Is God going to remember what you've done for Him?
The answer is yes.
Hi, I'm Leanne Freseman and this is Restoring Word.
I want to share with you an amazing scripture today I had never really seen.
And it's 1 Corinthians 4 verse 5.
And I found this in an amazing devotional by Rick Renner called Gems from the Greek.
And in this devotional he opens up with an illustration of a performance.
Now this is near and dear to my heart.
You know when a performer puts together a production, they work for weeks and weeks
and weeks.
And then in the very end when the performance is over, they get to stand in front of the
crowd and the crowd will say bravo and stand to their feet and maybe even throw flowers.
What an amazing moment for the performer.
But do you know that when you stand before God on Judgment Day, you're going to get the
applause from God.
And it's scriptural.
Look at this.
This is so much fun.
Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come, who both will bring to light
the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the heart.
So he will know the motives of the person and what they're doing.
And then shall every man have praise of God.
Now think about it.
You've served the Lord your whole life and you wonder to yourself, does God know?
Is he going to remember?
Does he see what I'm doing for him?
Does he understand?
Yes.
The day will come when what you've done in secret, it will be seen and acknowledged
by him.
And you know, I, I'm kind of convinced that the persons that are probably going to be
at the front of the line when it comes to the, the thanks and the rewards from God,
the father, it's going to be the prayer warriors, the intercessors, the people who have been
in the prayer closets all over the world.
No one knows their name.
No one knows what they've done for the kingdom, but they have faithfully stood and prayed.
And I can tell you from someone who's been on in ministry that you can't do anything
without prayer.
Everything worthwhile that is done for the kingdom, well, maybe not everything, but I
would say maybe the difficult things that are done for the kingdom, they're carried
by the intercessors.
They stand in the gap.
They speak the word.
They fight in the spirit realm.
They decree victory in Jesus name.
They help those that stand in any form of leadership.
They help them to stand and to stay strong and to hear from God and to be inspired by
the Holy Spirit and to be led by the spirit of God.
They are vital.
So you know, maybe if you're not necessarily seen or in a visible position, you don't have
to worry about it because in the end, we're doing all of this for the King of Kings and
the Lord of Lords.
It's not about us anyway, right?
I saw an incredible illustration in a church magazine back in Iowa, my home state.
And in this magazine, they had used the illustration of a battleship.
And this is kind of near and dear to my heart because I love Navy.
My dad was in the Navy.
And you know, a battleship, everybody knows who that captain is, right?
They might even know who the commanders or the lieutenant commanders are, the guys that
are kind of calling the shots, so to speak.
But the most important part of any battleship, honestly, is sonar.
Sonar is those that look down below for the attacks that are coming up from below.
And then you've got the radar, you know, those guys that are watching for the attacks from
planes and things from up above.
They keep the battleship safe.
They tell the captain where the potential threats are and how to stay strong.
And most of all, it's the guys down in the boiler room.
Now think about it.
The guys in the boiler room are the ones who are fueling the ship.
The guys that are faithfully putting the fuel into the ship.
a place where those engines can turn and can keep the ship moving forward.
I was at lunch with a friend up in my home state in Iowa and she's on staff in this church
in Sioux City and I said, please, please tell the men in the ship not to get discouraged,
that they're vital.
She goes, oh, they won't.
They won't.
They're strong.
I said, okay.
You know, I had never really thought about it until the Lord quickened that to my heart.
Do you know that it doesn't matter where you are in your local church or in whatever ministry
that you're involved in, the most important thing is that you do your job.
If your job is to pray for the attacks above and below, do your job.
If your job is to fuel the ship, God sees and knows what you're doing and that ship
can't go forward without you.
And in the end, according to 1 Corinthians 4 or 5, when you've done your job that you're
called to do, and then every man shall have the praise of God, you're going to be appreciated.
You're going to see and acknowledge that God knows.
He remembers.
He knows your labor of love.
Maybe it was in a dark place.
Maybe it was in a place where no one could see what you were doing.
You know, the local church all across America is driven by volunteers.
It's driven by people who actually have an anointing, really, for the Ministry of Helps.
And the Ministry of Helps is vital.
If ministry didn't have the volunteers, if ministry didn't have the people that were
plugged in and working in the nurseries and the Sunday school classes and the Bible classes,
if they didn't have the praise and worship band on the platform, and that is a ministry
of help.
Because the job of the worship band is to bring the presence of the Lord in the house
so that people can get in God's presence and they can hear from heaven.
That's what praise and worship leaders do.
Whatever part you're playing in the body of Christ right now, just know that God sees.
He knows.
If you're called to do something, you know, maybe your ministry is the ministry of the
giver.
You know, the most powerful ministry out there right now are people who have an anointing
to make money to sow into the kingdom.
They'll have millions go through their hands so they can fuel the gospel.
God knows.
The gospel can't go forward without the people that are called to do their part.
So whatever it is that you're called to do, whatever puzzle piece you fit in, whatever
the specific gifting or gracing that you have in your life, my word to you today is don't
grow weary in well-doing.
You will one day stand before God.
He's going to see your heart.
He's going to look at the motives of your heart and you will be rewarded or applauded
by him.
Have a great week.
Thank you for listening.
I bet there's some people out there that you know that are worn out, discouraged.
Maybe they've even pulled out of some sort of a leadership position and they're no longer
serving and you just need to encourage them today.
Would you share this message with them?
Thanks for listening.