It's not for me to tell you what God's calling is for you. It is a life long journey of discovery; it takes time, patience, asking, seeking, knocking, and discernment. It is important that our life and what we do every day is in line with God's calling for us.
Calling requires a Caller. God is always the caller. Like sheep who know the voice of the Shepherd, we need to know the voice of our Caller. It is the Creator, the Almighty who Calls. It is God who is already doing the work, and calls us to join Him to participate in His work in building for the Kingdom.
Calling requires a Receiver. You and I are the receiver. Again, you need to listen for yourself. It is not for someone else to tell you YOUR Calling. We listen with humble hearts. We need to be actively listening for the Caller and to be open and available to what the Caller will call us to. We participate in what God is already doing in the world.
Calling requires a Message. The message is an invitation. The message may not be what we want to hear. The message will move us into action. When we hear the message, there will be a gut feeling that moves us into action. It will still require discernment-continuous discernment- to ensure that it is indeed Jesus' voice. And while it stirs us and may even give us a feeling of inadequacy and fear, it will also give us peace. The feeling of inadequacy is not to deter us, but it does ensure that we depend on God because our calling is often a bigger than ourselves and does invite us out of our comfort zone. It will draw us into deeper relationship, trust, faith and dependent life in the Triune God.
What is God doing around you? What talents and gifts have God gifted you for service in the Kingdom? What need is in your city or your neighborhood? What are you passionate about? What verse or story in Scripture has God placed in your heart today? Sometimes our calling may be prompted by situations that upset us? What do we care about?
It's important to remember that it is not what others want for you, but what God wants for you; the distinction is important to uncover our motives and motivations because when we encounter failure, it will be the motivations and convictions (remembering it is God who Calls) that will help us through it. Talk about it with elders and people you trust.
How you live out your calling requires imagination! There is no formula. Be willing, open, and available to what God is doing, trusting in Him, and take steps by talking to others about it, taking action to test it. We may have many passions and have many ideas but we need to incarnate those passions and ideas in practical ways--take action. Remembering that it will take time so be patient and there will be risks. Pray and ask God to bless you if it indeed God's calling for you. More, remember that it is God's calling for you-you are not alone; the Holy Spirit is with you from beginning to end, and God will also bring other people along with you to support you and to encourage you. God will equip you and empower you for the task.
I get anxious when I wonder if i'm doing what God is calling me to. Am I doing what God has called me to? What if I miss my calling? I was reminded by a wise friend that our calling is one of the paradoxes of our lives. "Calling" is a military term in response to a King. Fundamentally, it is less about what you do and more importantly about our response to the One who calls. We can be called to run a company. We can also be called to clean the hallways of a school or clean the sewer pipes. Work is to glorify God and there is therefore no hierarchy of work. And if and when the King calls you to something else, we respond, we go, and we do it equally well, bringing our best tp our work, and with all our heart, mind, and soul.
Being Christian for the longest time meant being nice, submissive, passive, non-confrontational, and generally about being a good person; well, yes and no. The church has a lot to say about piety and spending time praying, reading scripture, and doing work in the church (meaning the four walls of the building)--these are good practices; that said, what does God have to say about the day to day work that we spend years doing in the workplace? I assure you, there is a lot that God has to say and is really the purpose of this blog. When it comes to ambition, it's often given a negative connotation as if desiring success is un-Christian, and unholy. If success becomes an end itself, surely that needs correction; however, if we are the sons and daughters of God, ambassadors of the Kingdom, priesthood of believers, made in God's image, our identity in Christ must give us the confidence to do well, to work hard, and to even to do well financially; these things need not be something we need to be afraid of or shy of. Again, I need to re-emphasize that i'm advocating for some sort of prosperity gospel. Neither am I advocating that the doing of works saves us in the end.
Ken Costa in his book God at Work: Live Each Day with Purpose
has this amazing quote on ambition and I commend to you.
"If our ambition is aligned with what God has called us to do, then we are right to ask for his blessing on it so that we can make a difference in the world and bring him glory." (38)
It is also worth checking out the God at work website https://www.godatwork.org.uk/ for more articles and inspiring videos.
Don't be afraid to ask God what our hearts are telling us. Be specific even with our prayers. Write it down in your journal and pray about it daily. God can say No--But what if God says YES and decides to bless you so that we thrive in that work. How different would our lives be?
Each day we should work with the confidence that God is with us, in us and works through us. We cannot work without Him--we participate with Him, and we work together as the Body of Christ. Each day we should also seek God's heart in all matters, and do our best to bring glory to Him in the work that we do. It is important to understand our passions and our motivations and seek counsel from others if necessary to make sure it is aligned with God's heart. Have faith to do it and living out our calling. And we empowered by the Holy spirit to do so--prompting us, guiding us, leading us, encouraging us. It is not enough to simply know this, but deeply and believe that you can achieve much greater things than Jesus himself. Jesus did say it himself:
“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/she] do, because I am going to the Father." John 14: 12.
A friend of mine got together over coffee last week. We met each other at a coaching course. In that class we did one of those personality assessments and we had a lot in common. My friend asked me about StrengthsFinder 2.0
and whether I did the assessment; while I had the book for several years, I've never gone through the assessment. The assessment is based on Clifton StrengthsFinder. I finally got to it and here are my Strengths.
1. Strategic
2. Connectedness
3. Ideation
4. Woo
5. Belief
Yeah, the results sound like me--at least the current me. I don't think those would have been my strengths ten years ago. I think that has a lot to do with my self-awareness, self-reflection, and wrestling with my identity issues. It will be interesting how this will change again in the next ten years.
Have you done StrengthsFinder 2.0? What are your strengths? Do we have anything in common? If we have matching strengths, i'm curious to know what career you're in and how your strengths are used in the work that you do. More importantly, how do your strengths align with your calling or vocation?
has this amazing quote on ambition and I commend to you.
and whether I did the assessment; while I had the book for several years, I've never gone through the assessment. The assessment is based on Clifton StrengthsFinder. I finally got to it and here are my Strengths.