[My Offline Bible] 2 Corinthians 4
1. Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
There will be many reasons and opportunities to faint in anything we do. And in Christian ministry, there will be many more opportunities to faint. There are myriads of agents of discouragement fighting to stop the minister of God from delivering the purpose for which God has called.
If we fail in the day of trouble, it’s because our strength is small. We face intense trials and temptations, because of the intensity of demand on our integrity, character and performance within our unusual calling, which calls for personal sacrifices to meet up the standard, as it exerts intense pressure on family, finances, emotional and physical well-being, societal acceptance and other areas of the life of the minister.
The enormous expectations from God, from society and from the church can become a daily stress with the desire to quit always lurking in the heart of we don't understand what provision God has provided with which to deal with the demands.
There are so many issues capable of breaking a minister of God. We all have to deal with people, for instance, but the way a businessman will display his people skills will be different from that of the minister of God, who is expected to always turn the other cheek and must not complain while being cheated. Any attempt to express his frustration is seen as being incompatible with his integrity and reputation. Yet, there are people who would deliberately provoke him or would take advantage of him because he won’t complain nor resist.
If you want to see stress, there's no better place to go than in the ministry. But because of the desire to serve the Lord, lots of ministers are still happy. I understand that some will fight back by indulging in all sorts of things behind the scene, some will also use their offices to take undue advantage of others, some will even oppress others but I can tell that many are still bearing up under the enormous weight of societal expectations.
The statistics concerning the physical and spiritual wellbeing of pastors aren’t looking good even if they had improved over the last 20 years. Some sites to access these data include www.intothyword.org and www.churchleadership.org
These may exclude data from other regions and cultures but they tell us how that the call into ministry has its difficulties and how people could respond to it negatively.
The culture and tradition of ministry work in Africa may be a little different from that of the United States of America but the stress isn’t less, may be more and the response may be worse if not same. Here in Africa, instead of quitting for instance, we may begin to take advantage of the people to satisfy what’s missing and before God, it is same, fainting. In both places, marriages and homes of ministers are under pressure emotionally and financially. In both regions, ministers fall into sexual sins not just because they are demons but for some devilish ‘fresh air’, all amounting to fainting.
How about making merchandise of God’s people? So many ministers, because of financial constraints and difficulties in meeting their family needs have resorted to all manners of do-it-yourself methods of raising money including floating mega businesses as part of ministry, aside the pressure they put on people to give and to buy their so called ‘spiritual’ products.
It isn’t seen as same with doing the same things Jesus Christ sent traders out of the temple for.
I’d said all that to confirm what Apostle Paul said concerning fainting in our scripture text. Fainting is real. But we don’t have to faint if we obtain mercy just as apostle Paul did.
Yes, he obtained mercy and didn’t faint. It is possible to say, “well, God gave him mercy, not everyone will have such mercies”. Aside from the fact that I believe everyone has his or her own mercies to help from fainting in the day of trouble waiting to be activated, we still have the opportunity and right to go boldly to the throne of grace to obtain it to help in time of need.
As soon as we have a ministry from the Lord, the possibility of fainting is immediately created but so also God has made provision for deliverance through mercy. If, therefore we have received a ministry, we should also make sure we ask and activate the corresponding mercy so that we don’t faint.
Don’t give up is the message. But more than the personal resolve not to quit, seek the mercy attached to the ministry received of the Lord and it’ll be alright. Don’t think the answer is with you outside of God and His mercy. The way is known only to Him. He has traveled it before and He has answers to every bit of challenge we have the tendency of facing on the way, don’t despise it. Call out for mercy. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Hope you’ll call!
Bow down your head before God right now and whisper to Him…
“Oh God of mercy, I receive a release of your mercy upon me and so strengthen me at this time so that I do not faint… in Jesus name!” and expect Him to make a way, where there’s no way!
Have a great day, servant of God!
Photo Credit: Harsh Kushwaha/Pexel
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