2 Corinthians 4:16
For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
Paul said, we faint not. It was not a mistake not to faint, but it was his choice not to faint. He chose not to faint when others around him fainted, and when his flesh told him to faint. He chose not to faint when he was weary with heartache. How did Paul choose not to faint? The answer is in verse 1 which says, Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; Paul looked at his situation as God’s mercy to use it as a ministry to help others. Instead of focusing on the trial, he used the trial as a ministry to help others.
A person chooses to quit when they choose not to accept God’s mercy to turn heartache into ministry. God’s mercy not to quit is found by turning your situation into a ministry to help others.
I was talking to a friend who told me of their heartache. As I talked to this person, I was reminded of my heartache. I learned several years ago how to bear my heartache, and the way I bear it is by telling others my story and how God has used my heartache to be a ministry to help and lead others to Christ who carry the same heartache. I looked at my friend and told them that they could either let their heartache become a source of bitterness, or they could take their heartache and let God’s mercy be found by turning their heartache into a ministry tool to help others.
I think of Dr. Lee Roberson who lost his young girl, Joy. Dr. Roberson and his wife were certainly heartbroken by the loss of their young child. However, instead of getting bitter over the loss of a child, they took that loss and turned it into a ministry to help other children. They started a camp for children, and they called it Camp Joy. They found God’s mercy to carry their heartache by using it as a ministry to help others, and that resulted in thousands of children being saved.
Dr. Bill Rice, an evangelist from the past, had barely started his ministry when their little girl, Betty, became gravely ill with spinal meningitis. God spared their little girl’s life, but in sparing her life she lost her hearing. Instead of becoming bitter at God, Dr. Bill Rice turned this heartache into a ministry by starting the Bill Rice Ranch, a camp to help deaf children. This camp has reached thousands of deaf children for Christ, and mainly because one man chose to accept God’s mercy by turning heartache into a ministry.
I think of H.G. Spafford who sent his four daughters and wife to Europe ahead of him so they could hear D.L. Moody, his dear friend, in a revival in England. The ship his family was on was struck by an iron sailing vessel, causing the ship his family was on to sink. Mr. Spafford lost all four of his girls in this tragedy; only his wife’s life was salvaged. Instead of letting this tragedy become a source of bitterness, he turned this bitter situation in his life into a ministry by writing the song, It Is Well With My Soul. This song has blessed millions of Christians, and all because one man accepted God’s mercy by turning heartache into ministry.
You have a choice to faint or not to faint with your heartache. You will faint if you refuse God’s mercy and become bitter, or you will faint not by accepting God’s mercy by turning your heartache into a ministry to help others.
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