Are You Ready to Serve as a Waiter at God’s Banquet?
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of good, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, Your God reigns! — Isaiah 52:7
For though I was free from all, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more. — 1 Corinthians 9:19
Author
Faustino de Jesús Zamora Vargas
Summary: Every day, God invites us to serve as “waiters” of his gospel, calling those who are hungry to enjoy the banquet that has already been prepared. We must not put off the call to seek the lost or take refuge in feelings of inadequacy: following Christ requires courage, commitment, diligence, and complete dependence on him. Yet effective service rests not only on skills or credentials, but on prayer, fellowship with the Spirit, and intimacy with the Father. Revival begins when the Church truly hungers for God. Therefore, let us seek his presence first, observe where he is at work, and join in his plan; he will show us whom to speak to and put the necessary words on our lips.
God invites us daily to take part as “waiters” serving His gospel. Our task is to call “the diners” to enjoy the delights of the Lord’s table. Many people are hungry and do not know that the banquet has already been prepared.
The beauty of the Gospel lies in putting it into practice. If you have ever heard God’s voice inviting you to preach His word and seek the lost, do not put it off until later. You will experience unspeakable joy on the day God gives you a spiritual child for His glory. It is a wonderful feeling, and most importantly… you will grow! when you find yourself called to be a living testimony to those brothers and sisters who have come to know the Lord because you were courageous and showed them the way of truth and life. Christ’s transforming grace will take on a new spiritual dimension in your life. Be a disciple and reproduce yourself in other disciples! Offer Christ your cross, and He will know what to do with it!
When we delay responding to the Lord’s call to evangelize, we sometimes waste far too much time trying to soften the hammer blows of our own Christian conscience. We reproach ourselves and feel incompetent, like Moses when the Lord asked him to lead the exodus of His people to the promised land, simply because of a stutter. Jesus continues to call us to preach, to proclaim the Good News, and to honor Him in everything we do, without forgetting that perhaps, at times, we will have to be willing to have no place to lay our heads, to deny ourselves, and to depend entirely on Him—on Him alone. His invitation is permanent and immanent, and it requires a diligent and steadfast attitude. The faithfulness of the one who follows Christ is like pleasing incense rising into the Lord’s presence.
Today we are running out of excuses for not doing what we ought to do. We hear our brothers and sisters speak of their desire for revival in the community and in our countries. But intimacy with God is lacking, as are communion with the Spirit and the prayer that God longs to receive from our lips and hearts. When the Church (you and I) groans with hunger for God and we are consumed by the passion to grow ever more intimate with Jesus Christ, we will have the revival that so many of us long for. We need a new generation of Christians who not only know how to present an extraordinary résumé in order to serve the Lord, but who also know what intimate communion with our Father is. Our falls and missteps do not occur because of the way we serve, but because of our negligence in praying without a hunger for God. The disciple and the Church need to live on their knees. A Christian’s success lies not only in knowing how to do the work, but in being consumed by intimacy with God. Our walk along the glorious paths of the gospel—with successes and failures—will be determined by our relationship with the Father.
Do you feel the desire to serve God? Observe and notice where He is at work, and join Him in His wonderful plan—but not before spending as much time as you can alone with Him. Perhaps the Lord wants to use you at your workplace or among your closest friends, where there are many who still do not know the transforming power of His presence in a person’s life. Seek God in prayer, and He will teach you how to speak to the person who needs Him. He will bring that person to you and put the necessary words on your lips—not the words found in any “plan of salvation” devised by human minds, but those that flow from the heart, prompted by the Spirit of God Himself. Spiritual battles are won through prayer and unconditional devotion.
Be courageous, my brother and my sister. Shepherd the sheep that still have no shepherd. Devote yourself to prayer and tell that helpless soul who is waiting for you about Christ. There is no greater blessing!
God bless you!