What a minister needs for the ministry?
Let us read 2 Kings 4:8 to 10. In this passage, we find that a rich and influential woman without a name entreated a prophet, namely Elisha, who was passing by, to eat a meal with her. Afterwards, the prophet used to stop in her house for a meal. Then she said to her husband, “Behold now, I perceive that this a holy man of God, who passes by continually. Let us make a small chamber on the housetop and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp….” Then, one day, the prophet made a debut and stayed in the chamber and lay there. During his stay there, the rich woman was blessed by the prophet with a word of prophecy concerning the birth of a son. Then afterwards, when the son born to her through the word of prophecy died, the dead son was revived through the personal ministry of Elisha. In the Body of Christ, there are many likened to the rich woman who had opened up her house for a visiting minister of God. It was not the material richness that made her open her house for the prophet. It was her discernment of a true minister of God that led to the accommodation of the prophet in her house. She discerned the conduct of the prophet merely by his visits. She did not hear his message. Nor did she hear about the prophet through any third person. The prophet was indeed a holy man of God. A holy man of God is not known to the Christian world through his public ministry but through his personal life and his walk with God.
The minister of God does not need any hotel accommodation for his ministry but a small chamber for his stay in the house of a child of God who can discern a true minister. In Singapore, a dear couple opened their house for our stay and spared their own bed room for our stay. They treated me and my wife as their own parents. May the Lord bless them abundantly!
A small chamber, a bed, a table, a chair and a lamp for the ministry! A minister of God should not expect more than these basic needs. If the people of God or the church give him a gift offering, he should accept the same prayerfully without demanding more or without indirectly telling the people of God about the needs of his ministry.
A small chamber is enough for you. A bed for taking rest is enough for you. The bed is a symbol of rest for God's workers. Today we find many preachers go round the world without giving rest to their bodies and without taking care of their families. Jesus said, "Take my yoke and my yoke is easy". But they have taken upon themselves their own yokes without delegating power or responsibility to their co-workers. They do not trust their co-workers. They put all the burden on their heads and tell the world, "I have no rest, pray for me.....". Jesus Himself took rest in the boat and slept.
A table and a chair are also there for you so that you can minister to the family with whom you are staying through Bible Study and prayers and can prepare the messages for your ministry. A lamp is also necessary for you because you are supposed to spend some of your night time for preparing God’s messages.
If you, as a minister of God, follow the above principles during your ministry, you can expect God to perform great things in your ministry. God used Prophet Elisha to raise to life the dead son of the rich woman. Today, we cannot see great miracles during our gospel crusades or during our prophetic ministries because we are not content with the small chamber, the bed, the table, the chair and the lamp. Further, we are not holy enough so as to bear a testimony by the people of God around us who could testify, "this is a holy man of God who passes by".
We need the people of God like the rich woman who can discern the true servants of God in the Body of Christ. We also need the servants of God like Elisha who are known by their holiness. Prophet Elisha ministered to the rich woman personally. Today, we do not find the ministers of God do the ministries individually and personally to the people who approach the former for the ministry. Many servants of God appeal to the people of God who support their ministries for funds and prayers but do not take time to minister to them personally and individually. Prophet Elisha was available to the rich woman for the ministry. Initially, he sent his servant Gehazi to revive her dead son but in vain. But he went to her house and revived her son by laying on him (2 Kings. 4:32 - 37).
by Job Anbalagan