The Enemy in the Camp Part 5: Sharing

I know most Christians do not have close relationships with their preachers or teachers (I’m not talking about Sunday school teachers) and more sadly, few have friendships with Christian brothers and sisters where they commonly and often share God’s Word and discuss application of the Word in daily life.

Because many only see their preachers and teachers when at church and most only on Sunday, it is easy to never think of them as human beings with thoughts, concerns, and lives of their own. Many seem to think these so-called men spend all their time doing nothing more than picking a scripture or scriptures and then developing a sermon or lesson plan around that.

Contrary to what some may think, those of us that have been chosen into the ministry do not or seldom develop a syllabus for what we will preach or teach over a given period of time.

Allow me to share some inner views of what being a preacher or teacher that has been chosen by God and what our daily and weekly lives are like. We spend hours in prayer and study, more often than not our prayer list is added to daily.

We spend hours in study and contemplation of God’s Word, seeking inspiration of what to teach or preach. I myself am constantly seeking God’s divine prompting on what I need to write, as this is a large part of my service to Him. We often spend hours counseling others. Some spend a lot of time in visitation; many times we will make calls to those in the most troubling times to strengthen and encourage them in their difficulties.

It is very common that we are in a way inserted into these situations. Sadly, it seems that people expect us to be just as involved as they are and to be as burdened and heartbroken as well. We never know from where or when these things will come, but we know with absolute certainty that they will come. (Ironically, as

I completed this sentence my phone rang. It was my sister asking for prayer for my niece who is having a C-section this morning.) in just this week one of my closest friends passed away suddenly, leaving several family members behind, a family that I love dearly are going through a terrible thing that will only grow much bigger in the foreseeable future, and a close family member is dealing with a tragedy in their life.

I pray daily for several preachers, missionaries, and an evangelist by name and for their families, congregations, and missions. This is on top of prayer for Jerusalem, Israel, the leadership of our country, and of course my wife and myself. Imagine being at work and many times through the day, your boss walks in and adds to your general duties.

These things are often not a burden nor even an inconvenience, but in their continuous occurrence, at least for me, will divert from what I am in the middle of. Personally, when asked to pray for someone or some situation, I will stop right then and begin to pray, so that I don’t forget. Then I return to my previous effort and many times it takes considerable time to regroup my train of thought to continue.

Please do not think I am complaining or that these things that come are problematic or unwelcome; this is what we do. I am only trying to give some insight in the lives of those who are active in ministry and hopefully encourage you to pray for us remembering this is not a simple existence.

Another aspect many never consider is that these things also affect our spouses and family. They are in this calling right along with us, and they watch the pain in our hearts and see it in our eyes as we hurt for others and as we study and pray so intensely. We become exhausted and often sleep and wake at odd hours making schedules difficult.

We find it virtually impossible to turn our phones off or ignore calls and text messages that come at all hours of the day and night, because we do not want to neglect the spiritual needs of those that reach out to us. Again, this is not a list of things we don’t want to do; they are happenings that we feel are our duty to God. Sadly, there are times our fleshly vessels become fatigued and our minds heavily burdened, and our spouses live it right along with us.

So, if I may ask: please remember to pray often for your preachers, teachers, missionaries, and evangelists, and for their families.

I was standing out on the porch earlier; the sun had set and it was dusk. Just to the northwest was a large thunderhead: white set against the darkening background of clear sky. In the giant cloud you could see lightning illuminating its interior, revealing the details of its formation.

I called my wife out to see it, explaining that I believe we often neglect to observe the majesty of the workings of God’s hand and that I consider it a great privilege to see these things. As I contemplated more, I began to think of things I have witnessed that are, in fact, what I have called supernatural.

I thought of how many people fear what we so casually refer to as supernatural as some sort of freak happening. As I thought further and contemplated Scripture, something became very clear in my mind: these things people call supernatural are absolutely not that. The truth is that the spiritual realm is the true Natural existence and this life in the flesh is the exception.

Kenneth Kellar
A Man Called by God to Teach and Disciple