Not long ago I sat with a pastor friend, watching his shoulders slump as he confessed, “I’m pouring out, but nothing’s pouring in.” His words struck a chord with me. How many of us find ourselves in this place – responsible for the spiritual growth of others while our own souls are parched and weary?

The ministry treadmill is relentless. You study, visit, counsel, speak, plan, and lead. With enthusiasm, you carry out churchwide events and cast vision. Yet when you pause long enough to assess the situation, you wonder if the benefits have been worth the cost. No matter what you do, you seem to wind up right back where you began, and genuine progress eludes your grasp.

The crushing weight of expectations-from the church, from culture, and from ourselves-can leave us spiritually dry while we’re expected to provide living water to others. How strange that we who speak of rivers of living water can find ourselves thirsting in a desert of our own making!

The Heart of the Problem

Jesus never intended that you do ministry in your own strength. He never meant for you to rely on your own ingenuity and resourcefulness. The problem is not that you’re failing at ministry-it’s that you may be approaching ministry as something you do for Jesus rather than something He does through you.

Jesus said, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”¹ The command is to abide in Christ… not to produce fruit! Too often we focus our lives on the wrong end of the branch.

What if the exhaustion you feel isn’t a sign of failure but a divine invitation to return to your first love?

Finding Your Way Back

When our spiritual wells run dry, finding our way back to vibrant fellowship with God requires intentional steps.

Return to the secret place. Prayer is not another task on your to-do list. It’s not something to check off before moving on to “real ministry.” Prayer is relationship-intimate communion with the One who loves you most.

Slip away and simply be with Him. Not to prepare a sermon. Not to intercede for church members. Just to be with Jesus. This means finding a quiet corner-perhaps early in the morning before the house stirs, or late at night when the day’s demands have subsided-where you can pour out your heart without interruption.

In these moments, I don’t come with an agenda. I come as I am-tired, discouraged, confused, or even angry. He welcomes it all. Sometimes I simply sit in silence, allowing His presence to wash over me. Other times, I speak to Him sharing my deepest fears and greatest joys. Isn’t it remarkable that the God who spoke galaxies into existence waits eagerly for these conversations with us?

Feed on the Scriptures for your own soul. One of my problems was that when I opened the Scriptures, I found it extremely difficult to forget the need to outline the passage and package it for delivery to others. Every verse became sermon material rather than soul nourishment.

Read the Bible to deepen your relationship with God, not just to find your next sermon. He wants to reveal Himself to you-not just so you can teach others, but so you can know Him more intimately yourself.

Try reading without a highlighter or notebook nearby. Read slowly, allowing the words to sink deep into your spirit. Ask yourself, “What is God saying to me in this passage?” not “How can I preach this to others?” When a verse touches your heart, pause and let it linger there. Meditate on it throughout the day.

The most powerful ministry flows from overflow, not obligation. When you’re drinking deeply from the well of His Word for your own refreshment, you’ll find you have living water to offer others-not just information, but transformation that comes from genuine encounter with the living God. Have you considered that your church might need your personal testimony of fresh encounter more than they need another well-crafted sermon?

Humble yourself at His feet. Like Simon Peter who fell at Jesus’ knees saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man,” we need to rediscover our place at His feet. It is precisely at the moment when you feel least qualified that you need to hear what Jesus said to Simon: “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.”²

Humbling yourself means acknowledging your complete dependence on Him. It means confessing that your ministry is not yours-it’s His. It means surrendering your plans, your reputation, your need for approval, and your metrics of success.

This surrender isn’t a one-time event but a daily choice. I need to place my day, my ministry, and my very self at His feet, saying, “Lord, I am Yours. This church is Yours. These people are Yours. Work through me as You will.”

There’s profound freedom in this posture of humility. When the ministry is His and not yours, you’re liberated from the crushing weight of expectations-both others’ and your own. You’re free to follow His leading rather than chasing after worldly definitions of success.

Ministry from Overflow

Authentic and effective ministry flows not from our striving but from our being. Oswald Chambers said it best: “The main thing about Christianity is not the work we do, but the relationship we maintain and the atmosphere produced by that relationship.”³

When we are experiencing His presence, well-worn truths become vibrant realities. Experiencing the fullness of His love, we become more alert to the needs of others. Experiencing His majesty, our worship becomes an act of bowing before Him in every moment. Experiencing His kingly authority, we willingly invite Him to rule over all the spaces in our hearts.

Your church doesn’t need a CEO, a visionary, or a religious professional. They need a man who has been with Jesus-someone whose heart has been set ablaze by encountering Him in His Word.

Ministry fruitfulness is a supernatural consequence of following Jesus and helping others do the same-not an exhausting exercise of self-determination and self-reliance.

So today, before you tackle that to-do list or prepare another sermon, sit at His feet. Let Him fill your cup until it overflows. It’s only when you’re drinking deeply from the well of His presence that you’ll have anything life-giving to offer those you serve.

He promised: “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.”⁴ He is faithful to that promise.

Notes

¹ John 15:4 (NKJV).

² Luke 5:8-10 (NKJV).

³ Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest (Grand Rapids: Discovery House, 1992), 12.

⁴ John 14:18 (NKJV).