EFFORT AND FAITH IN MINISTRY
I am your friend, Dr. Charles Apoki. One morning, around 4:30 a.m., my wife reminded me that this was the time I used to wake up and set out to preach at Aba. I would usually wake up at 4:30 and leave shortly after, as I anticipated that it would take me about three to four hours to reach Aba. I needed to be there to preach by 8 or 9 a.m. In fact, there were times I arrived in Aba before the church members did.
I would drive alone in the vehicle—thankfully, there were no kidnappings as there are today, and the roads were much better, even though they were single lanes. When you’re driving at that time of night, everything you see looks mysterious, terrible, and frightening. So, what I usually did was follow a large truck and use it as my guidepost. I would preach and return the same Sunday because I needed to resume work at my school on Monday.
Occasionally, I was the bus driver, transporting children from the surrounding villages to school. When people came to my school, they would touch the wall and say, “I tap into the grace.” No, don’t just tap into the grace—tap into the effort and the strategies. When you don’t have many opportunities in life, you need to put in more effort to reach your goals.
When Ruth went to glean in the field of Boaz, she worked without resting because she was gathering remnants. She needed to work harder and cover a larger area to collect enough to feed herself. She did that and gathered up to 13 ephahs of grain. When Boaz heard her report, he deliberately instructed his servants to intentionally leave some grain on the ground for her.
Listen carefully: you can’t lie on your bed, rely on a prophecy from a man of God, and expect your life to change. You can’t lie there because you sowed a seed, acted as an usher, or did one thing, and then expect your life to change. I was serving God with all my strength at that time, spending my money on missionary work in rural parts of Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, and various parts of Africa. But for my personal business, I needed to put in enough effort.
That morning, I wasn’t getting up early to go and preach. When I got up from this room, I went to the next room because she was doing a lot of activities there and slept a little bit more on my phone until about 9:00.
Pay the price now that you are young so that you can win the prize when you are old. Pay now so that you can play later. I see a lot of young people in church and society depending on successful people to make their lives better without putting in enough effort. Please learn to bear the yoke while you are young. That’s my lesson for you.
I remain your friend, Dr. Charles Apoki
