What does ministry look like to you? Is it a preacher standing behind a pulpit preaching a fiery sermon? Is it someone singing on a platform? Whatever image comes to your mind when you think about ministry, it might be a little deficient.
“Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; He will come and save you’” (Isa. 35:3-4). This was the future ministry of Israel. They were to strengthen the weak, make firm the feeble, and encourage the fearful. What was the message that could accomplish such tasks? The Lord was coming again. He would condemn all of Israel’s enemies, and at the same time He would save Israel.
In such a day as our’s, we should recognize the need for similar ministries. One doesn’t need to have supernatural powers to strengthen those with feeble hands, or to encourage those with weak knees. Jesus said, “For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matt. 25:35-40).
Ministries of mercy are the kinds of ministries that the church should seek to administer in the communities in which they minister. In times like these, in which we are closer to the coming of the Lord than we’ve ever been, our mission to reach the lost should be heightened.