Validation: Blessing or Curse?

Just a short one today, as a kind of personal postscript to ‘Not Ministries, but Ministers“…

It’s no secret that I am not a trained theologian. I even include that fact at the bottom of my blog in case anyone might be tempted to think I was pretending to be something I’m not – which is probably daft, but important to me nonetheless. Over the decades of my Christian life God has used me in various ways – as a youth-leader, worship-leader, homegroup leader, assistant/ administrator for an itinerant minister, elder, assistant-pastor, church leader, ministry-leader, teacher, prophet, church-planter etc etc. And I received no official training for any of it (unless you count a two-week ‘Summer Bible School’ in the 1990s which I freely admit was a total blessing, but which most professional Pastors would agree was insufficient as training for ministry!)

Consequently, over the years I have periodically wrestled with whether I needed official training or not (mostly thinking of the Bible School type of training). Usually it begins because I am feeling like an imposter in whichever realm I am ministering, or because I feel out of my depth and assume those who have received ‘proper’ training would know better how to handle the situation. I have even considered whether I’m meant to skip the training but still need one of the ministers who knows me well to officially ‘commission’ me. But every time I get to this point God always says a very clear “no”. And when he says it I know it’s not because He doesn’t want me to minister – far from it. It’s just not for me. He has shared many reasons for this, but one of them is His repeated insistence that HE is leading me and He wants me to trust entirely in His ability to lead and equip, rather than seeking validation through the schemes of man.

Bible-school and ministry training are generally helpful and laudable for those who are led to it. I’m not against it at all. It’s just not essential to ministering Christ, as I shared yesterday. So every time I go round that particular mountain and get to the point of hearing God’s “No”, the bit of me that keeps emerging to crave the validation of man dies a bit more, and I set off again, a bit more free and a bit more surrendered to God’s will.

And as God and I were chatting this morning about various things, God brought it up in the middle of a conversation about something else. I am sharing His words here because what He said was so clear and helpful, I felt it would encourage others too, whether officially trained and recognised or not. He said,

“Keep looking to me and I will lead you. And remember, my purpose is not to publicly validate you – though that will happen and I am glad when it does. But your purpose and Mine must simply remain as the fulfilling of My will for My Kingdom. Validation is a blessing and a curse: if you focus on whether or not others receive or endorse you, you will be disappointed, for plenty will but many will not – humans are fallible and their validation is not to be trusted. However if you focus on knowing that I receive you in Christ, it will be all the validation you need. Keep your eyes fixed on Me and you will not stumble. Stay focused on obeying me so that together we can co-labour for the advancement of my Kingdom. Oh my beloved, how I love to co-labour with you – you are beautiful to me and have captured My heart. I am in you and with you always. You are Mine – accepted in the Beloved – and that is all you need”

So I just wanted to share that today because I know I am not the only person dealing with this, and it is something the Holy Spirit is really ministering into across the world right now. Whichever camp you are in – officially trained and qualified or not – I pray that whoever reads this today will be encouraged to seek their validation from God alone. For if he can use rocks to cry out praise or donkeys to speak his Word, He is not limited by our weakness. On the contrary – it reveals His strength!

“But God chose those whom the world considers foolish to shame those who think they are wise, and God chose the puny and powerless to shame the high and mighty”
I Cor 1:21 (TPT)