and night, and to live by it. He wasn’t given a strategy. He was given the Word. That’s where success in ministry is born. You don’t make progress with human ingenuity but in humble obedience. Your quiet times with the Lord are far more valuable than any plans or objectives you may come up with. Seriously.
Psalm 1:1–3 (NKJV) “Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.”
Psalm 1 reminds us what that life looks like and is especially wonderful for the pastor. A man who delights in God’s Word becomes like a tree planted by rivers of water. He’s steady. Fruitful. Solid. No matter how hard things may get, he is anchored in the Lord. That’s what you want to be. That’s what your church needs you to be. Someone who is rooted in the Lord, nourished by the Word, and consistently bearing fruit over time.
If the ministry feels dry, don’t press harder. Slow down. Return to the basics. Open the Word. Sit in God’s presence. Let Him speak. There’s no substitute for that daily abiding. It’s not a discipline you graduate from. It’s the foundation you keep returning to, again and again.
Adapted from the book, Sure and Steady by Pastor Ed Taylor. CH 4
