Murray on Ministry

Pastors are usually all too aware of their weaknesses and keep their guard up there. But, often the devil comes in through the unguarded door of our strengths to make havoc of our lives and ministries.

* The pastor who is blessed with coolness under pressure, can seem unfeeling and detached.
* The pastor who is blessed with a desire to please and serve others, can become a slave to people-pleasing.
* The pastor who is blessed with a huge theological mind, can choke his poor lambs with indigestible doctrine.
* The pastor who is blessed with love for his work, can become a workaholic.
* The pastor who is blessed with a "burden for souls," can become severely depressed with the unresponsiveness of the lost.
* The pastor who is blessed with a sensitive heart, can exhaust and deplete his emotions in counseling.
* The pastor who is blessed with an administrative ability, can become diverted by committee work, minutes, reports and agendas.
* The pastor who is blessed with a "thick skin," can become immune to valid criticism.
* The pastor who is blessed with leadership skills, can become a manager more than a shepherd.
* The pastor who is blessed with a sense of humor, can become a foolish clown more than an ambassador of the King of kings.
* The pastor who is blessed with an eloquent tongue, can rely on his oratory more than on the Holy Spirit.
* The pastor who is blessed with a logical mind, can end up producing sermons that stimulate the mind but chill the heart.

How much we need to look towards our Almighty Christ, who is able to defeat every devilish strategy by giving us a sense of weakness, vulnerability, and need in the areas we think are our strengths. And, in a further display of grace, He also makes our weaknesses the stage for displaying His strength (2 Cor. 12:9).

Michael Patton on Sanctification

Sanctification has more to do with how dependent you have become on the Lord, not necessarily about being ?good.? Sanctification has more to do with how often you are broken before him, not your stoic ability to deal with pain. Sanctification has more to do with a recognition of your weaknesses than of your strengths. Sanctification has more to do with repentance than with the things that don?t require repentance.

John Piper on Desires

Desires for other things - there's the enemy. And the only weapon that will triumph is a deeper hunger for God. The weakness of our hunger for God is not because he is unsavoury, but because we keep ourselves stuffed with 'other things'. Perhaps, then, the denial of our stomach's appetite for food might express, or even increase, our soul's appetite for God.
AHFG p10