Welcome to the In Touch podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, February 11th.

It takes more than desire to serve God effectively.

Today, you'll see that the one thing that makes our efforts truly effective is the power of the Holy Spirit.

Have you ever just felt downright discouraged about living the Christian life and thinking,

Lord, what in the world is going on? The harder I try, somehow, the worse I fail.

And so once in a while you've asked yourself the question, well, why should I try any longer?

Because no matter what I seem to do, I keep seeming to fail at living the Christian life.

Well, I think all of us have felt that away at times in our life.

And so what we have to ask is why.

In the fifth chapter of First Thessalonians, look at this 24th verse, if you will.

He says,

Faithful is he who calls you, and he also will bring it to pass pass. Now what in the world does he mean by that?

Here, listen to the first basic principle, the first bottom line foundational key to our success as a

servant. And let me say right up front. When I talk about being a servant, I'm not talking about

just serving the Lord in the church building. I'm talking about being a servant of God for the simple

reason that since all believers of servants, we'd to be servants in their vocation, we'd be servants in our

schooling, we'd be servants in the church among our friends, among people who are strangers.

A servant of God does not choose for himself or

herself where they will serve or to whom they will serve. Now, I want to give you five basic

principles, five keys here. Every single one of them is important. Here is the bottom line

foundational one of all of them found in this particular verse and here's

what it is and that is ministry or service is not something we do for God but something God does

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