The C.U.P of Ministry

2Corinthians 6: 4-10

There are many people claiming to be ministers of the LORD before men and they present themselves as such before men. But according to the original design, ministry goes a long beyond proclamation and presentation. In truth, proclamation of a minister should be left to GOD and presentation as one before men is a later stage in the process of making a minister.

There are some inner workings that the prospective minister must have gone through before GOD can present him before men. The ministry of every man to GOD has it’s own cup just like when JESUS had its own during HIS time. This cup has been duly mentioned by Paul . . . Pointing to the three major attributes that would present one as a true minister of the LORD whose goal is to do the will of the LORD by ministering the LORD to the people according to GOD’s particular instructions:

1. CONDITIONS

“But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of GOD: IN much patience, IN tribulation, IN needs, IN distresses, IN stripes, IN imprisonments, IN tumults, IN labours, IN sleeplessness, IN fastings.”

Why does the Scripture made mention of bad and cruel scenarios only? Is it that ministers only function in bad conditions?

The truth is that in favourable conditions, everything always seems so obvious and flourishing . . . the abundance and superfluity of things make even the works of a self-acclaimed minister abound effortlessly. But true ministers abound both in favourable and trying times. For them, persecution and tribulations are like fire to their gold.

So if you want to know a true minister of GOD, wait till the trying times seasons and those who are ministers only in the times of abundance would be blown away like chaffs; leaving behind the abounding ministers whose strengths are not found in the abundance of things but in abundance of their communion with GOD. Even in abundance of things, they are not without distinction for they are given to fated life . . . a life that understands that expediency should be pursued over lawfulness because they are Nazarites of GOD.

2. UMPIRES

“But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of GOD: BY purity, BY knowledge, BY longsuffering, BY kindness, BY the HOLY SPIRIT, BY sincere love, BY the WORD of Truth, BY the power of GOD, BY the armour of righteousness on the right and on the left, BY honour and dishonour, BY evil report and good report.”

Even though our liberty is potent and sure as the day and night, there are boundaries and gracious guides on how we are to minister the LORD to the people HE has sent us to. There are umpires of ministration and they must be what we should operate by if we desire to have good success in the assignments GOD has given us to do.

In the ministration that GOD approves, anything cannot go . . . there are always instructions and guides to follow and specific path to tread if we want to reach the destination GOD has at heart for both the minister and the ministered. To be what GOD wants the people to be, ministers are also meant to be what HE wants them to be first. By this, ministers can also serve as umpires, having embodied all that GOD wants the peoe to know,learn and ultimately embody.

Ministers must know that the deciders of what is good or evil is GOD and even though what is done is good or evil before men, it does not change GOD’s view or perspective. Whatever reservations we have must be subjected under the umpires that GOD had set for any mission to be successful according to HIS will . . . this means that there are ministers who do not operate under the umpires of GODly operations because they are always thinking about the perceptions and perspectives of those who are to be ministered into than the author of the ministration.

3. PRESENTATIONS/POSTURES

“But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of GOD: AS deceivers, and yet true; AS unknown, and yet well known; AS dying, and behold we live; AS chastened, and yet not killed; AS sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; AS poor, yet making many rich; AS having nothing, and yet possessing all things”

GOD has a way if fashioning out strength from what seems weak not because what is strong is not strong but so that HE could render the wisdom and strength of the world that so hates HIM and that HE cannot reconciled with. And this may not be because what is weak is actually weak but because the world has tagged it as weak in their own shallow and unGODly reasoning. So GOD in HIS sovereignty would work out HIS will in a way that would shatter the systems and beliefs of the world.

This would be the lot of ministers: for them to be relevant in the kingdom of GOD, they must seem useless and unprofitable to the kingdom of the world. They must choose to be covert and unseen even when the world is continuously reaching out to them. By this GOD would be ‘successful’ in fashioning out HIS will in and through them. Even CHRIST forsook all so that HE could minister salvation to mankind; posing as what HE is above and partaking in the lot of people HE had come to save.

Most times, many ministers tend not to adhere accurately to this attribute of a minister because after all they have gone through and all they have attained in stature and resources, they find it hard to pose as below their true stature . . . many revel in this attainment thereby failing to minister the LORD to the people they are sent to. In their own reasoning, they have worked so hard for the extraordinary that they could no more now to live the ordinary life needed to reach those who are yearned to be misnistered unto. They fail to realize that GOD has chosen to use the weak and te foolish things to confound the strong and the wise in this world. Unless they see themselves as weak and poor before the LORD, HE cannot fashion out out HIS strength and wisdom in and trough them as HE used to do before they became ‘great’. A minister may be a great man but his success according to the will if the LORD would be determined by HIS willingness to go so low for the sake of CHRIST and the ministry to HIM by GOD.

#HIM