How To Receive from Your Pastor
Ephesians 4:11-12 NKJV “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,”
Pastors are a gift from God to His Church. All of the ministry gifts listed above are Christ’s provision for His Church.
Jesus knew that we needed help to grow, be edified, be built up, and matured. Not only did He provide us with His Holy Spirit, but He also equipped men and women of God with specific ministry gifts to build His Church. These ministry gifts are there for us, to help us fulfil God's call on our lives.
Like anything in the Kingdom of God, these gifts are to be received by faith. When we recognise the truth that these gifts are not to exalt a human being, but these gifts are from God for us, we can open up our hearts to receive from them. When we receive these men and women of God, we are ultimately receiving Jesus. (Matthew 10:40)
Pastors, for example, are Christ’s provision for His Church to nurture and shepherd the flock. Pastors have been divinely equipped with the compassion of God for people. They are graced to feed the flock with sound doctrine and godly counsel to help the sheep.
In order for us to receive from our pastors, we need to be in a place where we can receive from them. We don’t want to treat the things of God as common, but we want to treat them as valuable.
Below are three examples of what we can do to ensure that we are in a position to receive from our pastors:
1. Honour them: we recognise that they are from God for us. God has equipped them with wisdom and compassion to ensure we are well-fed. To honour something means to treat it as important, so when our pastors are speaking, we treat what they say as important.
2. Pray for them: Pastors need prayer! They too are earthen vessels, and have their own emotions and issues to deal with. Satan often will go for the leader of the sheep first because he knows that if he can get to the shepherd, then he can divide the sheep. The apostle Paul asked for prayer. He asked them to pray for him for utterance and boldness, that he would proclaim God’s Word as he ought to. (Ephesians 6:19) If the apostle Paul needed prayer, our pastors need prayer!
3. Give them a place in our lives: Just like parents are graced by God to be that child’s parents, they are equipped with wisdom of how to raise that child, pastors are also equipped by God to be our pastors. God gives them wisdom and a “word in season” for us, to help us stay on track. When we give our pastor the right to speak into our lives, we are in a place where we can be strengthened and matured for God’s glory.
These ministry gifts are a gift from our Lord to us, we want to receive these gifts with gratitude and humility and let the Lord use these men and women to help us become all that God has called us to be.
Remember, we love you, and we are praying for you.
Blessings,
Chloe
