“So let him who seems to himself to be safe go in fear of a fall.”1 Cor. 10:12 (BBE) THE composer of the song Christian seek not Repose surely had seen beyond while the Lord

through his Spirit inspired him to pen down the wordings of the song. The song though written many centuries ago still speaks volume especially in this generation when men of God are really falling at the battle front. If asked what his views were when writing down the wordings of the song, I believe those things that were disturbing him then must have now become a norm and even worse things now happen in Christian ministries. This is because many who think they are standing are really not firm enough to withstand the shakings from the devil in their days of trials. Little wonder, Apostle Paul while writing the Church at Corinth says, “.....Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” (1 Cor.10:12)

The work of the ministry is a serious battle because we are in the business of bringing souls from the kingdom of darkness to the marvelous light of God. We are engaged in a serious warfare with the kingdom of darkness that would not in any way be ready to let go of their victims. This is well known to our Lord who called and sent us out as sheep among wolves.(Mt. 10:16, Luke 10:3) We have been sent out to deliver them from the mouth of the wolves who themselves are willing to devour us “but thanks to God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 15:57) This understanding of spiritual warfare made Apostle Paul to remind us as Christian ministers of the need to be on our guard so that the warrior does not eventually become a victim. In his warning to the Corinthian church (1 Cor. 10:12), the text reminds us that it is possible for whosoever is standing to fall if care is not taken, little wonder there are casualties in the ministries today.

The objective of this article is to challenge ministers of the gospel on the need to be watchful in their day to day ministerial assignments in order not to become  victims. It is aimed at challenging ministers to face their God given  ministry with all carefulness, focusing on the end from the beginning in order not to lose sight of the great reward put in place for us.

(Hebrews 12:1-2) The first thing to be observed here is the fact that Christian warriors after momentary ease lose focus of their being at the battle. The period of ease is always dangerous, for at such time costly mistakes are made which on many occasions are irreparable. God therefore speaking through his prophet of old said, “Woe to them that are at ease in Zion,...”

(Amos 6:1) But why? This is simply because Zion is never a place for one to be at ease and in the same vein, the Christian race does not allow for complacency in any way because our enemy is seriously pursuing  (1 Peter 5:8). This ignorance of the time of ease has led many great men of God to shipwreck their faith and bury great ministries.

Understanding the fact that we are everyday at the battle strategising in order to snatch souls from the clutches of the devil must awaken our understanding to the fact that the devil, our archenemy, is not just watching us snatching his prey away from him. The devil as well is seriously strategising to pull us down through whatever means. The pathetic thing is that while our enemy sees us daily at the battle, the one we are fighting against is not seen physically, being a spiritual being.

How do we go about the battle unharmed? On this note, the word of God demands that we guard ourselves with the whole armour of God on all side in order to quench every arrow of the evil one, whenever it strikes. (Eph. 6:11).

Samson was a great man in his days. He was highly anointed and did great wonders in his time but only for the fact that he did not put on the whole armour of God. He could not control himself and the enemies struck at him and he fell down becoming a victim instead of a victor. When a victor turns victim, the enemies laugh him to scorn and make jest of him.

When one becomes victim, he/she may find it difficult to rise up from the shame and as a result terminate his/her ministries and that exactly is the mind ofthe enemy. It is on this note that every vessel in the hand of God must make up his mind never to be a casualty in this race but a victor no matter the challenges on the way. Samson died in shame; nothing was heard of Gehazi’s and Demas’ ministries after sliding back into the world.

Beloved man of God, what then is the way out? How does one guide against becoming a casualty in the ministry? What are the things to guide against and to pursue? I shall discuss this in another piece.

Pastor Odejayi, John O. is the Pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church, Odo-Ona, Ibadan, Oyo State, (Nigeria) under the Nigerian Baptist Convention. (08054066010, 08138596344) E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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