If you believe, as I do, that the goal of ministry is the all-satisfying gladness of your people’s hearts in the glory of Christ, or in all that God is for them in Christ, then it will follow that your joy in Christ is an essential foundation for that ministry. If that’s true, that your joy in Christ is essential for leading others to an all-satisfying joy in Christ, then it follows that a hunger for Christ, a hunger for God, is an essential foundation for Christian ministry that’s effective and faithful.
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.1 Corinthians 2:16 (ESV)
Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. in holiness and righteousness before him...