If Christians were asked "What do you need in order to be an effective servant of God?" most would answer with other questions. They would ask "What type of service is God calling me to" or "What are my relevant strengths and weaknesses?" or "What are the needs of the people I will be working with?"

These questions are based on the idea that a servant's needs depend largely on the specific task at hand. It is assumed that effective service is almost guaranteed if talents and training are correctly matched with the challenges and requirements.

Such thinking misses the most important aspect of serving Jehovah - the presence of a humble spirit. It is this spirit of humility that makes serving Him so glorious. If I deeply and sincerely want to serve Him I need a deep sense of my dependence on Him. Paul said "I can do all things through Christ" (Philippians 4:13) and "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God...(II Corinthians 3:5-6)

Whatever the tasks may be, no matter what our ability is, we can be an effective servant if we constantly rely on His power and wisdom. And without such a spirit we are almost certainly going to fail. Being an effective servant in specific situations requires that we first become a complete servant in attitude and spirit.