Sometimes those of us who are engaged in ministry do not see the results that we had hope for. There are a number of possible explanations for this. It might be that our expectations are not realistic. For example, it could be that we are expecting huge results with little labor. Not enough prayer, teaching, or discipleship has yet taken place to warrant the growth we desire.
Another reason why we may not be seeing the desired results is that it is not the right time. For whatever reason, it is not God’s time to move in the area where we are ministering. We may also fail to see the results we desire because we are in a time of planting or watering (1 Cor. 3:6), which are also important. And, of course, we must never forget that we have an enemy who resists the work of God (Eph. 6:11-12; Thess. 2:18).
It is clear from what I have written above that there are some things that are beyond our control. For example,
“We cannot control the timing of God, nor can we control people and circumstances.”
However, there is one thing that we can control.
“We can control our obedience to the Lord’s commands and guidance.”
If we fail to respond obediently to Him we may very well forfeit the results we seek. As believers we are expected to obey Him that is part of what it means to follow Jesus as our Savior and Lord. One principle that emerges in Scripture is that obedience brings blessing, it brings results.
In Acts 1, just before His ascension, Jesus told His disciples that they would receive power to be witnesses for Him after the Holy Spirit came upon them (Acts 1:8). In that verse He also gave them a list of places where they would preach the gospel after they had been anointed with the Holy Spirit. The places He mentioned were Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.
This was His plan, His will, this was where His mission was to go. We take His words in Acts 1:8 as a message for the whole church. However, if you read through the opening chapters of Acts you will not find anyone going immediately to Samaria after the Holy Spirit came down upon the early Christians in Acts 2.
It is not until Acts 8 that we read about one man went to Samaria, his name was Philip. He was not an apostle, but he had been involved in ministry in the church in Jerusalem, he helped with the distribution to the widows (Acts 6:1-5). Philip left Jerusalem because he was fleeing from the persecution that the church was experiencing there. He left to save his own life but his action resulted in the saving of the lives of many others. Acts 8:6 tells us that crowds heard him preach about Christ. They also witnessed many physical healings and the deliverance of many who were demonized. The last part of Acts 8:7 says that there “was great joy in that city” (NIV). The lives of people were being changed both physically and spiritually. There was an in-breaking of the Kingdom of God in Samaria. Philip was in a place that God wanted reached, proclaiming the message of the gospel, and the Lord blessed it. Obedience brings blessing, God honors it.
A little while later Philip had a rather personal experience. It was another divine directive, this one came from an angel of the Lord (Acts 8:26). It was different from the one we saw in Acts 1:8. The directive we find in Acts 8 was not a general word to the church, which could have application to all, it was rather a specific word to Philip.
He was told to go to a certain road. Once he was there he was prompted by the Spirit to go up to a chariot that was carrying an Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:27-29). He engaged the eunuch in conversation and the result of his meeting with this man was that the man became a Christian and was baptized (Acts 8:36-37). Philip’s obedience brought a blessing, another man entered the Kingdom.
The lesson we can learn from Philip’s experiences is that if we are obedient to God’s direction it will bring results. Obedience brings blessing, in the cases we looked at it bore fruit for the Kingdom. So, obey all of God’s directions, whether they are general words to the church, which are found in the Scriptures, or personal words given to you, by the Lord through people or other supernatural means-obey them. If you obey and keep on obeying fruit will come in time. Ministry is hard and there are many challenges. But Paul tells us to give ourselves fully to the Lord’s work knowing that we do not labor in vain (1 Cor. 15:58).
John P. Lathrop – United States
John P. Lathrop is a graduate of Western Connecticut State University, Zion Bible Institute, and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary’s Center for Urban Ministerial Education (CUME). He is an ordained minister with the International Fellowship of Christian Assemblies and has twenty years of pastoral experience.
