What are You Called to Do?

Jeremiah 1:4-5 ESV

 

“Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

 

‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

and before you were born I consecrated you;

I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’”

 

We read in Psalms 139 that God, our creator – which includes Jesus Christ – formed us in the wombs of our mothers, and that in his book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for us, when as yet there were none of them. And we read in other passages (noted below) that God foreknew us, who are his by faith in Christ, and that those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ.

 

And we who are believing in Jesus have been called of God to a holy calling, and he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. So we are to be holy in all our conduct. And we are all gifted of the Holy Spirit with various spiritual gifts, and the Spirit apportions these gifts to each one individually as He wills. And we read also that God arranged the members of the body, each one of them, as he chose.

 

And then we read here in Jeremiah 1 of God’s calling on Jeremiah’s life, which was God’s calling on his life even from before he was born. And he was appointed of God to a very specific task (assignment). So, if we are in genuine relationship with Jesus Christ, by God’s grace, through God-given faith in Jesus, we are all called of God, not just to holy living, and not just to be like Jesus, but to very specific areas of ministry he has planned for us.

 

[Ps 139:13-16; Rom 8:29; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Eph 1:3-4; 1 Pet 1:14-16; 1 Co 12]

 

Jeremiah 1:6-8 ESV

 

“Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.’ But the Lord said to me,

 

‘Do not say, “I am only a youth”;

for to all to whom I send you, you shall go,

and whatever I command you, you shall speak.

Do not be afraid of them,

for I am with you to deliver you,

declares the Lord.’”

 

But you know what? God doesn’t call us because of our qualifications and because we are so good at whatever. He calls us because of his own purpose and design he has had for our lives from even before the creation of the world. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10; c.f. Titus 2:11-14). And he is the one who equips and empowers us.

 

And he may call us to something we had never even thought of before, and that we have no official training for, and that there is no way that we, in ourselves, could ever do what he has assigned us to do. And so he is the one to get the glory, and not ourselves, because we can’t even do what he has called us to do unless he is the one directing our path and equipping us and empowering us to do what he has called us to do. And we know it!

 

So, if you sense that the Lord is leading you to a particular ministry, and you are feeling overwhelmed at the thought of it all, and so you are at least thinking in your mind, “No Way!”, then please surrender your will to the will of God and let him show you that it won’t be you doing it, but that he will be doing it through you as you cooperate with him in his work, and as you obey him. And just know, too, that if he is calling you it won’t be to something that is in direct opposition to his divine character and will for our lives.

 

The other thing to know is that the Lord may call us to do something that is not in our comfort zone at all, and it would not be our choosing, if we were the ones deciding what ministry to do. God may take you totally out of your comfort zone and have you do things you would never have imagined you would ever be doing, but they will still be in agreement with the Scriptures. But we are not to fear the unknown or the unfamiliar. So trust Him!

 

Jeremiah 1:9-10 ESV

 

“Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me,

 

‘Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.

See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms,

to pluck up and to break down,

to destroy and to overthrow,

to build and to plant.’”

 

Again, where God calls he will provide everything that we need in order to do what he has called us to do. But be prepared that following in the ways of the Lord, in doing what he has called us to do, will most certainly be met with opposition of some kind from some people, especially if our calling is to refute the lies of the enemy of our souls and to proclaim the truth of God’s word in contrast to those lies, and if we are called to call people to repentance and obedience, and to warn against non-compliance with God.

 

For having such a calling as this is not going to make us most popular among our peers, and we are just not going to have a ton of people wanting to hang out with us and to be our best buddies. And if we are on the internet on blog sites or on social media or on Christian discussion sites, our posts are not likely to get the most likes or responses, either, and that is absolutely okay, for we aren’t doing it for people to like us.

 

Yet, all of us are called of God to share the gospel of Christ with the people of the world. So we all need to trust our lives into God’s capable hands and we need to trust in his sovereignty over our lives. And we all need to commit our ways to him and to let him lead us in what to do and in what to say and to whom and when and where. For this is not something we should attempt to do in our own flesh. This needs to be led of the Spirit of God.

 

But whatever our calling of God may be, we all still are called to holy living and to walks of righteousness and in obedience to our Lord, and Jesus promised all of us that if we follow him with our lives that we will be hated and persecuted as he was hated and persecuted. So we need to know that this is what we should expect so that we are not taken back by it when it happens. And again, we just need to keep trusting Jesus no matter what.

 

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; John 15:1-21; Jn 16:33; Ac 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12]

 

‘Til The Storm Passes By

 

By Thomas Mosie Lister

 

In the dark of the midnight have I oft hid my face

While the storm howls above me, and there's no hiding place

'Mid the crash of the thunder, Precious Lord, hear my cry

Keep me safe till the storm passes by

 

Many times Satan whispered

There is no use to try

For there's no end of sorrow, there's no hope by and by

But I know Thou art with me, and tomorrow I'll rise

Where the storms never darken the skies

 

Till the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds no more

Till the clouds roll forever from the sky

Hold me fast, let me stand in the hollow of Thy hand

Keep me safe till the storm passes by

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_obOSQoOpQ

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