Serving God in the Every Day – Serve the Lord With Gladness in 2024
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Serving God doesn’t just happen in church or in a ministry. How do you approach day to day tasks? The laundry has piled up! The dishes are waiting to be washed! Work emails need answering and your boss has scheduled yet another meeting! Do you look at them all with dread or even contempt? Or do you go about them with joy in your heart knowing that yes, in these tasks you serve the Lord?
Wait…what? You just talked about dishes and business meetings and laundry! Joy?? Serving God??
Yes! Keep reading and learn more because all these things are part of your ministry!
Updated and republished from 4/8/2020
Serving God in the Temple
People do often view serving God as something you do at church or synagogue or leading a Life Group or maybe even blogging. And of course it is.
But your ministry goes well beyond the four walls of the church on Sunday or shul on Shabbat.
Raising your children is a ministry. Caring for your home is a ministry. Growing your relationship with your spouse and serving each other is a ministry.
In all you do, you are either showing Yeshua (Jesus) and exuding joy and light or not.
Let’s look at the priestly service in the Temple as an example.
Leviticus 6:1-4 (other versions have 6:8-11)
“Adonai said to Moshe, “Give this order to Aharon and his sons: ‘This is the law for the burnt offering: it is what goes up on its firewood upon the altar all night long, until morning; in this way the fire of the altar will be kept burning.
When the fire has consumed the burnt offering on the altar, the cohen, having put on his linen garment and covered himself with his linen shorts, is to remove the ashes and put them beside the altar. Then he is to remove those garments and put on others, before carrying the ashes outside the camp to a clean place. ”
CJB
Each morning, the priest would clear the ashes from the altar and make room for the day’s new sacrifices.
When the ashes would pile up, the priest would then change his clothing and take the ashes outside of the city to dispose of them.
Now, many duties in the priestly service were assigned by casting lots as these tasks were considered a privilege. However, the task of emptying the ashes was not decided by lots.
While this was a menial job on first glance, and definitely not the cleanest I am sure, the Mishnah speaks of the priests who would race each other up the steps of the altar and the priest who came within four cubits of the altar would win the privilege.
Apparently this “competition” would get pretty intense and physically attempting to eliminate your competition was not unheard of.
The lesson here is that the most menial of tasks in the Tabernacle was not despised or deemed too “lowly” for them.
To the contrary, this task in the priestly service was seen as not just a chore but a chance to serve the Lord.
Do we live our lives the same way? How do we treat those “not so glamorous” tasks? Do we see them as serving God?
Do we see all that we do as unto the Lord or do we view it as ‘beneath’ us?
Do we feel less than others because we don’t have what we view as the more important role in ministry at our place of worship?
Do we serve for the Lord and not ourselves?
Serving the Lord With Gladness
Do you approach your housework or your tasks at work as though you are serving Him or is it just something you murmur and complain your way through?
I admit, I fall WAY short in this area many times! I can be a really good murmurer when it comes to doing my housework!
I will do it – in fact many people would tell you that I get VERY stressed if things are cluttered or out of place.
But I won’t do it happily and that is the WRONG attitude to have.
How can I expect God to use me in ministry if I can’t get the victory over dirty dishes?
How can I expect God to GROW my ministry if every time I am promoted I complain about the added work?
Are we racing up the ramp to serve Him in every area of our lives or do we see things as too menial for us? Do we serve the Lord with gladness in those smallest and most menial of chores?
Do we look for opportunities to do those ministries at our places of worship that maybe not a lot of people are knocking the doors down to volunteer in? It is ALL in service to Him.
Serving God with gladness regardless of the task is a witness to those around you, including your children! Let them see you giving praise to God that you GET to serve Him in all things.
Working for God – Ways to Be Joyful When Serving God in Our Daily Work
So how do you keep your heart turned toward God when doing dishes, changing the oil in your car, making your bed, dealing with your boss?
How to Start Serving God Every Day
- Listen to Praise & Worship Music – Turn on some awesome music and sing your heart out! I love listening to music while I cook or while I am working. When you sing along with this music it is hard to not feel joyful! Imagine the joy of serving God with praise in your heart and on your lips!
- Pray – Pray while you are cooking or cleaning or waiting for a client at work. Stop and thank the Lord that you have a job! Thank Him that you have a home to clean! Thank Him that you have a car to wash! Count it all joy and let Him know how much you love Him and appreciate Him! Serving God with joy begins with really understanding how everything you do can be for Him and by praying as you do them, you just hone in on that mindset.
- Listen to an Audio Bible – If you are able to, play an audio Bible and listen to the Word while you work. Filling your heart with His Word will give you encouragement! Serving God while His Word is being poured into your spirit is just an amazing thing.
- Find a Great Podcast to Listen To – There are some great podcasts you can listen to by amazing Christian women. I will share some with you! Some I have not yet listened to but are from fellow bloggers! Two I particularly love is my friend Misty Hinckley Phillip’s podcast “By His Grace Podcast” as well as my friend Debbie Kitterman’s “Dare 2 Hear Podcast”
– Grace Over 40
– Abounding in Hope Talks With Tricia
– Kairos Moments
– Dwelling Together
– Radiant Pearl Living
– Dressed For Battle
- Memorize Scripture – Repeating Bible verses to yourself to commit to memory is a great way to focus on Him while you do various tasks. Pick one or two verses each day and, as you do chores or tasks for work you can recite them either out loud or silently! Hiding God’s Word in your heart is a great way to go about serving God in all things! Joshua 1:8 says:
“Yes, keep this book of the Torah on your lips, and meditate on it day and night, so that you will take care to act according to everything written in it. Then your undertakings will prosper, and you will succeed.“
CJB
- Develop Spiritual Traits – Besorah Learning Center (our sister site) says: “It is not enough to learn that it is important to show loving-kindness to another person or to learn that patience is a virtue. That “head” knowledge does not give you the traits of loving-kindness or patience.
Learning ABOUT kindness does not make us more kind. Learning about patience does not make us more patient.But working on our “spiritual curriculum” and working through this with others while you share your stories and your own difficulties not only helps you come together as a community but it helps you to strengthen those traits in yourself AND in others.”
Our Mussar classes (Mussar is Hebrew for discipline and appears in the Bible 51 times) can help you to develop these traits and serve God and others in the most amazing ways AND find peace and balance in your own life. Visit Besorah Learning Center for more details on Mussar.
Bible Verses on Serving
Scriptures on Serving
Romans 12:1 CJB
"I exhort you, therefore, brothers, in view of God’s mercies, to offer yourselves as a sacrifice, living and set apart for God. This will please him; it is the logical “Temple worship” for you."
Colossians 3:17 TLV
"And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Yeshua, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."
Ephesians 6:7 TLV
"Serve with a positive attitude, as to the Lord and not to men—"
Matthew 23:11 CJB
"The greatest among you must be your servant..."
Philippians 2:1-11 CJB
"Therefore, if you have any encouragement for me from your being in union with the Messiah, any comfort flowing from love, any fellowship with me in the Spirit, or any compassion and sympathy, then complete my joy by having a common purpose and a common love, by being one in heart and mind.
Do nothing out of rivalry or vanity; but, in humility, regard each other as better than yourselves — look out for each other’s interests and not just for your own.
Let your attitude toward one another be governed by your being in union with the Messiah Yeshua:
Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God something to be possessed by force. On the contrary, he emptied himself, in that he took the form of a slave by becoming like human beings are.
And when he appeared as a human being, he humbled himself still more by becoming obedient even to death —death on a stake as a criminal!
Therefore God raised him to the highest place and gave him the name above every name; that in honor of the name given Yeshua, every knee will bow —in heaven, on earth and under the earth —and every tongue will acknowledge that Yeshua the Messiah is Adonai —to the glory of God the Father."
Psalm 100:1-2 CJB
"Shout for joy to Adonai, all the earth! Serve Adonai with gladness. Enter his presence with joyful songs."
Luke 22:27 TLV
"For who is greater, the one who reclines or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines? But I am among you as one who serves."
Hebrews 13:16 TLV
"Do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased."
John 13:14 TLV
"So if I, your Master and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash each other’s feet."
Taken from the Complete Jewish Bible by David H. Stern. Copyright © 1998. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Messianic Jewish Publishers, 6120 Day Long Lane, Clarksville, MD 21029. www.messianicjewish.net.
Tree of Life (TLV) – Scripture taken from the Holy Scriptures, Tree of Life Version*. Copyright © 2014,2016 by the Tree of Life Bible Society. Used by permission of the Tree of Life Bible Society.
Powerful post, Diane. As a believer, I used to think full time ministry was the best place to serve the Lord. But He has gently been revealing the truth over the last 5-6 years. We are in ministry at work, home, and wherever we are. If we look at the life and ministry of Jesus, not only did He use examples of daily life to teach spiritual lessons, but He also met people where they were in their lives at the time.
Amen Karen! He most certainly did. Well said!