For me, one of the hardest things I have had to do in my walk with the Lord is to accept it when He uses others to minister to my needs. I am pretty sure that I am no different from anyone else when it comes to accepting help. One of the hardest things to do is to allow others to minister to us, especially when it is within our own family or church family. There are times we will need others to minister to us, and we must be willing to allow ourselves to be ministered to. The same verses that we, as Christians, use to show the need to minister to others actually show the attitude we should have when others minister to us.
Accepting help from others
When others minister to us, we should realize that their help comes at the leading of the Holy Spirit and is an act of obedience on their part, as the Holy Spirit directs. We must give thanks to the one ministering to us and to the Lord for the blessings we gain. The apostle Paul explained this to the Christians living in Thessalonica, In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Sometimes it is difficult to be thankful when we receive a blessing at the hands of someone within our family or church. It is hard to admit that we couldn’t take care of a problem or issue ourselves; while it is easy to pray to the Lord about those needs, it is quite another to accept the Lord’s provisions especially when it comes at the hands of someone else. We should take on a spirit of genuine thankfulness from the heart; not fake or based on deceit. Paul also wrote to the Christians in Ephesus, Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 5:19-20). When others minister to us, we should not seem callous, or dismissive of their efforts. We should also genuinely be thankful to the Lord and not be dismissive over the Lord’s blessings.
No one understood this better than the apostle Paul; before his conversion to Christianity he had been part of the Sanhedrin council. He shared that part of his testimony in his writings and in his speeches: But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question (Acts 23:6), Which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee (Acts 26:5), and Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee (Philippians 3:5). As a Pharisee, he never had to worry about his physical needs being met. But when he became a Christian and fully accepted the Lord’s plan for his life, he no longer had access to the financial resources he once had. His role as a missionary prevented him from working so he had to wholly depend on the Lord to provide for his needs. I can imagine that at times Paul felt ashamed and embarrassed that in his newfound faith he was humbled and had to depend on the Lord for everything where before, as Pharisee, he never had a want or a need that he could not meet on his own.
One of the hardest things that we have to do as Christians is to learn how to receive answers to our prayers and needs at the hands of others. Again, the writings of Paul gives us an insight to how he approached being thankful for what others did do for him. He wrote to the Christians in Colossus and to those in Thessalonica, We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you (Colossians 1:3), and We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers (1 Thessalonians 1:2). As a missionary, Paul is demonstrating the attitude of gratitude we are to have towards others. We are to give thanks to the Lord when others minister to us. The Lord moves in the hearts of His children and will use our brothers and sisters in Christ to minister to us. As mentioned earlier, the apostle Paul, a missionary, often depended on the gifts and the ministering of others in support of his ministry.
There are times in our own life where we will have a real need – maybe it is a physical need, maybe it is a need for encouragement, or maybe it is just knowing that someone else is praying for us. God uses His children to minister to the needs of others; He uses others to minister to us. It is important for us to remember that we see throughout the New Testament a principle of people and churches moving, as the Holy Spirit leads, to meet the needs of others who are hurting or are in need: Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea (Acts 11:29). Again, Paul wrote on this very subject to the Christians living in Rome: For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem. It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things (Romans 15:26-27) and Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; 13Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality (Romans 12:10 & 12:13). Paul is writing about the emerging characteristics of Christians – which are the same characteristics that we see today. Our churches are filled with women and men who are eagerly waiting for the opportunity to be a blessing to others.
Don’t question the motives
By nature, I am a cynical person. I was not raised in a Christian home and for much of my time in the military, I worked in the military justice field. Both of these influenced the outlook I have held for so long. I’m not proud of this and it is something that I pray that the Lord will help me overcome on a daily basis. While it is not as bad as it once was, I have a problem questioning the motives of others, especially when they’ve done something that ministers to a need. Before I began to ask the Lord to help me in this, I would easily assign them hidden motives of trying to atone for guilt, trying to buy my friendship, or whatever motive my mind could come up with.
I never understood how bad this habit had become it was until one afternoon in 2007, I felt the Lord moving within my heart. There was a family in our church that had fallen on hard times and the Lord had laid on my heart to buy them some groceries and to pay their utility bill. I went to the city hall and paid the utility bill, which was easy enough. I went to Kroger, bought the basic groceries I could think of that a family of five would use, and went by their house and put them on the front porch of the family’s house. The next Sunday, I was approached by the gentleman and was asked all the things I normally muttered to the Lord in private – why did I do that? What was I expecting in return? How much was it going to cost him? At that point, I saw myself for what I was in the situations I similarly experienced in the past; by my very nature and mindset, I was unthankful, I was full of pride, and I was unwilling to be genuinely thankful when the Lord used others to minister to me. Just then, it hit me that from that point forward, I should never question the motives of someone that seeks to be a blessing to me out of obedience to the Lord; instead I needed to remember the words of Jesus: And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward (Matthew 10:42). Even if their reason for helping us is simply “doing it because it is what the Bible teaches…” we are to be accepting of their efforts because the Lord has told them that just offering us a hand because it is what they’ve been taught to do as a Christian is still doing it for the right reason. James wrote, If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone (James 2:15-17). Just as when we are moved by the Holy Spirit to meet the needs of others and we understand that it is the demonstration of our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to help others, when others reach out to minister to us, they are also are acting out of their faith in the Lord. And for that, we must recognize their living faith and a tender heart and rejoice and give thanks to them and to the Lord for meeting our needs.
For the last few mornings, I have begun to get back into my routine of the morning walk. Before the cold weather set in December, I was walking each morning at a pace between 3 and 3½ miles an hour for about an hour each morning. At first, it was difficult to get started but just like anything else, it did get to the point where my mornings did not feel complete unless I had done my walk. With the return of warmer weather, I am now determined to not only increase my pace but to increase the number of miles walked each morning.
