March 17 - Lifelong Ministry

Anna the prophetess had a very wonderful life of ministering to the Lord. It all began after she lost her husband after seven years of marriage. As a young widow, she had to make a decision on how to spend her life alone, without her husband. She could have chosen to remarry since she was still young, she could have chosen singlehood and live an ordinary life with much loneliness, or she could take a turn to serve the Lord full-time.

Her choice was to minister to the Lord, to be in the temple of the Lord, worshiping with fasting and prayer, day and night. This she did continuously for many years. Her only agenda was to wait for the redemption of Jerusalem, her beloved city. Instead of finding another mate or live by herself, she had chosen the Lord to be her constant companion. She could have reacted to the loss of her husband with anger and bitterness, she could have lost all purpose in life, she could have tried to find other thing to fill her life, but she had chosen to serve the Lord and be the intercessor for her city and her nation.

When she met the Lord Jesus, she was eighty-four, old and advanced in years. Yet she was holding on her role as a prophetess, declaring the redemption of Jerusalem through Jesus the Messiah. All the years of ministry culminated in seeing the Lord in her lifetime, way beyond her expectation. It all began with her choosing the Lord over remarriage and other possibilities, it happened as she persisted and eventually the appointed time came to her. God was gracious to her and she responded in speaking to all those who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

In the temple, Anna found the purpose and mission of her life. God has a purpose for each life and we have to find that out for ourselves. The Lord may take us to a transition in our lives for us to decide whether we would want to live for Him. Shocking or surprising things may happen to cause us to redirect our lives. Losing our loved one could be one of those things, losing one’s job might be another. At the crossroad of our lives, we must, like Anna, consider whether we want to serve the Lord with the rest of our days. Life is short, even one can live to the eighties or the nineties, one must decide how to spend the life.

Time and again, in the Book of Psalms, we read about spending time in the house of the Lord. It is better to be in His house for one day than a thousand elsewhere. David knew that the best use of his time was to live in the house of the Lord and to gaze at His beauty. The house of the Lord is where God’s presence is. Are you facing a transition in your life? Are you choosing the temple or the high-rise office complex? Are you choosing God or the world? Ask God for help in your next life decision.