Tag: calling

We Are All Called to Be Laborers in the Field

John 14:12
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.

Most of us will never set foot on foreign soils in an effort to win souls. Nor will we step to a podium to stir a great revival. So what are these greater works that we will do when we believe in Jesus?

The answer is certainly different for each one of us as God has created each of us with a unique plan for our lives. In our own individual ways we will be called to be laborers in the field bringing light to the world of darkness around us. We may be called to be ushers, parking attendants, babysitters, etc. We may be called to serve the poor. We may be called to lead a bible study. Who knows, we may even be called to a ministry of healing and deliverance. But in all of the various ways that we are called, there will always be one element of our works that will be the same and that is the work of prayer.

Jesus was our role model is this regard. He never attempted any work without going to the Father first in prayer. Prayer was one of His greater works as He went to the Father to have His power and His purpose released. Now that Jesus is with the Father as Our Mediator, one could argue that prayer is the greatest work that we will do as we call on Jesus to go to the Father on our behalf.

Let us call on Jesus to go to the Father to have His power and His purpose for us released in our lives. Let us faithfully seek the greater works that the Lord has set aside for us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for making us vessels for Your perfect Light to be released in the darkness of the world around us. We bless the name of Jesus for showing us the way in which we should approach the purpose for our lives. We rejoice in knowing that we can share in Your good work by accessing through prayer the power and authority of Your Son. We pray, Father, that the greater works of the Son will be released in our lives as we seek You and surrender to Your plan for our lives through our prayers. We ask all these things in the name of the Strength of Our Lives, Jesus Christ.

Balancing the Call of God on Our Lives with Our Daily Responsibilities

John 19:26-27
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!”

The compassion that Jesus Christ has for us is beyond our understanding. His compassion goes beyond human capability. His compassion extends to a level that only He, as the Son of Man and the Son of God, can personify.

His remarkable compassion was fully revealed to us on the Cross. In His moments of agony and pain, as He was fulfilling all that He was called to do, as he was placed between thieves with soldiers gambling for His clothing, He called out to the Father, “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” In His compassion, He recognized the frailty of all men and extended His perfect love and forgiveness.

Then in the final moments before His death. He made sure that His mother was cared for. He took the time to model that even in our highest calling that we have day-to-day challenges in our lives that must be dealt with. Who but Jesus, could exhibit such personal compassion at the same time that He was taking on the sins of the world?

Let us be acutely aware of our obligations to our family as we undertake our callings as disciples of Jesus Christ. Let us seek the counsel of the Holy Spirit to help us properly prioritize our works as we deal with our spiritual calling from God and our responsibilities in our carnal world.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your compassionate understanding of our frailty in the flesh. We bless the name of Jesus who came and lived in the flesh so that we could see how to live both in our highest calling and in our day-to-day responsibilities of caring for our families, our loved ones and those placed around us. We pray that we will be forever mindful of Our Compassionate Savior as we go through the trials of our lives. May we extend the fullness of His compassion for us to the world. We ask all these things in the name of the fount of all compassion and mercy, Jesus Christ.

God Loves to Use His Children to Accomplish His Good Works

Esther 4:14
For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish.

God had a unique will and plan for Esther’s life. He wanted her to be the instrument that He used to deliver His people. He wanted her to know that He would bring favor for His people through her efforts. But God would not make the choice for Esther, she had to make her own choice to follow His instruction. If she did not follow His will, God made it known that He would find someone else who would be the instrument of delivering His people.

God was very clear in conveying the options to Esther. What He did not say to her was, “Thanks, I could not do this without you.” God can accomplish His plans without any help from us. If we are not obedient in doing the things that He asks us to do, the loss is not His. He will find a replacement to do His good work because He loves to use His children to accomplish His work. It brings Him great pleasure and glory.

But if we are not obedient to the things that He asks us to do, it is our loss. The work that we do for the Lord is more about our sanctification process than the results of our work. Who we are in Christ is defined by our obedience to His calling.

Let us ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us how we can fulfill God’s will and plan for our lives. Let us seek to join the Lord in His good work.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the privilege of serving You on this earth. We rejoice in knowing that we bring You great pleasure and glory when we do Your good work. We pray, Father, that You will open our eyes so that we may see the ways in which You are calling us to serve You. We pray, Lord, that You will prepare our hearts to surrender to Your will for our lives. May all that we do be for Your pleasure and Your glory. We ask all these things in the name of the Great King Over All the Earth, Jesus Christ.

Focusing on God is Critical to Releasing the Fruit of Our Vision

Exodus 2:11
One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people.

Moses had a calling on his life and he knew it. He just did not know how to handle it. Although he was tuned in to his calling, he was not spiritually prepared yet to handle the assignment. God took Moses through 40 years in the wilderness to prepare him for his God-appointed place among the Israelites.

We are all called to lead our families spiritually. We are all called to lead others spiritually in some manner. When the fullness of the calling hits, we soon realize how ill equipped we are for the work and how ill prepared those around us are to receive us. We have the vision and a limited understanding of what needs to be done. But like Moses, we feel like we have been left out in the wilderness. It seems as if God is ignoring us.

In actuality, the opposite is true. God is fully and perfectly engaged in our lives. His plan is to discipline us so that we are focused on Him and not on our vision. When our focus is corrected, the fruit of the vision is released for the harvest.

Let us tune into the vision that God has for our lives. Let us surrender to His work as He prepares us for our work. Let us confidently wait on the perfect time in which He will release the fullness of His blessing into our lives.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your perfectly patient hand in our lives. We thank You for taking us through our wilderness experiences in order to draw us closer to You. We bless the name of Jesus who carries us through our discouragement. We praise His Holy Name as He releases the fruit of our lives when we are mature enough in our relationship with Him to handle the harvest. We ask all these things in the name of the Lord Over All, Jesus Christ.

The Favor God Pours Upon Us When We Answer His Call

Acts 9:6
But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.

Paul’s writings provide the foundational truths upon which our faith in Jesus Christ is built. But as great as Paul’s writings were, his living testimony may have provided even more valuable teachings to those who are seeking to be disciples of Our Savior.

In Acts, we read that before Paul was given any specific spiritual task to accomplish, he was simply asked to “rise and enter the city.” If Paul had failed to be obedient in following this simple command, we would not have all the writings of Paul in the Bible. Some other obedient man would be there in his place. But Paul was obedient in this first dramatic calling and to all the others that the Lord issued to Him, so he became one of the greatest men in all of the Bible. His teachings have been a blessing to generations of people throughout the ages. His legacy continues to live on today.

The other thing that we learn about Paul is that he never sought the favor he received. He only sought the one who called Him. So it is with us. We will receive favor from the Lord, not because we seek favor but because we seek Him.

Let us be mindful of Paul’s example. Let us seek the Lord first. Let us be obedient to His calling on our lives. Let us rejoice in how he uses us. Let us celebrate the favor that He pours upon us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for calling us to Yourself. We seek You, Lord. We humbly come before You and ask forgiveness for all the times that we have fallen short in our obedience to You. We pray that You will strike us down like You did Paul, so that we may see how we have offended You and so that we may turn our lives toward the path that You direct us. May the Holy Spirit guide us, inspire us and provide our strength to overcome the torments of our flesh and the attacks of the enemy. May we learn to be slaves to Jesus Christ and not slaves to this world. May Your grace be with us always. We ask all these things in the name of Our Lord, Our Master and Our King, Jesus Christ.

Let Us Not Be Fearful in Any Battle We Are Facing

Psalm 27:1
The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Many of the Psalms were written by David. David was proclaimed by God to be “a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do”. Because David proved himself to be obedient to the Lord’s calling on his life, sought God in all things and trusted God in all things, God made him king of Israel.

The first we read about David, we see him as a young man who believed God would give him victory over the giant, Goliath, when everyone else cowered in the face of the giant. The men of the day tried to provide David with their armor to fight the giant. David refused. He knew he only needed God on his side.

The same God that helped David slay Goliath is the God that helps us to slay the giants in our lives. The giants in our lives are not named Goliath. They are named such things as addiction, fear, worry, depression, confusion, manipulation, control, bitterness and anger. We do not need to turn to the world to defeat our giants. We only need to go to Our Heavenly Father in the name of His Son, Jesus.

Let us not be fearful in any battle that we are fighting. Just as David did, we can go to the Father to be perfectly prepared for the battle. Let us confidently proclaim victory against whatever giant or giants we are facing. Our ultimate victory has already been set aside for us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for giving us Your Son, whose death on the Cross gave us victory over all things. We exalt the name of Our Savior King who opened the gateway to heaven for us. We are so grateful that Jesus stands beside us as we face our giants. We pray that the Holy Spirit will teach us to trust in You, Lord, just as David trusted in You. We ask all these things in the name of Our Lord Mighty in Battle, Jesus Christ.

Becoming Ready Instruments to Share the Love of God

Luke 9:61
Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.”

In the final passage in Luke 9, there are a number of verses which point out the costs of following Jesus. In essence, each cost mentioned really applies to the type of excuses we will come up with to delay following what the Lord is calling us to do.

One of the most common excuses for many of us is “I am not capable or I am not ready to take on such a task.” There is a faith gap that prevents us from believing that we can do what the Lord is asking of us. We question the calling because it goes against our natural instincts.

Other common excuses seem to come from our friends and our family. The world is eager to step in and divert us from any calling of the Lord. It is remarkable how quickly those around us can cause us to step away from what God has ordained for us.

When we finally move forward with what God has asked us to do, we find out it never was about our ability nor about our worldly affairs. It was about our faith in God. When God calls us to do anything, large or small, we should leap into action with confidence in the One who called us. It is through Him that the good work is done. We are only instruments of His love.

Let us block out the questioning of those around us. Let us shield ourselves from the attacks of the enemy. Let us step out in faith upon the path of service that the Lord has prepared for us for He has already secured our way.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for choosing us to be instruments of Your good work. We rejoice in knowing that we can share Your love with the world around us in so many different and powerful ways. We pray that You open our eyes and prepare our hearts so that we do not delay any good work that You have set aside for us. We ask all these things in the name of the One that determines our steps, Jesus Christ.

Seeking and Obeying the Counsel of the Holy Spirit

2 Peter 1:3
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

God sets the vision for our lives and puts everything in place for us to fulfill the plan. He provides His Holy Spirit to stand by us, to guide us and to instruct us in the person, the grace and the righteousness that is Jesus Christ. There is absolutely nothing in this world that can stop us from meeting the plans that Almighty God has set aside for us.

We must, however, take all the small steps needed to move from one place to the next higher place that God has planned for us. We must be obedient to the urgings of the Holy Spirit as we overcome the callings of our flesh. We must allow the Holy Spirit to move us from a knowledge of Our Savior into a meaningful relationship with Him.

Along the way, Satan will challenge each and every step. And once we really start making progress, Satan will turn his evil on those around us, especially those close to us. Built up by our faith and strengthened by the Holy Spirit, we will overcome. As we surrender to the whispers of Our Helper, our tiny steps of obedience will take us to our special calling and allow us to live godly lives through the One who has called us.

Let us make the Lord, Jesus Christ, first in our lives. Let us learn to seek His counsel in all things. May the voice of His Holy Spirit drown out all the noise that the world sends to keep us from our manifest destiny in Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your promise to complete Your good work in our lives. Thank You for the faith that You provide us through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We pray that You will help us to build a relationship with Your Son and His Holy Spirit who has been sent to be Our Helper. Help us to become tuned in to every tiny whisper from the Holy Spirit that reminds us of Your promises and guides us in faith on our journey of sanctification. We ask all these things in the name of the Anointed One, Jesus Christ.

Sharing the Power of the Cross

1 Corinthians 1:17
For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Paul served the emerging church in a number of ways, but he understood that God had called him and equipped him specifically to preach the Good News through the power of the Cross. Paul teaches us that, as we serve our churches and communities, it is important that we rely on the Holy Spirit to help us to find out what God is specifically calling us to do in service to His Kingdom. We need to discover how we can share the power of the Cross in the world around us.

As we discover our role in God’s kingdom on earth, we should be aware of several important aspects of our calling.

  • No role is too big, nor is any role too small, when we are doing what Our Creator called us to do.
  • When we find our calling, we will recognize it because we will have the same passion for our calling that Paul had for his calling.
  • The fruit that we bear in our calling will be the result of the supernatural work of God released through the Cross. The fruit will not be attributable to us.

Paul made it clear to his audience that the redemptive power of the Cross did not rely on anything that he did, nor would it rely on anything that they did or said. We learn from Paul that it is not our enticing words or the strength of our presentation that wins hearts. We are simply vessels of the divine truth of God’s mercy on all of us. We should never consider ourselves to be the reason that a soul came to Christ. The redemptive process is totally reliant on the supernatural work of Jesus Christ on the Cross.

Let us serve from the foot of the Cross. Let us guard against taking any credit for the salvation of another. Let us rejoice in the power of the supernatural, redemptive work of the Cross. Let us give all the glory to God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You equip us to do Your work. We praise You for allowing us to participate in the work of redemption made possible by the sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus. We pray, Lord, that You will open our eyes so that we can see the unique ways that You have endowed us to serve You. We pray that Your Holy Spirit will prepare our hearts so that we may serve You as humble vessels of Your divine, redemptive power. We pray all these things in the name of Our Lord of the Cross, Jesus Christ.

Finding Our Calling As a Servant of Jesus Christ

Romans 1:1
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,

In one simple statement, Paul points out three revealing things about himself. It is important to understand that these three things apply to all Christians:

1. We are called to be servants of Jesus Christ.
2. We are all called to some specific purpose for which God created us.
3. We are all separated unto the gospel of God.

When studying the original writings, it is suggested that the word that was used for servant was actually quite a bit stronger. It was rendered in the original text as “bond servant” which means someone who is subject to the will and wholly at the disposal of another. Thus, we are called not only as servants to Jesus Christ, but as bond servants to Our King.

As His bond servants, each of us are called to a specific purpose in service to His kingdom. But according to His will, we are also “separated unto the gospel of God.” We must realize that the redemption that we have received through the grace and mercy of Almighty God has separated us from who we were. We are now righteous because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on our behalf. We are proclaimers of the Good News through our spoken words and our living testimony.

Let us strive to find our calling in Christ. Let us ask the Lord to reveal to us how He wishes to use us to proclaim His Gospel and to serve in His kingdom. Let us surrender to His will.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for separating us from the world through the sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus. We bless His name for the blood that He shed so that we could live in the spirit and not in the flesh. We pray, Father, for the grace to abandon our old lives. We ask that You help us to understand the fullness of the redemption that You have provided us through Your Son. We beseech You to give us the courage and the strength to proclaim Your Good News to those that you have placed in our lives. May the world see that we have been separated unto You, Lord, and that we are living as bond servants to You. We ask all these things in the name of our Blessed Hope and Assurance, Jesus Christ.