Tag Archives: gods calling on my life

October 11, 2022 · 5:54 AM

Preparation For The Promise

I was talking with someone recently who wanted my opinion. I could tell they were a little worried when they told me that they feared God’s calling was no longer on their life because they hadn’t accomplished it yet. As they shared their calling with me and the things they were going through, it was clear to me that they were in a time of preparation. They pushed back a little saying they were getting too old to accomplish it. I reminded them of Caleb who entered the Promised Land as an older person full of wisdom and strength. He fulfilled his calling despite the years of waiting in the wilderness.

I then pointed to David. He was a young shepherd who received his calling to be king. He didn’t get taken to the throne right after he was anointed. Instead, he continued watching sheep, fought a giant and even lived life on the run before he became king. He waited over 15 years before he became king. God didn’t take away his calling even when he sinned. God uses our past to connect with others or to position us for His purpose the way He did with Joseph. His brothers sold him as a slave. He was falsely accused of a crime and placed in jail where he thought he was forgotten and God’s calling was over. Instead, he was being prepared and positioned to lead an entire country and save millions.

Romans 11:29 says, “For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn” (NLT). There is nothing you can do to revoke God’s calling. You’re not that powerful. There’s no circumstance that can take you away from it, and periods of inactivity are not a way to measure it. God works everything out for your good because you are called to His purposes. Don’t listen to the lie that He’s moved on and chosen someone else. Submit to the preparation, open your heart to understand and your eyes to see. God is still moving on your behalf. Some preparation takes longer than others. God knows what He’s doing. Trust Him and in the calling He gave you. Don’t get caught up looking at the present when He’s promised something in the future. His promises are yes and amen. That means they’re guaranteed through Jesus.

Photo by Zach Vessels on Unsplash

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September 5, 2022 · 5:47 AM

The Least Obvious

Years ago I hired the most unlikely candidate for the position I had open. Everyone else walked through my office door with a suit on, a resume in hand and a plan of action. He walked in empty handed wearing some slacks and a button down. Everyone else sat up straight, looked me in the eye and gave confident answers. This gentleman sat with his knees wide open, with his head resting on his hand and elbow on his knee. I don’t think he looked me in the eye once. When it came time to hire, i couldn’t get him off my mind. He had the wrong appearance, but he had the right attitude and answers. The things he lacked were easily coachable. I hired him and years later he went on to be very successful in the company.

Jesus didn’t pick the obvious choices either to be His disciples. Instead of going into the Temple to find disciples, He went into the villages. Instead of looking for the most educated, He chose the least educated. Instead of choosing the religious people, He chose some blue collar guys and a couple of societal outcasts. His choices made people questions His Messiahship. Jesus, like His Heavenly Father, was looking at the intangibles. He was looking at the heart of people. It turns out that the disciples He chose turned the world upside down with His message and even gave their lives for Him. I’m not sure that would have happened if He went with the obvious choices.

2 Thessalonians 1:11 says, “So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do” (NLT). God has chosen and called you, yes YOU! You may feel unqualified and unable to do anything for Him, but He sees beyond our inabilities and insecurities. He looks into our heart and gives us the ability to step into our calling. The time for excuses is over. The time for stalling is done. He is the one who makes you worthy of your calling even if you feel like the least likely choice for it. He has a history of changing lives, and the world, with the least obvious people. You are empowered and commissioned. Step into it by faith and He will give you the strength to do all He prompts you to do.

Photo by Simeon Lesley on Unsplash

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July 31, 2017 · 5:30 AM

Revoking God’s Calling


Many years ago, I went through a divorce. Along with all of the other baggage that comes with it, I struggled with its affect on God’s call on my life. I had been raised in a denomination that did not allow people who were divorced to minister. As the reality of my divorce set in, so did the reality that I would never be able to minister to others. I was devastated all over again. I had felt the call of God on my life since I was young, and now I felt like I couldn’t fulfill it. 

As I was lamenting to a friend about it, he gave me one of those verbal, snap out of it slaps across the face. He said, “Do you really think that you can do anything to revoke the call of God on your life? Who has more authority, man or God?” The more I thought about it, the more I realized he was right. Man does not have the authority or ability to revoke God’s call, yet our enemy lies to us to make us ineffective. 

I believe this was something the apostle Paul struggled with. I’m sure the enemy tormented him with thoughts like, “How can you be a minister when you’ve murdered so many Christians?” I believe the churches also must have struggled with it because he had to bring it up in a lot of his letters. In Galatians 1:15 he reminded them, “But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace” (NLT). Even his years of persecuting the Church couldn’t revoke God’s calling.

If Paul’s murders and persecution of the Church couldn’t revoke God’s call on his life, then nothing you or I have done has revoked it on ours. If you’ve been believing the lie that your past sin or circumstances have prevented you from fulfilling your calling, today is your day of freedom. Before you were born, God called you and there’s nothing you or anyone else can do to revoke it. If you’re in sin, repent and fulfill your calling. If you’re a Christian, but haven’t been walking in your calling because of your past, today’s your day to start walking in it. 

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April 11, 2016 · 5:55 AM

Wait Patiently

  
Have you ever felt like you were meant for more than you’re doing right now? Does it feel like God has been ignoring you or isn’t keeping His promise to you? It’s hard to wait for God to put you where He promised to place you. It’s even more difficult to feel stuck in the mundane when you know there’s more to what God has promised to do in your life. So what do you do? Will you give up on your calling? Will you try to force your way into it by making things happen yourself? Or will you wait patiently?

When I think of giving up on my calling, I’m reminded of the Prodigal Son. He was tired of waiting for his inheritance. He didn’t think the day would come when he could be in charge of his father’s household. So he did the unthinkable. He asked for his inheritance and decided to show his father he was capable on his own. After he squandered his inheritance, he had too much pride to go to his father to admit he wasn’t ready. After a lot of time slopping hogs and living destitute, he made his way back to his father’s house.

When I think of trying to force my way into my calling, I think of Abraham. God had called him to be the father of many nations with descendants as numerous as the stars. After 25 years, he gave up and decided that he would fulfill it himself. He took his wife’s maid and got her pregnant. God revisited him to remind him the promise was going to come through his wife. Because he rushed things, he created an Achilles Heel for his descendants that remains to this day.

When I think of waiting patiently, I think of David. God called him to be king while he was tending sheep. David understood that he wasn’t ready to fulfill his calling even though he had been called. He looked at where he was and saw that God could use his current situation to help him be better at his calling. Even though the fulfillment of his calling was many years later, he stayed faithful where he was until the right time came.

Each of us have one of these three choices in our lives. I personally believe God is getting us ready for our calling in the mundane. Psalm 78:70-72 says, “He chose his servant David; he took him from the pastures, where he looked after his flocks, and he made him king of Israel, the shepherd of the people of God. David took care of them with unselfish devotion and led them with skill” (GNT). The skills David learned while watching sheep gave him the skill to be the best at his calling. What skills are you learning now that will help to fulfill yours? The right choice is to wait patiently for God to move. Just keep tending sheep in the mean time.

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