A LIFE OF FAITHFULNESS

Dad Hagin was around 64 years old when Britta and I attended RHEMA Bible College. Britta and I were part of the first group of international students who went to study there. It was only then that Kenneth E. Hagin was beginning to be known internationally.

Just imagine, Dad Hagin started preaching at 17 and first began to be known internationally after more than 44 long years of serving in the ministry. Most of those four decades were spent preaching in smaller churches, often in obscure places in Texas and Oklahoma. He did not have many material goods during those years, but he never judged his success on the basis of the meagre amount of material things that he owned. He just stayed faithful and true to the calling of God on his life.

Success in the ministry is about faithfulness to the call and not about how quickly you can become rich and famous. I sometimes wonder when this whole concept of ministers becoming rich and famous off the Gospel entered into Christianity. When I experienced the call of God in 1975, the focus was all about "take up your cross and follow Jesus." What we were promised was prison, persecution, hardships, and perhaps death. I experienced three out of these four.

Do not enter into the ministry if wealth and fame are important to you. Do something else instead. However, if your heart is really set on serving God, never measure success by the size of the crowds or by how much money you have. Just serve the Lord and serve and bless people faithfully.

I am saying this because many young ministers think that unless they become "big" and famous in five or ten years that something is wrong with them. Just think of Dad Hagin; it was only in the last 20 of his 87 years of earthly life that he had what we would call a "world-wide impact."

Remember that trees which grow fast are never as strong as trees that grow slowly. The fast-growing ministries of young preachers, which grow because of their charisma and PR skills never last in the long run and they leave no lasting legacy; whereas ministries led by Godly people who have demonsrated a lifetime of faithfulness will last, and after they are gone their legacies will live on.

So be encouraged! Be faithful and live your life serving the Lord with gladness, tenacity, and undiminishing faith. Your faith will be tested, you may endure hardship and want, you may go through valleys of discouragement. The great thing is that through all this God is doing His work in you and building you up to be strong and fruitful.

If you keep your eyes on Jesus, press forward in faith, and stay faithful, you are ultimately going to win!

Originally posted on Facebook by Pastor Christopher Alam