David & Ministry to the Lord: Songs of Revelation

David began his ministry to the Lord on the back-hills of Bethlehem with a harp and some sheep. No one saw his ministry at that point, except the Lord, and the lambs. He sang little songs and became a skillful player on the harp--so skillful, in fact, that he was called into the service of the king for his music. Not only was his music good, but it was anointed to drive away evil spirits (I Sam. 16:18-23).

But God saw the heart of David, and raised him up to be king. However, David never lost his heart to gaze on the beauty of the Lord, and dwell in His temple (Ps. 27:4).

David wrote hundreds of songs, as recorded in the book of Psalms. Many of these songs express David’s own emotions and struggles, and many express the emotions and heart of God. Reading the Psalms, one feels as though God was David’s best friend. David left us an example of how to pour out our emotions to God in worship, and receive God’s emotions in their place.

Furthermore, it is amazing the revelations of God David received in the place of worship to our Lord. He saw the beauty of the Lord (Ps. 24, 27); the Crucifixion of Christ (Ps 22), the revelation of the Shepherd (Ps. 23), the Second Coming (Ps. 2, 24, 110), and the restoration of Israel (Ps. 45-48).

Even as in David’s day, it is amazing what can happen when you place an instrument into the hands of a young worshipper and have them sing about truths of God. Revelation will come. The emotions of God will come. The young person will be transformed, and others will be brought into the presence of the Lord.

God, give us young worshippers with a heart like David in this generation!

Samuel & Ministry to the Lord: Revelation in the Land

Desperate for a son, a woman named Hannah made a vow to God that she would give her first-born to the Lord. When he was born, she called his name, “Samuel,” which means, “heard by God," because God answered her prayer. She said that Samuel would be “lent to the Lord” all the days of his life (I Sam. 2:11). All the days of his life, Samuel “ministered to the Lord” (I Sam. 2:11, 18; 3:1).

In those days, ministry to the Lord meant service in the temple, and Samuel served before the Lord even before he actually knew the Lord (I Sam. 3:7). But there was one night, when God called Samuel (I Sam. 3:1), and from that time on Samuel knew the voice of the Lord.

During that time period, there had been no revelation in the land of Israel (I Sam. 3:1). However, God raised up Samuel to hear the voice of the Lord, and release the Word of the Lord in the land (I Sam. 3:19-21; I Sam. 4:1). God let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground (I Sam. 3:19).

In a time where there was no revelation in the land, God raised up a prophetic voice from one who ministered before Him. Does God need someone to minister to Him? No. Does God want someone to minister to Him? Yes. Why? Because God desires partnership with His people.

Does God need someone to speak for Him? No. Does God want someone to speak for Him? Yes. Why? Because God desires partnership with His people.

God raised up Samuel who name was “heard by God” to become someone who “heard God” and spoke His Word. And God will do the same thing even now—with us.

Follow in the Footsteps

I was hiking yesterday off-trail through a foot of snow. Without any snow-shoes or skis, my feet were sinking a foot down with every step. It was hard work, but I was enjoying it.

I hiked through the woods for an hour, making my own trail, and I was thinking about how much labor it is to   blaze new trails and to go places no one else has gone before.

After about an hour, I was getting very tired and I met up with some footprints leading to the way out. I began to think about how much easier it was to follow in the footsteps of those who have gone before you. I began to be grateful for the great men in history who cared about future generations. I began to be thankful for the older generation alive now, who care about raising up the younger ones, and creating a floor for the next generation to walk on and go higher than they did.

Even though there are times where God has us go and blaze new trails, His design is for us to grow on what the fathers before us have built, and to father those who will come after us. Sometimes, we must blaze new trails, but we must always be mindful of those who will follow behind.

Staying Tough & Tender

As we walk out our relationship with the Lord, it is necessary that we remain tough to persevere through the hard times when the difficulties of life come against us. However, we also must remain tender to freely give love & receive love. It is a fine line that we must walk & also a progressive growth as we mature.

As people are learning to walk this out, the young ones typically swing from one extreme to the other—either finding their identity completely in what people think or who tells them to do what—or becoming totally rebellious & blocking people out of their lives & hearts altogether.

Many times, those older have been burned so much that they shut their passion & emotions down, so that they do not feel. They do not take the risk of opening their heart anymore, because they do not want to feel the pain of rejection or the pain of watching someone walk away.

This is often seen in evangelism & discipleship, because people get tired of reaching out with their whole heart, then watching the people walk away from God. It is also seen in marriage & relationships. Also, this kind of thing can happen in people who reach out for healing or the supernatural.

The way we remain tough in perseverance, however, is not to wall off our heart, but to plumb-line our spirits with the Word of God where we believe it absolutely 100%--even when we do not see a manifestation of it at the present time. Also, we keep our heart & emotions tender by constantly dialoguing with the Lord over the Word, our emotions, & our present circumstances.

Looking at the life of Jesus, He was the most tough, persevering hero throughout history; yet he was also extremely tender, loving, & compassionate. Everything He did was full of passion. As we learn to walk out life in friendship with Jesus, we will continue to grow tough towards opposition, but tender & loving towards God’s people & the things that are on His heart.

Implementing the Five-Fold Ministry: Preferring One Another

“For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them…”
(Romans 12:3-6)

There is no way the five-fold ministry can function in a church body without the foundational principle of preferring one another.

All of the passages in Scripture concerning the gifts of the Spirit and the five-fold ministry are written in the context of the body functioning together as a whole and each person doing their part. It is absolutely essential for any kind of unity and mutual love to exist in a body.

The primary reason church leadership structure collapses is because of everyone seeking their own. People think more highly of themselves than they should for three primary reasons:

1.)    They have not seen God rightly or experienced His presence, so they do not realize how small and insignificant they are compared to Him.

2.)    They do not see other people the way God sees them, so they do not realize His overwhelming love and the remarkable value of that other person.

3.)    They do not see themselves rightly, and base their value on the works of the flesh rather than on the value that God has given them. This not only leads to pride, but also to insecurity and self-condemnation. This causes the drive to seek the praise of man.

This must be combatted in several ways: One, each person must seek to love God with their whole heart and seek His glory only. Secondly, they must seek to love each other as they love themselves. Also, they must be healed and able to receive the love of God so they can actually love God, love themselves, and love others.

It is necessary for every person in a body to have the humility to lift someone else above their own needs. Because of human nature, all of this talk of the five-fold ministry sounds good until you try to put it into practice. However, there are some practical ways that people can grow together in love and service as a body.

 

One of the most practical ways is to stir up prayer among a group of people. If people pray together, it becomes difficult to hold a grudge, because God will not answer prayers in the context of bitterness, and He will make each person so miserable until they repent. Also, when you pray for people you begin to love them the way that God loves them and can look past their faults and failures. There is a reason why Jesus told us to bless our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.

 

Another practical way to grow in preferring one another is to activate the gift of prophecy among believers. Prophecy is meant for edification, exhortation, and comfort. When you prophesy over someone, you feel God’s heart for them and learn to see them the way God sees them, rather than seeing them in the natural. God always calls forth the true identity of that person according to the spirit rather than how they are behaving in the flesh. If we begin to call people out according to the spirit instead of according to the flesh, then we will call them into the identity God has created for them, and they will become healed and secure in His love.

Satan’s main attacks against the body of Christ are division, isolation, and accusation. Prophecy is one of the best antidotes to thwart the enemies plans and bring love and unity among a group of believers. Both prayer and prophecy go hand-in-hand to change the heart and conform the mind to God’s purposes, so that we grow in preferring one another over ourselves.

Implementing the Five-Fold Ministry: Fathers Releasing Sons

Before looking at strategies and programs for implementing the five-fold ministry, it is necessary to implant foundational principles at the root of the process for the development to actually work. Another foundational principle that is necessary for the five-fold ministry to work is that of fathers releasing sons who become fathers.

One huge area lacking in our society is that of fathers who know how to call forth a younger generation and release them into what God has called them to do. Although God can come and transform the existing church structure, many people become set in their ways, making it difficult to make a new definition to old ways of doing things. However, the best way to transform a culture is for those fathers in the older generation who have seen the wrong ways of doing things, to impart their wisdom and anointing to the next generation and release them to go farther than they did.

The problem is two-fold. First, many older people where never fathered themselves, and do not know how to properly be fathers. Second, many young people are rebellious against authority and want to usurp the authority of the older generation rather than learn from them.

However, God’s design was for the older generation to pave the way for the younger generation and create a new, higher foundation for the young ones to walk on than what they had when they were young. Furthermore, His design is for the young ones to walk on that old foundation and build on it, rather than tear it down and move to another place to build.

In the previous teaching on Love & Service, we looked at the verse where Paul was speaking of Timothy as being the only one who was like-minded and served as a son serves a Father (Phil. 2:19-22). Even in Paul’s day, he was looking to raise up sons who would care for the Church as much as he did—and even in his day, it was lacking.

Not only did Paul raise up a son in Timothy who would serve and love the Church, but he raised up a son who also became a father in the church (I Cor. 4:14-17). God is not looking for sons who drain the life out of the older generation to take what they need for themselves. He is looking for sons who are so thankful for being called sons that they—in turn—call forth others as sons.

Also, God is looking for fathers who call their “children” into the identity and callings that are over their lives. A father who is secure in the love of His heavenly Father can see the God-given destiny on a person and call them forth into what God has called them to do.

Implementing the five-fold ministry cannot be a sterile process learned from a book or manual. It must be birthed. It must be birthed in prayer and birthed in lives. This takes labor and it takes trying and failing. It also takes learning from the mistakes of the older generations—and also learning from their successes. We must have the hearts of fathers turned to children and children to the fathers in order for the five-fold ministry to work in the Church.

Implementing the Five-Fold Ministry: Love & Service

As the Lord begins to stir a hunger in our hearts for the release of the five-fold ministry, we will begin asking the questions of how to practically apply this in our church and ministry contexts. As we learn to apply this practically, there are some foundational principles that are essential for this system to work.

The most essential element for the five-fold ministry to work is love. The second is the knowledge that the functional role is given for the sole purpose of serving the Bride.

There is a passage in Philippians that breaks my heart. Paul says in Philippians 2:19-22, “But I trust the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be encouraged when I know your state. For I have no one like-minded, who will sincerely care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus. But you know his proven character, that as a son with his father he served with me in the gospel. Therefore, I hope to send him at once…”

It is remarkable to me that out of all the people serving with Paul, he had no one who was like-minded except Timothy. There was only one person he could send who cared more about the state of the church and the glory of Christ Jesus than his own success and well-being. This breaks my heart.

Even in the early church, there was so much disorder and confusion about the functioning of the body. Paul wrote numerous times to correct their conduct—and many times, the problem was the lack of mutual love and service (humility) toward each other.

In I Corinthians 12-15, Paul wrote the church and he spent a lot of time telling them how the gifts should function in the body and how one person should sit down and let the other speak. The list of the gifts of the Spirit and one of the five-fold ministry passages were actually given in the context of a rebuke to the church for not working together in love and preferring one another.

Right in the middle of this rebuke and instruction concerning the gifts, Paul places the famous chapter on love. He said even if you prophesied or gave all you had to the poor, if you were lacking in love, then you were nothing.

Even if we are all filling our positions and doing our jobs correctly, if we are lacking in love, then we are nothing. If we are following all the procedures and manuals to the utmost degree, but we are seeking our own, then we are nothing. Love does not seek its own.

God is looking for bondservants who will lay down their lives for His Bride. He is looking for team ministry in His body, where each person lays down their life to love and serve the other. Without this foundational principle, you could implement every system, program, and structure in the world, and it will not work.

So much of the damage done in the body of Christ by leadership structures has been because of the lack of humility, service, and love. This has caused the need for so much structure and systems being put in place, that may not have been necessary if people were actually caring for others more than themselves.

 

Even though we are working with real people in a real world, believers in the body of Christ no longer have to live according to the standards of the world. It is possible for us to do what Jesus told His disciples, “They will know you are my disciples because of your love for one another.” If each of us live as individuals who learn to love and obey God, then love and serve each other, we will become the growing body God desires for us to be.

 

Five-Fold Ministry: Role of Prophet

All parts of the body function under the Head, who is Christ. They function in relation to one another for the benefit of the body as a whole. Although each part is designed to work alongside the other, they rarely do. However, as the Lord prepares His bride for His return, He will restore the five-fold ministry, and the Bride will begin to prefer one another in love and humility.

One of the most controversial and misunderstood roles in the body of Christ today is the role of the prophet. In the five-fold ministry, the office of a prophet has been vastly misused, misunderstood, and even neglected in many cases.

There are different types of prophetic ministry and prophetic roles. Every believer who has the Holy Spirit living in them is called to prophesy according to the description in I Corinthians 14:3, where it says that prophecy is for the edification, exhortation, and comfort of the body. Every person is called to prophesy through the power of the Holy Spirit who lives inside them. In addition to this, there are also believers who have a gift of prophecy (I Cor. 12). However, within God’s plan for the structure of the church, there is also a specific place designed for those called to the office of prophet.

 

Someone must be called of God to be a prophet. There is literally a time when God calls them as a prophet or even a history of times when God spoke concerning this. Even after the call though, it may take years and decades for that person to grow, be trained, and develop the maturity to step into that role. After many years of going through this process, the person must then be acknowledged by the church as  a prophet. This is not something the prophetic person requests or seeks. It is something God ordains, brings to pass, and everyone around acknowledges it.

 

A prophet receives revelation from the Lord and is meant to give vision or restore vision to the people. Many times, a prophet is used to call someone into apostolic ministry and implant or confirm a vision in that person for the beginning of a new task or direction. However, the primary role of a prophetic voice is to call the people to return back to the original vision, and turn back to what God intended for them (repentance).

 

A prophetic voice restores holiness and the fear of the Lord element back into the church, calling them to turn when they are heading the wrong way, and encouraging them forward when they are headed the right way. Like Haggai and Zechariah in the days of Joshua and Zerubabbel, they are to encourage believers for the building of the Lord’s house (Ezra 5).

 

The prophet gives vision by helping the apostles and teachers understand the times and seasons. They also encourage and strengthen them behind the scenes. A prophet also works hand-in-hand with the teacher, who establishes sound doctrine. These two roles bring balance to each other even though they are typically the most opposite personalities.

 

Most people whose primary gifting is the prophetic are good at receiving revelation and seeing what is happening, but are not always as good at interpreting and applying the revelation. This is how team ministry comes into play where the apostles and teachers help interpret and apply the revelation. Teachers are also typically better communicators than prophets and can more clearly break-down the message for the average person to understand.

 

It is necessary that the prophet must not only grow in accuracy with what they prophesy, but they must also have the heart of the Lord behind the correct knowledge. An extremely accurate prophetic person who is cocky and arrogant is one of the most dangerous entities alive. On the contrary, an extremely accurate prophetic person who is a friend of God, knows His heart, and weeps when He weeps is one of the most valuable blessings to the body of Christ.

 

It is important that the prophetic person stays under submission to authority. This tends to be a weakness in prophetic people, because they can typically see things that other people cannot see. However, a prophetic person who properly submits words to leadership and goes to the Lord in prayer over those words is absolutely precious in the sight of the Lord.

 

We need to value the role of prophet in the body of Christ and learn how to properly cultivate the heart of a prophetic person. They must not be exalted above any other person in the body, but they must also not be neglected and shoved aside because no one knows what to do with them.

 

As leaders in the body of Christ, we must seek God’s heart on the restoration of the role of the prophet back into the church today. We need to ask him what this looks like in our current culture and learn to appreciate the way God has set-up systems of checks and balances within the structure of the five-fold ministry.

Five-Fold Ministry: Leadership & Man's Freewill to Choose

God created human beings with a freewill to make their own decisions in life. He went to painstaking lengths to ensure that humans had the ability to choose to love him or choose to serve him.

Why else would He put two trees in the garden? He did not only put the tree of life in the Garden, but He also put the tree of the knowledge of good & evil. He then told Adam not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but that he could eat from any other tree in the garden—including the tree of life.

God allowed Adam to choose to obey and He allowed him to sin. He even had a plan for man’s sin from the foundation of the world—otherwise, Jesus would not be called “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8). Jesus was not an afterthought. He was a predestined plan for the allowance of man to have the freedom to choose God or to choose sin.

Since God went to such painstaking lengths to ensure man’s ability to make their own choices, those in any kind of leadership or place of authority should also allow for those under them the freedom to make their own choices.

Whether we are parents or in church leadership or working at an office, we should not use control, manipulation, or intimidation to warrant a certain outcome from those under our authority.

This does not mean, however, that we do not lay down definite rules and guidelines that we expect to be followed. We must have rules and systems in place for order and structure in life together as communities. However, we must realize that those under us have the freedom to obey or disobey. There are always consequences for disobedience, and there are greater levels of severity to consequences given the maturity or age of the person (a child or an adult), or given the frequency and severity of the offense.

However, one of the reasons that there has been so much conflict over the restoration of the five-fold ministry is because of the frequent abuse of those in leadership throughout the history of the church. Not only in the church, but in the world and in the family as well. So many people have suffered abuse where someone has taken away their ability to say no and has violated their will and freedom to make choices.

Because of the rampant abuse in our society, many people have extensive wounds regarding authority figures in their lives. As pastors and leaders in the church, we must learn how to shepherd their hearts and allow their shut-down voice to be released while still being firm in our leadership and direction.

It is important to have those in authority so that there is a unified sense of direction. Because of fallen humanity, anarchism is not an option. Systems and government are a necessary evil. However, in the church, God is restoring back the value of true leadership that loves and prefers those under them. We must learn to hold people with a loose hand, and not be possessive with those under us.

Even when giving guidance or counsel, we must be careful to allow those receiving it to weigh it and make decisions for themselves. When giving a prophetic word, we must allow for the person receiving it to test it and discern the true parts and throw away the extra. It must not be delivered in such a way that the person thinks they must believe it and do it or else they are denying God’s will. Also, giving directional words should be done with great care that the person’s freewill to choose is not infringed upon. Likewise, when anything is brought in the way of correction, it should be submitted with love and great prayer, and even anguish from those in leadership.

When James and John asked Jesus if they could sit with him in a place of authority, Jesus first addressed the issue of fellowshipping in His sufferings (Mt. 20, Mk 10). Then as the others were angry over James and John trying to get ahead, Jesus told them all, “You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:41-45).

Jesus’ example of leadership was one of servant hood and laying down His life. Even though He did such an awesome act of love, He still allows people the freedom to choose Him or to deny the power of the Cross. He came with such acts of service and humility that we should learn to follow His model in the way of loving those that we are appointed to serve.

Call of God: The People God Picks

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty… (I Corinthians 1:26-27)

Think about the people God picked in the Bible. Moses who could not talk very well. David who killed a man and had an affair with his wife. Elijah who ran and hid in a cave. Gideon who hid in a winepress. Paul who persecuted believers. James and John who were a bit on the cocky side, and of course, we all know about the many flaws of Peter. Jesus even picked Judas to follow Him! How wild is that?

It is so amazing that God seems to pick people with so many flaws. And yet, the truth is that every single human being is flawed (besides Jesus), so He really does not have that many to choose from.

In some strange way, this should bring comfort to us. One of Satan’s main attacks against believers is lying to them about how they are so disqualified. He makes accusations day and night to get us to back away from the call of God on our lives.

However, the most amazing reason that God chooses the weak things and not many noble is so that no flesh should glory in His presence (I Cor. 1:29). God chooses the weak ones (which is all of us) so that He is the one who receives the glory for all that we do.

There are two things we can learn from this fact. Number one, give God the glory. Do not take God’s glory for yourself. Number two, God is the one who gives you the ability to do it in the first place. Anything we achieve that matters in eternity happened because of His hand on our lives in the first place.

If God has called you and given you an assignment, then He is the one who is going to bring it to pass. He is the one who will accomplish it in your life anyway.

Of course, we must partner with the Lord and be obedient to His Word and plan. However, Satan’s lies of accusation should have no effect on us, because the blood of Jesus qualifies us. We could never qualify ourselves. When Satan says that we are failures, he is right. In our own strength, we fail. But when we are hidden in Christ and identified as His child—we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus!

Not only that, but the opinions of man should not sway us either. Most of the people throughout history who did anything great, did it in spite of opposition from everyone around them. Anytime something great is accomplished through a person, there will always be other people telling them it cannot be done.

Again, God does not need the most talented or the most intelligent; He just needs the most willing.

Call of God: Tension of Waiting & Going

When there is a true call of God on someone’s life, there is a tension at times between the promises and the fulfillment. Throughout all the great stories of the Bible and even more contemporary ones, a great call may be given at one point, but the full fruition of that call may take decades upon decades to be seen.

In all the great stories of history, there is usually a great vision at the onset and then many years of trial, perseverance, hardship, and seeming failure before even a glimpse of the vision begins to happen.

Many people lose hope after years turn into decades and some lay down the promises altogether. Sometimes, that is even a necessary part of the process—the seed falling to the ground and dying so that it can bring forth fruit. Many times, God uses the seeming death of a promise to ground us in our identity in Him—apart from the call or assignment.

Some people say that we need to launch out and make things happen. Others say that we should wait, pray, and watch. For someone who is truly seeking the will of God, they may get tossed around a bit trying to decide whether they need to sit back and receive more training or go out and start working.

Different voices all say different things making it hard to decipher the right path. However, the truth is that life happens in seasons, and we must be faithful to the season we are in at the time we are in it. God is not looking for the most intelligent people or the most talented—He is looking for the most obedient.

If we learn to hear God’s voice for our own lives, and obey it no matter the cost, then we will find that everything will turn out right in the end. If God says to sit in a prayer room and pray, then do it. If He says to get out on the streets and go, then do it. We have to realize that there are different seasons in life for everything.

Many times, there is a tension between waiting for God to move and God waiting for us to move. There is also a reality of us moving without God. Either extreme is dangerous. Launching out on our own strength making the promises happen is how Abraham got Ishmael. We must learn to allow God to lead our lives so that we get the Isaacs and not the Ishmaels.

However, there is also a reality that we have God living on the inside of us and He is waiting to break out at any moment. He is not waiting for us to become the perfect vessel for Him to use us—because that is never going to happen.

God can use the tension between waiting and going in our lives to create a friction that sparks into the fires of refinement. He will have vessels for His glory that are completely surrendered to Him. We must learn to listen to His voice and give our all to Him in every season—in the time of waiting or the time of sending.

Mark of True Call of God: Perseverance

Many people say that they want great experiences from God—encounters in the throne room, angelic visitations, burning bush experiences—but they do not realize the responsibility that comes along with these types of encounters.

Yes, God wants us to be captivated with Him and truly experience Him not just with head knowledge, but with actual revelation. However, many of the dramatic encounters we see in the Word of God were a commissioning to do a great work of God. These commissionings were given to strengthen the person to do great exploits in the face of grave danger and hardship over long periods of time where it seemed the promise would never come to pass.

Any believer can go preach the gospel—the Lord calls us all to do this, but there are certain assignments set aside that are so difficult that the Lord will grant specific experiences to sustain that person over the long-haul.

Most people so covet the experience, but they do not realize that God gives those encounters, because He knows that person is going to have so many difficulties that they will want to quit over and over again.

The world, Satan, and even our own human nature are constantly pushing us to give up and quit. However, God will come strengthen us with His grace so that we can persevere.

I have heard Mike Bickle say, “Perseverance is the mark of a true minister of God.” Everything in us and around us says, “Quit, give up, you’re a failure anyway.” However, God’s Word says that we have already won. We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus, and the God of peace will soon crush Satan under our feet.

Encounters into the realm of heaven give us a glimpse into eternity, and pull us out of our present circumstances into the vast expanse of God’s redeeming plan. When life gets mundane, difficult, or we are in danger of losing our very lives, we can remember those times when God met us in such a way that we will never forget it. Those times strengthen our hearts to persevere.

I can imagine that when things got hard for Moses, he remembered the bush that burned with fire, but was not consumed. He remembered the voice that came from the bush and sent him to deliver Israel from the land of Egypt. An encounter like that is difficult to forget no matter the circumstances. I am sure that encounter sustained him in the journey.

Even Paul had a dramatic encounter on the road to Damascus. He met Jesus and was blinded by His glory. Meeting the risen Christ sustained Paul through beatings, shipwrecks, stonings, scourges, hunger, thirst, and miles and miles of endless road. He had been captivated and could never turn away.

God comes to strengthen the weak hands and the feeble knees. He comes to tell us, “Do not grow weary in doing good, for in due season, you will reap a harvest, if you do not lose heart!”