offer what is real

It's hard to speak life into the lives of others if God isn't doing anything in you. Joe Thorn in Note To Self:

You lose outward influence of the gospel in the lives of others because you can’t offer them anything that is real. Your best resource for speaking into others’ lives is from what God is doing in you, the fruit that God is producing in you. But the fruit you want others to see is plastic. It is believable from a distance, but it nourishes no one. It is not real.

Know this—it is the gospel that allows you to be real. It admits us all as sinners and establishes us all as saints. Your local church is the only place where this reality, and not pretending, can be the culture of gathered community. Be real. Admit where you are and what you are. This will allow others to minister to you, and you to minister to others.