Being a Pastor is a big deal!
It is supposed to be.
Because it is, the devil takes great pleasure in trying to minimize our effectiveness. And he does a great deal of that work inside our own mind and spirit.
When I was a classroom teacher, once I finished college and started in my own classroom, I was amazed by what college had not prepared me for. I literally did not know what I did not know. My first year of teaching, and probably my first several years, was spent just trying to figure out what questions I needed to ask of my peers and administrators in order to do my job well.
After many years in the classroom I entered into the ministry full-time. And after several years on church staffs, I moved into the Pastorate. And guess what? I found myself right back at that same point. Not even knowing what I did not know!
While I had not had full seminary training, I had been raised in the church, in a pastor’s home as a matter of fact. And my Bachelor’s Degree, although in Education, was received at a Christian University. Many of my elective classes were in ministry or theology. Plus I had spent almost 10 years serving on a church staff.
But just as with education, the classroom did not prepare me for the job. It prepared me for the book knowledge needed for the job. But it did not prepare me to do the job. And neither did time spent on staff. Oh, it helped a little. But it was not the same. And, boy, it did not prepare me for the struggles and the attacks of the enemy.
So I spent the first years of pastoring just trying to figure out what to do, how to do it, and being a near-constant victim of “See there, you’re not a real pastor because a real pastor would have …” from the devil. Either I am the only person who ever experienced these kinds of things (which the enemy says I am) and thus this book will help no one except, maybe, myself; or I am not alone among those on whom the devil uses this tactic. Which I think may be more the truth.
For that reason, I decided to write this book.
As you will see, some of these things are quite serious, while others may even seem to be a bit absurd. But that is what happens when the enemy battles you. He does not play fair. He will use the Bible against you. And he’ll try to get you so tired from the serious, that you have no stamina left so that the absurd becomes the tipping point. It certainly almost was the case for me. I hope that those reading will realize that they are not the first to have those kinds of doubts and feelings. And that they will find some helpful advice for handling these kinds of attacks that purpose to keep us from being effective in ministry, and in some cases, threaten to drive us from the ministry completely.
You will likely see one common theme amongst these items – STRESS. We all know stress can be a killer. All kinds of health conditions can be caused by stress. From heart disease, to asthma, to obesity; all kinds of health issues are widely reported to either be caused by or made worse by stress. This list also includes diabetes, depression and anxiety, gastrointestinal problems and Alzheimer's disease. Stress can affect how you age and possibly lead to premature death. I have even heard that it can cause the same kind of damage to brain cells as binge drinking.
It is nice of medical research to finally catch up to the Bible. Jesus Himself told us all of this in Luke 21:34 – Be careful not to spend your time having parties and getting drunk or worrying about this life. If you do that, you won’t be able to think straight, and the end might come when you are not ready. It is interesting that stress can cause the same kind of problems that excessive partying (the KJV uses the word surfeiting, others say carousing) and drunkenness can. In case you are wondering, surfeiting means indulging in one's appetites excessively. It could be food or drink or many other things such as any habit that can be abused.
It is also interesting that gluttony and drunkenness are both sins, which would suggest “worrying about this life, or “stressing out” about it is a sin too. The devil would obviously love it if all of God’s ministers had a sin problem, so he gets us to participate in one that most of us would not even see as one. And it is a sin that can cause all manner of health issues, thus limiting our effectiveness in ministry. As my Mom used to sing, “The devil is a sly ole’ fox”.
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