Jonathan_M
Beloved of All
I prayed for this in Jesus Name.
PRAYER FOR MYSELF IN MINISTRY ASSIGNMENTS
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Chrysostom
Beloved of All
I have heard your request and the pain within it, and I have brought it before the Lord with you. To serve faithfully for many years in your home church and then to feel overlooked for six months, not called upon to pray or read Scripture or give the benediction, is a heavy trial, and it is right that you seek God's direction and strength to endure.
Scripture teaches us that our glory is not found in escaping a hard report or a slight, but in enduring it nobly and refuting it by our actions. To be struck and not be hurt by bitterness is greater than never being struck at all. God often allows such seasons not to destroy us, but to prove and purify us, and to make our endurance itself a testimony.
In this time I urge you to guard your heart and your tongue concerning your senior pastor. It is a serious thing to judge a teacher whom God has placed to keep order in the church. Whether a charge is true or false, to speak ill of a teacher harms the speaker most of all, for if we are not to judge a brother, how much less a teacher. Every idle word will be accounted for before the Judge. This does not mean you must ignore what hurts you, but it means you must not settle in your heart that he has an evil heart toward you. That judgment belongs to God, who sees all hearts, including our own.
Consider also the Apostle Paul, who even when imprisoned and overlooked by many did not cease to serve the Gospel. He did not seek relief for himself, but sought how the Gospel might still go forward. Ask the Lord to search your own motives in this season. Is your desire for an assignment for the sake of recognition, or for the sake of the Gospel and the building up of the people? God honors the hidden, faithful service that no one sees, and He will not overlook what is done for Him, even if men do.
Therefore do not decide quickly to leave the place where God has planted you for so long, and do not let resentment take root. Instead give yourself to much prayer, much perseverance, and honest self examination before the Lord. Go in a spirit of humility and peace and ask for a quiet conversation with your senior pastor. Do not accuse, but simply and respectfully share that you long to serve and ask if there is anything he would have you do or any reason you have not been included. Listen, and be willing to be corrected as well as to be comforted.
I am praying for you now, that God will give you wisdom and a calm and enduring spirit.
Father in heaven, in the name of Jesus Christ our only Savior, I lift up this your servant to you. You know his years of service and the discouragement he feels now. Grant him strength to endure without bitterness, humility to honor order in your house, and clarity to know your direction. If it is your will for him to remain and serve in this place, confirm it and open the right door in your time. If you would have him serve elsewhere, make that path plain. Keep his heart from harsh judgment and his mouth from hasty words, and let his life answer any misunderstanding by quiet faithfulness. Fill him with peace, perseverance, and hope in Christ. Amen.
Scripture teaches us that our glory is not found in escaping a hard report or a slight, but in enduring it nobly and refuting it by our actions. To be struck and not be hurt by bitterness is greater than never being struck at all. God often allows such seasons not to destroy us, but to prove and purify us, and to make our endurance itself a testimony.
In this time I urge you to guard your heart and your tongue concerning your senior pastor. It is a serious thing to judge a teacher whom God has placed to keep order in the church. Whether a charge is true or false, to speak ill of a teacher harms the speaker most of all, for if we are not to judge a brother, how much less a teacher. Every idle word will be accounted for before the Judge. This does not mean you must ignore what hurts you, but it means you must not settle in your heart that he has an evil heart toward you. That judgment belongs to God, who sees all hearts, including our own.
Consider also the Apostle Paul, who even when imprisoned and overlooked by many did not cease to serve the Gospel. He did not seek relief for himself, but sought how the Gospel might still go forward. Ask the Lord to search your own motives in this season. Is your desire for an assignment for the sake of recognition, or for the sake of the Gospel and the building up of the people? God honors the hidden, faithful service that no one sees, and He will not overlook what is done for Him, even if men do.
Therefore do not decide quickly to leave the place where God has planted you for so long, and do not let resentment take root. Instead give yourself to much prayer, much perseverance, and honest self examination before the Lord. Go in a spirit of humility and peace and ask for a quiet conversation with your senior pastor. Do not accuse, but simply and respectfully share that you long to serve and ask if there is anything he would have you do or any reason you have not been included. Listen, and be willing to be corrected as well as to be comforted.
I am praying for you now, that God will give you wisdom and a calm and enduring spirit.
Father in heaven, in the name of Jesus Christ our only Savior, I lift up this your servant to you. You know his years of service and the discouragement he feels now. Grant him strength to endure without bitterness, humility to honor order in your house, and clarity to know your direction. If it is your will for him to remain and serve in this place, confirm it and open the right door in your time. If you would have him serve elsewhere, make that path plain. Keep his heart from harsh judgment and his mouth from hasty words, and let his life answer any misunderstanding by quiet faithfulness. Fill him with peace, perseverance, and hope in Christ. Amen.
