OUR FAITHFUL GOD
- Jeevan Babu Olesu
"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." - Hebrews 10:23
Have you ever felt lonely or lost while doing God’s work? Maybe you have felt alone and felt like no one was there with you. I have worked with a pastor named Devaraj who was called from a village he was ministering in to a different village. He worked in the new village for three years without seeing any fruit. During that time, he prayed fervently and worked to share the Gospel. The new village had ten villages surrounding it. Pastor Devaraj would go from house to house and village to village to share the Gospel. Sadly, no one accepted the Gospel and he was rejected again and again. When people are married, it is common for others to ask how many children they have. For pastors, it is common for people to ask how many believers they have in their congregation. At first, Pastor Devaraj would say that he had just started working in this village and didn’t have believers yet. However, as time went by, he felt embarrassed to admit that he didn’t have any believers he was working with. He questioned himself wondering if he was in the right place and questioned why God would bring him to this village. Now, by God’s grace, he has eighty believers in his congregation that all have accepted Christ. Now, he is seeing the fruit of his work. However, the journey was not easy and was lonely many times along the way.
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This message applies to everyone and especially pastors, evangelists, and people working for Christ. The journey for the Lord’s work is many times alone. Though we have a group of people called a church, who are also the family of God, many times we are working individually. There are many people who make promises and say they will do something for the ministry. However, when the time comes for them to help, they don’t keep their promises because of problems or because they changed their minds. In my life and in this journey, I have encountered this many times. I have been disappointed by friends, and many, many people. There will be people that are close to you including family, friends, and people that you see as good people. Sometimes, even those close to you will disappoint you and they can disappoint you the most since they are closest to you.
But, my brothers and sisters, when you are facing this time of disappointment, I want you to keep this in mind. If God has called you to do something as a pastor or an evangelist or any kind of ministry work that God has entrusted you with, keep in mind that God is always with you. You can ask people to join you, but you will also be disappointed when the people won’t do what they promised. During a big meeting or something, many people will come forward and say I will do this or that. However, when they are called upon to keep their promise they often will disappoint. Don’t lose heart. God is for you. He will be with you as you do what He has called you to do. When people keep their promises, the Kingdom of God will flourish and God will be so glorified. When all of the family of God, the church, work together, we can see awesome results in the ministry. It doesn’t matter what type of ministry you are doing, but when there are people who come alongside a ministry and join together it is so joyful and wonderful. Yet, we need to keep our eyes on God through everything. Keep our eyes on the Lord that called us and entrusted the work to our hands. He will surely provide what we need. We need to go forward with faith knowing that He will take care of us and supply our need. Remember Pastor Devaraj and how he persevered and stayed where God had called him even when he felt lonely or wondered if he was in the right place. Because of his faithfulness, God was faithful and now he gets to see the souls won for the Lord. Take courage and follow God faithfully wherever He leads. The One who called you is faithful forever. May the Lord encourage you with His presence and His provision.
Prayer:
Dear Lord,
Thank You for the work that You have entrusted into our hands to do for Your Kingdom. Thank You that You are always with us, and You never disappoint us. Thank You Lord for being faithful always. May we find our peace, comfort, and encouragement in You. May we lean into You during the tough and lonely times as well as the joyous times. Thank You for Your love and guidance always. In Jesus name, Amen.