Rejoicing Amidst Pressures
(Rev.Nelson de Jesus)
Ministry is not always a bed of roses. It is not always a red carpet treatment. Even great servants in the Bible were not spared from pressures in the ministries which God called them to do. Take the apostle Paul for instance; he experienced imprisonment many times, not because he committed a crime but because he was simply doing what God wanted Him to do. In spite of these hard circumstances, we see in one of his epistles that he even exhorted the Philippian believers to, ‘rejoice in the Lord always’, which was a reflection of his own attitude while in prison.
From a mere human perspective , it would be difficult to rejoice when things get rough in our life and ministry but when we strive to look beyond our adversities and see them in the light of who God is, what He does, and what he says in his Word, we will have all the strength and reason to smile.
Remember, from God’s perspective, trials and difficulties are profitable, for they are what God uses in our lives to develop and mold us into the kind of servants He wants us to be.
“I consider our present sufferings insignificant
compared to the glory that will soon be revealed to us”
says the apostle Paul, in Romans 8:18(GW)
“Count it all joy, my brothers,
when you meet trials of various kinds,
for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”
says James, the ‘half-brother’ of Jesus, in James 1:2-3 (ESV)
(Rev.Nelson de Jesus)
Ministry is not always a bed of roses. It is not always a red carpet treatment. Even great servants in the Bible were not spared from pressures in the ministries which God called them to do. Take the apostle Paul for instance; he experienced imprisonment many times, not because he committed a crime but because he was simply doing what God wanted Him to do. In spite of these hard circumstances, we see in one of his epistles that he even exhorted the Philippian believers to, ‘rejoice in the Lord always’, which was a reflection of his own attitude while in prison.
From a mere human perspective , it would be difficult to rejoice when things get rough in our life and ministry but when we strive to look beyond our adversities and see them in the light of who God is, what He does, and what he says in his Word, we will have all the strength and reason to smile.
Remember, from God’s perspective, trials and difficulties are profitable, for they are what God uses in our lives to develop and mold us into the kind of servants He wants us to be.
“I consider our present sufferings insignificant
compared to the glory that will soon be revealed to us”
says the apostle Paul, in Romans 8:18(GW)
“Count it all joy, my brothers,
when you meet trials of various kinds,
for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”
says James, the ‘half-brother’ of Jesus, in James 1:2-3 (ESV)
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