“How May We Serve You?”

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My middle name is Fitzgerald. I was named after the late President John F. Kennedy. My middle name means “son of a warrior”. If names mean anything, if names help to mark and measure our personality, then my name helps explain how I’m wired. I am the son of a warrior.  I have some fight in me.

It is the Fitzgerald in me that the Holy Spirit has spoken to most recently. The call to humility and servanthood is not a call to fight or oppose an enemy. It is a place in the kingdom for peace-keeping forces. The Servant in me is rewiring the warrior.

The prophetic call is to sit in authority, walk in love and stand in prayer!  The kingdom call is to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. The eternal call is to cast crowns at His feet.

Soldiers are being called to be servants. Every great military has corps that are committed to civil support and disaster relief. In Japan over 100,00 army soldiers were deployed the day of the Great Quake. Soldiers must know how to serve the needs of hurting people.

The nature of how one serves and how one fights however, is not the same. Soldiers want to compete and conquer. Servants want to honor and help. They are both under orders, they just have a different spirit and different standard. Example: if a soldier returns having killed his competition he will be honored and commended. If a servant returns with the same report he will be arrested and fired – different spirit and different standard.

We are servants! The Apostle Paul makes it clear that servants are not to spend any time competing and conquering. Serving people, not struggling with people, is the role and goal of a servant.

“And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; If God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.” (II Timothy 2:24-26).

The servant of the Lord must not strive! The servant of the Lord must not seek to war and wrestle. The servant of the Lord must not seek to compete and conquer. The servant of the Lord must not be argumentative and quarrelsome.  This is essential in the character of servant-leaders.

Attitude is where serving begins. How we view people determines how we serve them. If we view people correctly, as opposing themselves and not as opposing us, it will make our serving more kind, patient and gentle. Servants can teach people and help people come to their senses.

Don’t strive! The fight will steal your focus. We are serving. Service is our warfare and our wealth. Don’t let anyone lure you into an argument or a quarrel. Correct error, if you can. More importantly, love people, no matter how they treat you. Just maybe, God will be able to grant them repentance and bring them to the truth.