Every pastor needs more than merely finely honed skills, more than experience, and more than even a basic love for people; yes, even more than a genuine willingness to serve.
Ministry requires the power of the Holy Spirit. (Zechariah 4:6)
There is a continuous need to be filled with His Spirit, baptized with power! Jesus promised His dynamic power to those who asked. “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me” (Acts 1:8, NKJV). That promise is still needed and available today. It wasn’t just for the early church. It’s for every believer, especially the pastor who wants to live and serve in a way that bears lasting fruit.
Without the power of the Holy Spirit, we’ll rely on our own strength. We’ll turn to our own ideas. We’ll fall back on programs, planning, or personality. Even if we accomplish things, they won’t be done through the Spirit. They’ll be done in the flesh. That’s always disastrous. While they may represent the best a man can do in his own strength, it’s just human in origin. That’s not true ministry. That’s just man.
A pastor can’t give what he doesn’t have. If we’re going to pour into others, we need to be filled first. That filling isn’t a one-time event. It’s a daily necessity. Paul said, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18, NKJV). The verb “be filled” is continuous. It’s not something that happened once a long, long time ago, and then you moved on. We need a regular, ongoing, personal relationship with the Holy Spirit. A dependence that keeps us sensitive, humble, and ready.
Serving in your own strength will wear you out. You’ll end up exhausted, frustrated, and ultimately burned out.
Have you heard someone say, “I’d rather burn out than rust out.”? That’s dumb. God doesn’t want you to experience either one.
People suffer under the leadership of a burned-out fleshly man.
The antidote to burnout is to humbly serve in the Spirit, where there’s power, boldness, and joy. After the early church prayed together, “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31, NKJV). That same boldness is yours by faith. The Spirit empowers us not just to preach, but to endure, to love, and to lead when it’s hard.
We need the Spirit because the work is spiritual in nature. What God wants to do through you can’t be accomplished by natural means. He doesn’t want your strength. He wants your surrender. Zechariah 4:6 says, “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts” (NKJV). That’s the kind of ministry that pleases Him. That’s the kind of ministry that lasts.
Ask Him. Ask to be filled again. Ask for fresh power, fresh vision, fresh humility. Don’t settle for what you’ve known in the past. Stay in a place of continual dependence. Keep asking, keep seeking, keep being filled.
When you do, you’ll find that the Spirit meets you in your weakness. He lifts your head, strengthens your hands, and gives you exactly what you need to keep going. That’s how we serve fruitfully. That’s how we endure faithfully.
Adapted from the book, Sure and Steady by Pastor Ed Taylor. Chapter 2
