In all things

But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God:in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours  in sleeplessness, in fastings; by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love, by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, by honour and dishonour  by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. - 2 Corinthians 6:4-10

Paul certainly had a way with words. Yes, I understand that the Holy Spirit breathed His word into the hearts of the writers, but we still see their ideas and personalities and vocabularies and writing styles in their writing. 

I like Paul's style. Here he is making the point that we put ourselves forth as ministers of God no matter what we face. 

I am not going to go through the whole list, but the point is clear. In everything thing we face and in every situation we just keep serving God. Paul speaks of all kinds of opposition and difficulties. 

But he also speaks of how we do it:

By purity

By knowledge

By patience

By kindness

By the Holy Spirit

By a pure life

By the word of God

By the power of God

By the armour of righteousness

God empowers us to be faithful servants in every situation. I don't need to go back and point out what Paul had been through, just look at the passage again. He certainly was qualified to make the statement that he made. 

The key is that we can't make that claim unless we are applying the truths in the list above. We can commend ourselves as servants of God, but it is important that we do it right. Otherwise we are always liable to cause offence. 

There is a way to keep going no matter what. Here it is. Will we do it?