Pastor, you have some incredible strengths. Maybe you’re an incredible preacher. Maybe you’re a gifted leader. Maybe you’re an impactful counselor. 

But your greatest witness to the world won’t come from any of those areas. Your witness to the world will come out of your weaknesses, not your strengths.

What impresses non-believers is how you 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 using his pain as 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).

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

 

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

 

It doesn’t take God’s power to handle the good; anybody can handle that. But it takes God’s power to patiently endure the bad.

 

The world doesn’t have a good answer for how to endure. But followers of Christ patiently endure suffering, hardship, and trouble of every kind 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 it to help bring others from despair and into the fullness of life in Christ?