When People Turn Away

When people turn away – part 1

2 Timothy 1:15” You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.

2 Timothy 1: 16 - The Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains;

17 but when he was in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me--

People whom you think would come with you would not show up one day! Caveat! We got to have our hearts strengthened and you need to have the fortitude to move on without ‘such people’ who were with you 24/7. Somebody needs to be encouraged today! Do not completely trust someone and expect them to go with you where you are going, one day they would drop off, now hang on, this was the Lord’s doing. Amen. Are you listening?

At this point in time, Paul was a prisoner at Rome, Nero was the emperor, he was a brutal, wicked, abhorrent, immoral, sadistic man. Nero did not just kill Christians, he wanted to make them suffer first, Paul’s supporters abandoned him out of fear. During the time, when Paul needed support, encouragement, love and hugs, people just deserted him, this pain is deep. Jesus also went through the same pain when His disciples fled the scene of cross. Not everybody would come with you to carry your burden; however, God expects you to be strong, bold, confident and accomplish the mission.

The words that moved me to tears were “all who are in Asia turned away from me,” this must have hurt Paul very badly. He specifically mentions a couple of them, ‘among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes’. Paul prayed for them, preached to them, was a mother and father for them, encouraged them and invested a lot in their lives; yet, they just vanished. Do you have this experience in your life? When people leave the church, it affects the whole church, read 1 Corinthians 12:26 tells us that " And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it…’ People who move like a family for several years, suddenly leave the church without even a word and they leave for silly reasons. Church for many is like a grocery store, they don’t like ‘one’ item, then they just go to the other shop where they can get what they want. This affects the leader as you see in the above scripture, so pray for unity in the church, prayer groups, homes and in all Christian ministry.

.Let us look at the next portion of the scripture: 2 Timothy 1: 16 - The Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains;

17 but when he was in Rome, he eagerly searched for me and found me--

Onesiphorus–part 2

We already saw above, that Paul was a prisoner in Rome, when he spoke the above scripture, the emperor of Rome was Nero a sadistic man ruling during that time, who enjoyed watching the Christians suffer; however, during this dangerous season, God sent a man called Onesiphorus who ‘refreshed’ Paul. Say Hallelujah! Onesiphorus ‘searched ‘for Paul and helped him despite the risk of being arrested and killed too. We need such audacious supporters for the Kingdom of God rather than cowards who run away from you. Also remember God would never forget you when you help His servants, Paul prayed, ‘Lord grant mercy to the house of Onesiphorus’, the entire house would receive blessings for the sake of Paul. Say Amen.

God will not forget you, the efforts you have put for His sake, your passion and your sufferings. He would send His messenger to comfort you, say Amen. I write this series titled ‘when people leave you’, to make you see the sufferings in Christian ministry and pray for the servants of God. We need to pray for the city where we live and also pray for all the people surrounding us, read: Jeremiah 29:7 'Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare.'

Intercede for others: We should also pray for all Christian ministers serving in Countries where Christians are persecuted and also serving in areas where there is heavy opposition. We do not have freedom to preach the Gospel in the area where we run our church and school in Hyderabad, getting a place for rent to run a church is impossible; twice people sent a written complaint about us to the police; nevertheless, God has protected us thus far. Rather than just praying for your own needs, stretch your prayer and uphold the work of God on the whole.