God’s Calling
In Matthew 11 Jesus asked, “To what then shall I compare this generation, and what are they like? We played the flute and you didn’t dance, we played a funeral dirge and you didn’t mourn. You don’t understand because you have no passion and no compassion. How then, can I explain to you the things of heaven?”
He said to Nicodemus, “you call yourself a master and a teacher of Israel and yet you don’t understand the things of the spirit and of faith?”
Every winning team must master the basics and do them consistently. The fundamentals of the faith are the things that really matter. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. We’ve got to follow through on our basic assignment according to Colossians 3:2: Set your affections on things above, not on things of the world. 2 Timothy 2:4 says, “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”
Casual and apathetic are words that characterize men of this world. Apathetic is not caring about the things that matter. The greatest danger is not that you’ll fail in something that matters but that you’ll succeed in something that doesn’t matter. Men of God do not fall from fellowship deliberately… they just gradually stop showing up. Success is not what the world calls success.. Rather, success is according to God’s terms. Success is mostly showing up for God’s assignments… to be available and open to his calling. Availability is availing myself of his ability. Disappointment is the result of missing our divine appointments. Disappointment is “disrespecting God” by failing to meet with him at his appointed time. Every moment in life is an appointment with God. Life becomes difficult when apathetic men make wrong choices because they chose not to meet with God. Influence begins with influencing my own mind… grabbing hold of the reins of my own mind to hold every thought captive to Christ.
In 2 Thes 1: 11-12, We are called to encourage each other unto words and good deeds to God’s glory. According to 1 Peter 2:9, We have each been called by God, who through Christ, has made us worthy of our calling to be a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people that we should show forth the praises of him who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light… However, the natural man is one who looks in the mirror and forgets who he is. How do we walk worthy of our calling? We having received his holy spirit, glory not in ourselves, but in him who has called us to be his servant. Lordship means to make myself a slave to my Lord Jesus Christ… to make his heart’s desire my heart’s desire and to make his will my will. For it is God which worketh in you to will and to do of his good pleasure.
God is involved with every aspect of our lives… he cares about the little things. He cares that we master the fundamentals. Not my will but thine be done. It’s not what you know but rather who you know. Lordship is wanting what he wants. Delight thyself in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Never seek a ministry and never seek to be useful to God. Rather, seek God himself and then he will work in you to will and to do of his good pleasure when your good pleasure is his good pleasure. Our desire is to hunger and thirst for his righteousness in the spirit… to seek his fervor for the Word of God and to do his will. I found thy words and I did eat them and they were unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.
Spiritual power cannot be separated from faith. The work of faith is energized by the power of the holy spirit when we walk according to his will. God has chosen men who are weak in this world so that his power can work within them… thy power is made manifest in my weakness.
The body of Christ is a family and not a business. Policy should never take precedence over caring for the flock of God over which he has called you to be an overseer. A calling to minister cannot be fear based. Rather, it must be faith based and faith works by love. It’s counter intuitive to call the poor men to pray but this is exactly what God calls his men to do. We rely not on the riches of men but on faith that God is faithful to provide… not that we are sufficient in ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.
According to 2 Corinthians 5: 20-21, God has called us to fulfill our calling to be an ambassador for Christ. He has committed unto us the word of reconciliation and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. To reconcile is to bring back to God, those who have been separated beginning with our own minds. Therefore, we pray you in Christ’s stead be ye reconciled to God. This is the fundamental message that he has called us to deliver and to master: For he who knew no sin became the perfect sin sacrifice on our behalf, that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him…
In other words, our calling is this: Give ’em heaven!
May God richly bless you,
Your brother in Christ,
Michael