Text : 2 COR 1:8
“For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:”

It’s amazingly gratifying to see the amount of candor and humility Apostle Paul and his associates, mainly Silas and Timothy brought to bear in their Gospel work. The above verse captures it so aptly.

Paul is not pretending to know ‘all the answers’, or that they have it ‘altogether’. No.

Sometimes you set out on some supposedly careful plan of action in ministry, and you hit a dead end. All options look bleak and you are in despair. This is not a time to lament your woes or give up. It’s a time to trust God for deliverance. But you must look to him to do it, otherwise with your nose deepped in in battle, you’ll not recognize God’s deliverance when it arrives.

Paul had arrived Antioch determined to spread the gospel. At his first attempt at the Synagogue, it looked good.
While the Jews were trying to figure Paul out, some cynical, others circumspect; the Gentiles quickly embraced the Gospel. And you will think all was well until trouble erupted the next day.

ACTS 13:44-45
“And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming”…

From that point on, it was one trouble after another, one betrayal after another, and from one beating to the next for Paul. (Acts 13:44 – Acts 20:3).

I love Paul’s attitude to it all and I sure recommend same to you co-laborer, in no matter what situation you find yourself.

First, they passed a death sentence over themselves accepting that they were fallible, weak and powerless by themselves, thereby giving way for the grace of God to abound in their situation.

2 COR 1:9-10
“But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us”.

Secondly, and most importantly, Paul and his associates added an attitude of rejoicing to whatever circumstances they were faced with. He describes the basis or source of this rejoicing in verse 12: “For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward”

He is basically saying that in each trouble, they were able to come through it with their conscience and faith intact, and their heads held high without compromise, before the people. Why is conscience important? When a gospel worker goes through a tribulation, he or she suffers a double hazard if the enemy is able to find one or two sins to accuse you of. This further weakens the conscience and by extension your faith to stand up to the challenge.

2 Cor 4 : 1-2
“Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but, by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God”.

How you are perceived by your audience will determine how your gospel ministry prospers amongst them. If they do not see simplicity and godly sincerity in you, they may hear, and even comprehend your message, BUT THEY WILL NOT RECEIVE IT. And the gospel is not profitable until received.

1 Cor 15:1
“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain”.

– Dr Nich Mbaezue