Pastor, your greatest witness to the world will come out of your weaknesses, not your strengths.

A lot of leaders have it backwards: They think the world is impressed by ministry success. But that doesn’t impress the world. The world sees people enjoying success all the time! 

What impresses non-believers is how Christian leaders handle adversity, not prosperity. Your suffering, not your success, gives you credibility. Your faithfulness, not your fame, earns respect.

The apostle Paul was a pro at letting God turn his pain into a witness. He wrote from a prison dungeon in Rome, “I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News” (Philippians 1:12 NLT).

While Paul was chained in prison, he wrote letters to the church; those letters eventually became part of the New Testament. In those letters, Paul used his pain to model the message God had given him. 

Paul said, “In everything we do, we show that we are true ministers of God” (2 Corinthians 6:4 NLT). “Everything we do” includes how you handle pain, failure, defeat, problems, mistakes, sin, and all of the bad things that happen in your life.

In a lot of ways, it doesn’t take God’s power to handle good; anybody can handle good. It takes God’s power to patiently endure.

The world doesn’t have a good answer for how to endure. But, when we rely on God’s power, followers of Christ can patiently endure suffering, hardship, and trouble of every kind. It’s a way to bear witness to the Good News of Jesus.

Your deepest ministry will come out of your deepest hurt—and your deepest life message will come out of your deepest pain.

In every area of your life where you’ve had pain, you have a testimony. How will you use that testimony to help bring others from despair to fullness of life in Christ?

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