Can His Answer be Our Pain?

     I believe that we have confused God's will with our will.  Or maybe it should be said this way, that our comfort may not always be His will.  If more accurately it may need to be said that God's will may often be for our pain, discomfort and suffering.  Could that possibly be?  We point to many passages of scripture that tell us that God has a plan, a plan for our well being and not our destruction.  But there are also many passages of Scripture that remind us that God's will is for us to share in Christ's suffering.  Hebrews 5.7-8 speaks of Christ and God's will for Him.
7 During His earthly life, He offered prayers and appeals, with loud cries and tears, to the One who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence. 8 Though a Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered. 9 After He was perfected, He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,
Heb 5:7-9 (HCSB)
     We must remember as leaders that God's will is not about my personal fulfillment but the fulfillment of His purposes. God's purposes are much greater and go well beyond our personal enjoyment and sense of satisfaction.  We must remember that we were not called to the ministry for our personal fulfillment but for His Kingdom's work.  Henry Blackaby writes, "the Lord cannot always spare you and your family and complete His redemptive work in those around you."
     So what should we take from these thoughts?  As we serve Him certainly painful situations may come our way.  Certainly pray and ask God to spare us and our families.  But ultimately we must pray like Jesus, "but not my will but yours be done."

God's role for Pastoral Leaders

Be responsive to your pastoral leaders. Listen to their counsel. They are alert to the condition of your lives and work under the strict supervision of God. Contribute to the joy of their leadership, not its drudgery. Why would you want to make things harder for them?

Heb 13:17 (MSG)

One of the challenges of ministry is that we often can have too many who think they should set the agenda for what we do.  I am not an employee of my church I am their Shepherd.  My boss, the person who sets my agenda and give my job description is God.
While that may seem arrogant it is not intended to be so.  God has great expectations for His under shepherds.  The Message paraphrase of Hebrews 13.17 I think is a great place to begin to be reminded of what God's role is for us.  Here is our job description from God (based on Hebrews 13.17).

1. Be a leader.
2. Counsel others in life, ministry, family, and Spiritual growth.
3. Pay attention to and understand the conditions in the lives of God's people
4. Obey God.
5. Serve with joy in everything.
6. Don't get bogged down in stuff that will make ministry a drudgery.

Enjoy Serving Him!