RECOGNIZE YOUR EPHAH OF GRAINS

1 Samuel 17: 11-19

Aside from what we know, everything that happens in our lives is allowed by God to prepare us for the next.

Every door that we pass through is a way to the next level, to a new dimension, new opportunity, to a new blessing.

We all know the story of David, how he fought and killed Goliath.

His biggest challenge became his biggest leaping point towards his destiny to be king.

David before fighting his biggest challenge was prepared to fight a lion, to fight a bear, and a bear to fight Goliath.

Every challenge we overcome makes the latter easier for us.

Our OWN GOLIATH

All of us have our own Goliath.

But we have to remember the many challenges we encountered and overcome because those winning moments give us the courage to fight. It gives us the energy to stand and say to ourselves “I CAN DO IT”.

WHY? Because we have to remind ourselves that our God will never leave us nor abandon us.

Like David, he remembered what God has done in his life.

As servants of GOD, we are not exempted from this experience, because the more we are serving, the more Goliaths we have to overcome.

We understand that the greater the Goliath, the greater the blessings.

Every big challenges and obstacle determine how big our blessings will be.

DISCOVERING WHO WE ARE IN SERVICE

We all know the success of David fighting Goliath but what we don’t realize was that He was not sent to the battlefield to fight but to SERVE.

In 1 Sam 17:17 Then Jessie said to David His son, “Take now for your brothers an ephah of this roasted grain and these ten loaves and run to the camp of your brothers. Bring also these ten cuts of cheese to the commander of their thousands and LOOK INTO THE WELFARE OF YOUR BROTHERS, and bring back news of them”.

David’s destiny was shaped because of the service he gave.

It was during his service that he discovered his true calling…

Our service leads us to where God wants us to be.

I started in this Ministry serving as a service then into the Music Ministry 25 years ago in a small prayer Group in Caloocan. Being a choir member we have outreaches and I was assigned to be a sharer of the Word of God. But when I graduated from college, my service stops until I was led by God to work abroad where here in Dubai again called me to serve as part of the Service Ministry then became part of the Music Ministry, and later to Education Ministry.

Have we noticed that everything starts with Service Ministry because it’s a training ground?

In the service Ministry, we do an all-around job. There is no specific task because we ought to serve the needs of all other ministries.

Service Ministry works behind the scene. They do the menial things that others don’t want to do.

They do the works that others don’t recognize and appreciate.

They are people who seldom get a pat on the shoulder or appreciation. They are the people who don’t get the applause yet they continue to serve.

But Service is the core and essence of every Ministry.

It starts with service and should end in service. Being part of other ministries, the basics should remain that we are in service to God and to other believers.

ANOINTED BUT STILL SERVING

People sometimes got into the hypes of being recognized, being known, being popular, being remunerated, being appreciated, and applauded.

But we have to understand that David was already anointed yet he still serves.

He was already anointed by God to be the next king but never brags about his position.

“Hey, why do I have to bring the ephah to my brother when I’m destined to be king of Israel. They should be the ones serving me.”

Service remains rooted to be humble no matter we know already our predestined position.

Our anointing should not change the fact that we are blessed to serve.

We cannot say I’m an anointed preacher and I am spare of serving others.

It saddens me when I see anointed servants but they demand too much. Their demands are greater than the service they give.

We cannot be proud that we are a leader if we don’t have the heart to serve.

DON’T LOOK FOR THE BAG, RECOGNIZE YOUR EPHAH

For forty days they were in a stand-off with the Philistines and they are losing because they don’t have a match with the Goliath.

But David was sent to the battlefield to bring the lunch of his brothers and not to fight.

He was there to serve.

Many people of today look for what’s inside the bag but they don’t understand that it’s the ephah or bushels of grains that lead you to your destiny. Because today, many people want to lead than follow; many want to be the leader than to be a follower, many wanted to be a manager than to be a worker. Because they see the prestige of the bag.

They see the rewards rather than the sacrifice. We need people of today who want to serve. Who acknowledges the ephah that they need to do… Because the blessings are not in the bag but on our faithfulness to bring those bushels or ephah.

We have to be faithful and be trusted on the little works to be trusted with bigger things.

David was trusted with a lunch bag that he was trusted to carry on a bigger bag. We could not achieve the fullness of our service because we are busy serving ourselves. We want to make a name for ourselves.

ANOINTED BUT NOT YET APPOINTED

He was not arrogant to tell that I am anointed King because even when he was anointed, he was humble enough to still serve his brethren, his king, his father, and his sheep. Our anointing will not spare us from serving. But it does not mean that when we are anointed, we are already appointed. We can be anointed but not appointed. We have to remain faithful and trusted until we are appointed at the proper time.

SERVING THE BRETHREN

David serves the big guys.

He recognizes his role and who he was. Support for the tough guys.

From a small servant to a bigger serviceman.

Because the small contribution he brings can affect the success of the whole army.

Because many wanted to contribute but want their name to be recognized.

A servant is a team player.

You could not be a good shooter but you contribute to the offense. In basketball, the shooter depends on the isolation made by other teammates so that it could create a clear shot.

SERVICE CATAPULTS US TO OUR DESTINY

Humble servants were raised and blessed by God because they choose and responded to the call to serve. Elisha was the servant of Elijah but when was used by God, he did miracles and anointing more than Elijah. Ruth chooses to serve Naomi but his service is never in vain because that paved the way to be married to Boaz the landowner where she was gleaning.

Recognizing our ephah of grain is to be aware of our mission, and our mission is to serve with love.

In the end, we will answer and be accounted with this question, “what have we done when we saw Him naked, sicked, in prison, hungry and thirsty?’

Whatever we do to the least of our neighbor, we do it unto Him.

May you recognize your own epha of grain.

Mikesendon