Paraklesis
[‘encouragement’, ‘exhortation’, for life and ministry]
October 2023
Peter Adam
Dear friends,
I want to encourage you to trust God, to say to God that you trust him; and to entrust yourself, your life and ministry, and other people to God, and to say to God that you entrust these to him.
What is the difference between trust and entrust?
We trust God: we entrust ourselves, or people, or our church, or our problems to him.
Here are verbal expressions of/ instructions to trust God:
‘I trust in you LORD’ [Ps 31:14].
‘I trust in your unfailing love’ [Ps 13:5].
‘I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits’ [Ps 130:5].
‘I life my eyes to you, to you who sit enthroned in heaven’ [Ps 123:1].
‘In you, LORD, have I taken refuge’ [Ps 71:1].
‘I cling to you; your right hand upholds me’ [Ps 63:8].
Here are verbal expressions of or instructions to entrust matters to God:
‘Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him …’ [Ps 37:5].
‘Into your hands I commit my spirit; deliver me, LORD, my faithful God’ [Ps 31:5].
‘Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you’ [Ps 55:22]
‘Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans’ [Prov 16:3].
‘Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you’ [1 Pet 5:7].
This trusting and entrusting is often specific.
Trust | Entrust |
‘I trust you that you are caring for this person’. | ‘I entrust this person to you for your care and protection.’ |
‘I trust you that you will reform and revive this church’. | ‘I entrust this church to you, that you will reform and revive it.’ |
‘I trust you that you will help me resist this temptation.’ | ‘I entrust myself to you, that you will enable me to resist this temptation.’ |
Why should we say to God that we trust him, and entrust matters to him?
When we speak to God, we affirm our relationship with him, we praise and honour him by expressed our confidence in him, and we reinforce our decision to do what we intend.
What will help us to trust and entrust?
- Remembering
Remember parts of the Bible that remind you of the power, goodness, love, compassion, care, patience and grace of God. If they don’t come naturally to mind, then find them, and make them memory verses, always available to you when you are thinking, wondering, praying, or encouraging others. [See the Paraklesis for July, God’s promises our only hope].
- Thanking
‘Drizzle’ your trusting and entrusting with thanksgiving to God for all he has done, is doing, and will do for us through the Lord Jesus Christ. Pour out your heart with thanksgiving: ‘overflowing with thanksgiving’ [Colossians 2:7].
- Praising
We thank someone for what they give us. We praise someone for who they are. Get the habit of not only thanking people, but praising them! Even more importantly get into the habit of praising God for who he is. Pour your heart out in praise to God, Father, Son, and Spirit, our glorious, powerful, holy, and gracious God!!!
Remembering God, thanking God, and praising God will enrich, encourage and strengthen your trusting and entrusting.
Pour out your heart in entrusting this person/ problem/ challenge/ pain/ suffering/ disaster/ emergency/ question/ fear / anxiety/ or yourself/ to him.
Then thank God that he made you aware that you needed to trust him, and entrust to him!
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Lest you fall into the trap of taking more responsibility for others and for ministry than you should, remember these words from Ephesians 2:10.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do [NIV 11].
- God has created us in Christ Jesus to do good works.
- God has prepared good works for us to do.
But remember that you may see good works that need to be done, but that God has not prepared them for you to do!
You need to know what good works you should do, and what good works you should not do. We are always aware of all that needs to be done: we should also be aware of our personal limitations, set in place by God.
Always ask these questions:
- What is my responsibility? What is not my responsibility?
- What can I achieve? What can I not achieve?
Only do what is your responsibility, and only do what is achievable.
Leave the rest to God. It’s all his problem, and he is big enough, powerful enough, wise enough, responsible enough, and trustworthy enough for all our trust, and all our praise, and all our worship!
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Then, when you have time and space to do it, ponder these questions:
Should I not be trusting God for everything, and entrusting everything to him? Why do I feel and think that I don’t need to do this? Do I really believe that I can function as a person, in daily responsibilities, and in ministry without his constant help, power, grace, and sufficiency? Sometimes I feel out of my depth: should I not feel this all the time? Do I suffer from an unhelpful confidence in my abilities apart from God? Should I not be trusting God for everything, and entrusting everything to him?
After all, this is what is happening in any good work we do:
GOD in his grace is ‘the senior partner’ in any good work, prayer, ministry you do! | ||
YOU | Your good work, prayer, ministry etc | |
GOD by his grace works in you, ‘the junior partner’, in any good work, prayer, ministry you do! |
In-service training for people engaged in trained gospel ministry.
Over the last 10 years I have been running Preaching Workshops for people in trained gospel ministry, some in person, and more recently some online via Zoom, to serve people who minister in the country, across Australia, and beyond.
This year I began to run Prayer Training Workshops, also for people in trained gospel ministry. We had 36 people enrolled this year in 6 different groups, some in person, and some online via Zoom.
If you would like to apply to take part in either or both of these in 2024, then please use the Application form on this website. I want to get the workshops for 2024 set up in November, because I will be on holidays in December, and many of you will be on holidays in January!
Dear Heavenly Father, we praise you that in your mercy and grace you constantly use us and empower us for your service, using our lives, our actions, our words, our relationships, our prayers, and our ministry for your glory and your great gospel purposes. May we learn to trust you in and for all things, and entrust ourselves, our lives, our families, friends, churches, and ministries to you. In Christ’s name. Amen.
With warmest good wishes,
Yours
