Lifting the Load of Ministry Off Your Leader’s Shoulder  - Part IV
Guarding Against Frustration
by Dr. John Tetsola

Last month we saw how the frustration of ministry caused Elijah to abandon his assignment. Elijah retreated so far from ministry that death was his foremost option. Frustration, if not properly dealt with, can be used by the enemy to sabotage your destiny. It is one thing to feel frustrated. But it’s a whole different ball game when you allow this negative emotion to escalate into a full blown response that removes you from destiny and purpose.

All the Israelites grumbled and deplored their situation, accusing Moses and Aaron, to whom the whole congregation said, Would that we had died in Egypt! Or that we had died in this wilderness! 

Tell them, As I live, says the Lord, what you have said in My hearing I will do to you:

Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness…

Numbers 14:2, 28-29b AMP

The Hebrew word for frustration is “parar” which means to disappoint. The Greek word is “atheteo” which means to despise, reject, and to bring to nothing. Frustration is an intense state of feeling created by an occurrence that causes one to relinquish the very dream of God for their lives. It sabotages your ministry and brings it to nothing. Frustration caused Israel to forfeit their promise. Their unbridled emotions produced a negative response, and they died in the wilderness. Frustration is the pressure asserted by the enemy against the believer’s attempt to accomplish the fullness of his assignment. It kills the dream of God for your life and creates a desire for an alternative pursuit. For a split second, even Jesus looked for an alternative route that was completely different from the way the Father ordained. But Jesus pressed into the place of accomplishment by exchanging His will for the Father’s. He pressed past the pain and saw the end result of His endurance, “...for the joy that was set before Him He endured the cross” (Heb. 12:2).

Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me [ceased from fretting].

Psalm 131:2 AMP

David gained the mastery of his soul. He said his soul was like that of a weaned child who endured the weaning process. A child must be weaned off of milk before it can be introduced to solid food. The weaning process leaves a child feeling totally undone and completely frustrated because breast milk is all the child knows, and now it’s being taken away. Regardless of how much the child whines, the weaning process must be endured in order for the child to be introduced to solid food. Similarly, we must weather frustrations and endure disappointments. David said, “I have calmed and quieted my soul.” God doesn’t do this for you. You must quiet your soul and allow frustration to introduce you to new levels of God’s grace and divine strategies. Frustration has a voice, but don’t allow it to speak for you. Wrong speech cost Israel the Promised Land, and left Elijah in the realm of unfinished projects. The soul speaks from where it is, but the spirit speaks from where you should be. Speak out of your spirit and develop enough staying power to push past the emotion of frustration.