Month of Prayer and Giving Day 13- With You in Weakness

“And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
1 Corinthians 2:1-5

Nothing highlights our areas of personal weakness like the rigours of local church ministry. Nothing promotes our own growth in sanctification like learning to serve others. Ask Chola Mukanga. He knows.

Chola has had to learn to love more as Jesus loves. It took a painful case of church discipline – involving someone in whom he had invested a lot of time – to teach him that.

He has had to learn to balance competing priorities. It took the discipline of preparing two sermons for each Sunday to bring that into focus. He can still find it all a bit overwhelming – especially on Saturdays when the demands of the week have crowded out time for preparation.

This struggle means that he has had to grow as a preacher. He has grown. The people who regularly sit under his ministry can testify to that. But even this can be painful as memories of some of his earlier attempts can bring tears to his eyes.

Bottom line. Chola – like the other men you’ve read about this month – does not serve because he is strong. He serves despite the fact he is weak. This means the glory for any good accomplished through his ministry goes to God and God alone. This is as it should be.

Please pray for Chola as he continues to serve the Lord and His people at Bexleyheath. Ask the Lord to strengthen him as a pastor and a preacher. Ask the Lord to continue to deepen the desire of the people for expository ministry.

And, ask the Lord to bring those people under discipline back into right relationship with Himself and His church.

“Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.”
3 John 8 ESV

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