Meeting the demands

I came across this in my morning reading today:

'The demands made upon us are only possible to meet if matched by openness to the Spirit.'

It comes from Norman Motley - someone I'm not familiar with - and seems to get to the heart of the matter with a rare succinctness.

There are lots of demands made on us as we seek to follow Jesus, as we plan for ministry and mission, as we respond to the many needs of a busy church. And it's not beyond our wit to devise a cunning plan to get the job done.

But the demands go beyond merely getting the job done. The demands are about faithfully working for the Kingdom of God. And for that we need more than planning guile. We need the Spirit of God inspiring our thinking and energising our working. More than that, we need him calling us into the work itself, showing us where he is already doing things in people's lives and getting alongside him.