Luke 2:36, And there was a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years and had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers. 38 At that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.
2 Chron. 29:11, “My sons, do not be negligent now, for the LORD has chosen you to stand before Him, to minister to Him, and to be His ministers and burn incense.”
The story of Anna in Luke 2 has always been a fascinating story to me. There are just a few verses that speak of her, and yet, countless millions of Christians throughout the centuries have been the blessed by her life. From what these verses tell us, Anna had been serving in the temple with prayer and fasting for as many as maybe 60 years, since her husband died. She’s also identified as a prophetess, but her testimony and fame is not because we know much about her prophetic ministry. All we know is that after encountering this 40-day-old baby that Joseph and Mary were carrying, she kept speaking of him too those she met in the temple area.
I think her true testimony is that she spent many decades in the presence of the Lord serving His heart through prayer and fasting. I know that we can serve the Lord’s purposes on earth through our intersession, and I’m sure that her prayers and fasting included that, but I like to think that when it says that she “served” the Lord with prayers and fasting that she was primarily serving His heart and His thirst for her love through her intimacy with Him. This is the thing that ministers to me the most about the short description of Anna; not that she was a prophetess, but that she was a passionate lover of God, who having lost her husband so many years before, found the Lord God Himself to be the true “love of her life.”
Look at that verse in second Chronicles speaking of the priesthood and its calling. As New Testament believers, we all carry the priesthood. It says that their duties were first to stand before God to minister to Him and then to be His ministers. Anna’s prophetic ministry was just the outflow of a heart that was continually pouring out to God,. All priests, which of course again we all are, must know that ministry doesn’t flow from making ministry our first priority but from making His heart – bringing pleasure to His heart – the great ambition of our life. Lovesickness is the place from which true anointed ministry always flows. Worship always comes before witness.
I learned something many years ago that I realize is even more true now that I’m older and that is “the width of authentic ministry among people will be determined by the depth of your relationship with God.” If you want to go farther in impact and influence, then you must go deeper into fellowship with God. God doesn’t sit around thinking about how much He needs you, but He is consumed with how much He wants you. If you understand that He is an all-consuming fire, then He’ll be able to use you.