It's Not Over Until You WinSample

Embrace the Process and Stay Humble 

We must understand the importance of process. The theme throughout my ministry has been “the process.” I didn’t start my ministry and instantly begin airing on television to billions of people. I had to go through a lot of in-between processing. Processing isn’t fun, but it is necessary. That is the way God does things. Many people want to jump from “here” to “there” and avoid the hard work of going through the process, but that isn’t realistic. My process started with home Bible studies. I wasn’t unhappy with the studies or trying to move beyond them. My ministry grew slowly and surely until I began to teach on radio and then on television. I didn’t short-circuit the process.

Settling for a “good idea” rather than pursuing a “God idea” can short circuit the process and cause us to fall short of God’s best. I did this when I tried to get a group of people from our church to help me with home Bible studies. I thought, I need to get a group of people to help me lead these. It was an idea that came from my own brain, not from God. It was a “good idea” but not a “God idea,” and it failed miserably. The potential leaders were willing, but they didn’t have any training, so the groups didn’t do well. In fact, no one wanted to go to their groups. Therefore, they quickly dropped out. We must take every idea and pray over it until we know if it is something God is telling us to do. If it is part of God’s process for us, He will give us peace in our hearts to implement the idea. 

When we are in the process with God, we must stay humble (see Proverbs 15:33). Our ministries cannot be about our titles or how important we appear to others. For instance, people often ask me, “What should I call you? Should I call you Dr. Hickey?” Even though I have an honorary doctorate, the title is not something I am comfortable with using, unless it’s overseas and helps me get into places with the Gospel. So, when they ask me my title, I say, “I am a servant. That’s what Jesus is. You don’t get any higher than that.” The humility of Job, Moses, David, and others throughout the Bible, made their processes easier in the end.