{"id":1950,"date":"2015-08-17T07:00:54","date_gmt":"2015-08-17T13:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/?p=1950"},"modified":"2015-08-17T07:42:05","modified_gmt":"2015-08-17T13:42:05","slug":"the-most-important-word-in-ministry-and-very-few-learn-to-use-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/?p=1950","title":{"rendered":"The Most Important Word In Ministry (and very few learn to use it)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

If I told you there was a word that had the power to give you energy to lead well, define your character, shape your relationships for the better\u00a0would you want to use it?<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The truth is, very few people use this word, and the absence of this word is killing people in ministry. \u00a0The most important word in ministry that few learn to\u00a0use is this: No.<\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

Even though it might not feel like it at the time, the word, \u201cno,\u201d is a freedom word.\u00a0 It sets us up to live the full life that Jesus describes in John 10:10. \u00a0 Yet, so many people fail to use this word.\u00a0 As a result, many people are living with the disastrous consequences.\u00a0 Here is the cost to saying, \u201cyes,\u201d all the time:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Saying, \u201cYes,\u201d Drains Our Energy from the Most Important Stuff in Our Lives<\/b>.\u00a0 Our lives are like bank accounts.\u00a0 If I choose to spend my money on every opportunity that is presented to me in a given week, I will soon run out of money for the most important things in my life.\u00a0 I won\u2019t have enough money to pay my mortgage, buy groceries, and pay my bills.\u00a0 Likewise, when we spend our time and energy on every request that comes our way, we won\u2019t have enough time and energy to spend on the most important things in our lives.\u00a0 We will soon run out of time and energy to focus on our priorities, values and goals.\u00a0 When we say, \u201cyes,\u201d all the time, we live a bankrupt life.<\/li>\n
  2. Saying, \u201cYes,\u201d Compromises All Our Yeses.<\/b>\u00a0 Author Peter Block once said, \u201cIf you can\u2019t say \u2018no,\u2019 your \u2018yeses\u2019 don\u2019t mean a thing.\u201d\u00a0 Using the banking analogy again, a person that says yes all the time is the person who writes checks that bounce.\u00a0 When we say, \u201cyes,\u201d to every request and opportunity, we are eventually going to bounce our checks.\u00a0 The cost of saying, \u201cyes,\u201d all the time is a diminished character.\u00a0 When we can\u2019t follow through on a commitment or we have to cancel a commitment we have made at the last minute, we will be known as the person who is not dependable.<\/li>\n
  3. Saying, \u201cYes,\u201d Reduces Our Presence with God and People.<\/b>\u00a0 When our schedules are so full, we look for ways to cut corners.\u00a0 The easiest corner to cut is our attentive presence with people and God.\u00a0 When we say, \u201cyes,\u201d to everything, we are really saying, \u201cno,\u201d to being fully present with people and to God.\u00a0 In our meetings with God and with people, our presence becomes an inch deep and a mile wide.\u00a0 Our time with God and people turns into a transaction.\u00a0 With God, we turn a mysterious encounter with the lover of our souls into a check list of to-do items for him to complete.\u00a0 With people, we turn holy encounters with co-image bearers who struggle with sin into problems to solve, or resources to harness, or objects to make us happy.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Saying, \u201cyes,\u201d all the time is costly. It creates a stench in our souls, in our relationships, and in our leadership.<\/p>\n

    Learn to say, \u201cno,\u201d today (even to good opportunities) because saying, \u201cno,\u201d gives us:<\/h3>\n
      \n
    1. \n

      Energy to complete the most important things God has called us to<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
    2. \n

      Character that is full, rich, and dependable<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n
    3. \n

      Presence to Deepen our Relationship with\u00a0God and people<\/strong><\/h4>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      The road to living the full life Jesus talks about in John 10:10, begins by using the word, \u201cno,\u201d to all the good things in life in order to seek the best things that Jesus offers us.<\/h3>\n

       <\/p>\n

      Next week, I will tackle why we have such a hard time saying, \u201cno,\u201d in the first place.<\/p>\n

      What ways has using the word, \u201cno,\u201d given you freedom in ministry?<\/h1>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      If I told you there was a word that had the power to give you energy to lead well, define your character, shape your relationships for the better\u00a0would you want to use it? The truth is, very few people use this word, and the absence of this word is killing people in ministry. \u00a0The most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1951,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theawakenministry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/The-Most-Important-Word-in-Ministry.001.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1950"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1957,"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1950\/revisions\/1957"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theawakenministry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}