yes god can still use you in the ministry.
peter failed god more than once, all the disciples failed god in garden, they all ran.
everyone of them forsook god and failed him.
yet everyone of them became a mighty man of god later.
one time i was reading a very classical scripture from
2 chronicles 7.13-16
13,
"if i shut up heavon that there be no rain, or if i command the locust to devour the land, or if i send pestilence amoung my people"
gods speaking to solomon about judging isreal for their great sin, they had greatly backslid and gone whoring and defiled themselves and their country and shamed the name of God.
but then god offers an alternative, becuase destruction and punishment are never his delight.
14,
if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray. and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will i hear from heavon and forgive their sin and heal their land.
15....
16,
for now have a chosen and sancitified this house, that my name may be their forever and myne eyes and myne heart shall be their perpetually.
do you realise even though you backslid, and even though you sinned and turned from god, that he still considers you one of his people? and he still calls you by his name?
and hes not mad at you?
what did the father of the prodigal son do for him?
he said, GO KILL THE BEST CALF, GO GET MY BEST ROBE! GO GET MY BEST RING! AND HE PUT ALL THAT STUFF ON HIM, AND THREW A PARTY!
do you know god takes more joy in the fact that you returned from your sin, than he would if you hadnt have left?
god doesnt care what youve done, all he cares is about you and making sure your ok.
i remember my bible college teacher saying something pretty insignificant to me, but it kinda shows gods heart.
he walked up to me and asked me if i was going to go a second year in the college, and i told him i still owed money on last year and didnt have the money for a new year.
and he said
"just come,we dont care about the money, we can work that out, but we just want ya there...."
god just wants you home. he doesnt look at all the stuff you did, he just wants you home.
jesus told of a man leaving the 99 sheep and going to find the 1 that strayed. and he said the man took more joy in finding the 1, than in the 99 staying.
when i read that verse from 2 chronicles it broke me to tears.
i was deep in sin and didnt know how to get out and was afraid that i had lost it all.....
but god said he still considered me one of his children... it made me weep like a baby.
the bible says his mercy and grace are everlasting. and they are new each morning.
john 1.16 says that jesus is full of "grace for grace"
or grace upon grace.
a grace that never ends.
yes you can still be used in the ministry.
i remember the book of jonah.
god sent him to nineveh
"arise and go to nineveh...." jonah 1.2
but he rebbelled agaisnt god, and he fell away from god.
but he repented and came back to god and the bible says
"and the word of the lord came unto jonah the second time saying arise go unto nineveh...." jonah 3.1,2
just like god forgave jonah and used him still, he wants to do the same with you.
i just recommend reading the book of jonah or whatever you choose to read really, any part of the word of god is life and spirit. jesus said the word of god is life and spirit. no matter what you read it is life and strength to you if you read it slowly and prayerfully with the holyspirit.
but the psalms are amasing.
like psalm 91. wow. i could read that one everyday.
or one of my faveorite is 126, its an awesome psalm about the power of god to forgive his people and set them back in high places.
"when the lord turned again the captivity of zion we were like them that dream, then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing!..."
dont ever think god is through with you because when the lord delivered isreal they thought it was like a dream...to good to be true... like "IS THIS REALLY REAL!!!!???? MYYYY GOD! THIS IS AMASING!"
PRAISE GOD!
the word of god is of utmost importance, the word of god is the power by which god gave us the ability to become the sons of gods, to be recreated. john 1. the word of god is the key to your new life.
but the word of god is fire, and prayer is the fuel.
fire does not burn where their is no fuel.
in the beggining, the holyspirit moved or brooded over the face of the deep, THEN god spoke the word... and something amasing happened.
but god did not speak untill the holyspirit had first brooded on the earth, the holyspirit often implies or pictures the presence of god or the annointing.
untill you lay before the lord alone in prayer and let him move and brood over your body and your life, the word of god will not set you ablase. the word will teach you things, but prayer will make you come into contact with god himself and that is the most important thing.
without prayer, the word of god is pointless.
and without the word of god, prayer is in vain.
i would say before you opened your bible to study and meditate, you should first lay before the lord in prayer and have him prepare you and fix you, becuase untill the holyspirit prepares us and breaks us, we are carnal and evil and the word of god cannot penetrate us. but it stays on the hard ground, and the enemies snatches those words away.
yes study, but do not forget to get alone with god and pray from your spirit, not from your mind, but from the hunger and passion in your heart. do not think of things to ask god for... but tell god what you feel inside. the thing that is inside you, thats what god is interested in, take it and lift it up before the lord.
if you ever find yourself thinking of how to pray or what to say, stop, get quiet for a few seconds and look inside and find what your feeling, what is your spirit crying out for? what is the reason youve come to prayer for? what is it you need?
and then communicate that to god. let the prayer come from inside your being, not your brain.
it is the diffrent between praying from intellect that could not move dust, and praying in the spirit that can move the foundations of heavon.
ya know how sometimes it feels like prayer is coming from your stomach and not your brain? i dont know, maybe im the only one that feels that way hehe...
many times i dont even need to open my bible, i will, but often times i get up from my prayer place and have already experienced god in such a powerful way that i could leave and be fine.
you may not always have time for much reading, but no matter what pray.