Serve

S - Submission. When we choose to serve we are submitting to the authority of someone higher than ourselves. Who we choose to serve is our choice. When we submit, we are making a statement about what is important to us. God tells us that we are to respect those in authority who are placed over us. Often we get caught in the trap of Satan, by serving based on how we feel about a person or situation.

- Rom 13:1 Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God.
- Heb 12:9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live!
- James 4:7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

E - Eager. When we choose to serve, how we do it makes all the difference. There is always a reason for why we serve (compassion, desire, income, love, commitment, pride). God will always provide all the resources we need to serve effectively, but we must rely on Him and not ourselves. You will find great joy, if you eagerly serve as if to God, and not for yourself (upside down from the world's thinking).
Jos 22:5 But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, to keep his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

- 1 Cor 14:12 And the same is true for you. Since you are so eager to have the special abilities the Spirit gives, seek those that will strengthen the whole church.
- Tit 2:14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

R - Rejoice. There is an underlining joy that runs deep within us (placed by the Holy Spirit) that can greatly affect our serving. It comes down to choice again. Do we serve in bitterness and anger, or do we serve with gladness and purpose as representatives of the risen savior Jesus? Paul is a favorite of mine that drives this point home. Who continues to serve and sing after being beaten and imprisoned? It should be US! People are watching how we act and what we say. Our response affects not only ourselves, but our friends, co-workers, and family around us.

- Hab 3:18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
- Rom 12:12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
- Dt 12:7 There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the LORD your God has blessed you.

V - Voice. I believe that our service speaks volumes not only about ourselves, but our God. We have the ability to speak life or death into any situation, based on the authority of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. God created the world by speaking it into existence. As sons and daughters of the living God, we too have that creative spirit. This is why getting God's word into us daily is so important.

- Jer 21:8 “Furthermore, tell the people, ‘This is what the LORD says: See, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.
- Acts 4:29 Now, Lord, consider their threats & enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.

E - Encourage. Service is a great opportunity to encourage those around us on a daily basis. Our lives are full of worldly peaks and valleys that often define who we are or become. But God has a different plan for His sons and daughters. The Lord commands us to lift one another up in both the good times and bad. To act and live based on who He is and what His love can accomplish. This again is where we so desperately need the Holy Spirit. Our thinking is flawed and our hearts evil. To become an effective encourager, we must stop and listen for the gentle whisper from the Father. His Word and promises are true! If we are willing, He will fill us with His wisdom and hope for the dying world around us.

- 1 Thes 4:18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
- Heb 10:25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
- 2 Thes 2:16-17 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.