Written by Chuck Swindoll, these encouraging devotional thoughts are published seven days per week.
Are you feeling alone, mistreated, misunderstood, forsaken? Remember this true account. God is at work. He's there, working behind the scenes. He'll work it out. He has a plan. Just when you're convinced the bottom is about to drop out from under you, He steps in and lifts you to safety.
If you're finally ready to step aside and let Him have His way, say so; then do it. He will honour your admission of weakness by showing Himself strong through you. But if you don't, He won't.
Let's pause long enough here to consider this principle in all seriousness. Your humiliations, your struggles, your battles, your weaknesses, your feelings of inadequacy, your helplessness, even your so-called "disqualifying" infirmities are precisely what make you effective. I would go further and say they represent the stuff of greatness.
"You mean, I don't have to be super strong and endure each trial relying on my own resources?" It's not like that at all. In fact, the only way you qualify to receive His strength is when you admit your weakness, when you admit you're not capable and strong, when, like Paul, you're willing to boast in nothing but your weakness and God's power.
"Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1 NIV). Hold on to faith!
Once they have heard the message, your part ends. Your task is to communicate truth. It's God's job to draw people to Himself. You prepare the patient; He does the surgery. They don't need manipulation. There's enough of that going on.
You do know how strong-willed and proud you are. So do the people you lead. You know how slow you are to encourage and how reluctant you are to affirm. They do too. You know if you're greedy. You know if you're self-serving. Frankly, it's time to give all that up. We're back to the crucial question: Do you want to have a great ministry, or do you just want to be great?
In those desert experiences you long for an oasis where you're able to get a cool drink of water. Though it didn't come from your father, at last it comes from the affirming words of a leader, who, in speaking, dips his ladle deep in ice water, and as he pours it out, it cools your spirit and refreshes your soul.
To keep this simple and easy to remember, I want to suggest that affection for people can be demonstrated in two ways: small yet frequent acts of kindness and stated and written words of appreciation.
Good leaders are sensitive to the needs of others. Paul compared his ministry to a mother who tenderly cares for the needs of her children. I love that word picture.
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