A POSSIBLE YOU
FINDING GOD’S DESTINY FOR YOUR LIFE
PART 22
WHOSE WILL IS BEING DONE?

I have some questions for you today. Do you have certain goals for your ministry that have not come to pass yet in your life? Do you often wonder when (and if) these visions will ever be manifested? Do you sometimes speculate that maybe you have done something to “prevent” your ministry from being much larger and more effective? To some Christians, these questions do not convict them at all because they have never really felt the call or any desire to become involved with a ministry. However, there are others that have sensed the drawing power and conviction of God to do some type of work for the Kingdom and many times trying to find clear answers and obvious open doors are difficult and seldom found. This is why it is so important to pray for divine appointments and to develop spiritual discernment to learn how God is trying to intervene. If you are one of these that rides the roller coaster of desiring to be all that you believe He is calling you to be, but constantly run into obstacles and discouragement, there are solid points we can rest on and KNOW that God has not forgotten His plans for you or the abilities and anointing He has put within you! Actually, if you study the leaders of the faith (especially Christ) you will see their life was empowered yet filled with obstacles and rejection. Those who overcame realized the dynamics of determination and placed ALL of their trust in the revelation that God was their victory even in the trials! “Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6)

Number one: EVERYONE has a gift from God! The ones who say they have nothing to contribute are usually just trying to wiggle out of the commitment and responsibility to serve. Since this life is a training ground for the next life, it would be a good idea to recognize your gift and begin to find places where you can use it! Selah. You may be thinking that you do not want to get involved with other people or all the headaches that goes along with being a part of a team but allow me to remind you that you will be working in heaven and you will be involved with the entire assembly of heaven. The more we give of ourselves NOW the more God will bless us with later because we have earned His trust and followed His commands. In the parable of the talents, we must remember that Jesus Himself is teaching and was very serious about this issue. He was trying to focus and drive home the point about how what we do with what we have will be seen as a measuring tool of our thoughts and desires about our love for Him. If we respect His Word and the glory of His being, we will be intense about obeying His voice because we KNOW we will face Him one day and give an account of our attitude. Those who pray for wisdom and divine appointments and develop sensitivity of the Spirit will be watching and waiting for opportunities to do His will. Through the symbolism of this story, these overcomers (you and I) have been promised that in the next life we will be given authority to reign with Him. “His lord said unto him, well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” (Mathew 25:23) The reason I mentioned the fervency that Christ was emphasizing here is that we notice at the end of this story, He does not compromise or fail to deal with the consequences of laziness and rebellion. I am not sure the church has taught the importance of being actively involved with our calling and how much God is expecting from what He has given to us. Sadly, it seems the politics of church government does not want the people to become overly involved with demonstrating their calling because it would reveal the lack of need for paid ministry. “Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.” (Verses 28-29) In other words, if someone becomes lazy or refuses to develop their spiritual gift, they will lose the ability to use that gift. However, for those who give their life into serving God and doing all they can to obey Him, they may end up doing more than they ever dreamed they could do. The organized church through the years has taken much of its style of government from the traditions of men and this representation of ministry causes many to rely on the compensated clergy to do the work of the Lord instead of Christians examining their own heart to discover their own destiny. God’s children will be held accountable for not listening to His voice as the sins of omission include refusing to embrace our responsibilities! The spiritual life is a gradual progression and development into an experienced warrior that serves faithfully on the frontline for the sake of all that is precious in God’s sight. The pastor has a specific office but every saint has the calling to be a minister of the gospel.

Number two: Everyone says they want to do God’s will – but many are just hoping that He will bless their own blueprints. These are the kind of statements that need repeating so they can be slowly absorbed into our conscience. Actually this must become a “revelation” of wisdom or it cannot be truly realized. You see, we can do many things in God’s name and lots of Christians are very bust with religious activity but the question remains are they doing what God said to do? Of course it is much easier to do the things we “like” to do or that we find familiar to us, but what about when we are asked to go out of our comfort zone? What do we do when we are faced with the decision to obey Him or try to think of everything we can to avoid Him? I believe that God is not as nearly impressed with “what” we do as much as He is with our willingness to obey. How many that were called to be missionaries have never stopped running away from what they know is true? How many that had the calling to be a minister yet have never yielded their heart to God’s service because they were afraid of what it might cost them? In fact, this is partly the reason why Christians in general live in denial because they fear what people might say and are not willing to abandon the things they hold dear. I keep going back to the rich young ruler but until this becomes a life changing reality within the very depths of our soul, we will only believe this was something just between Jesus and this man. Christ said that he had done well and was no doubt a respected man of the community but if he thought that he had attained the plateau of the Christian life – he was mistaken. Jesus was trying to explain how this man had designed the Christian life “around” all the things he loved so that everything fit perfectly into his imagination and plans for a comfortable life. Even though the young leader had done marvelous works – he had never really surrendered his will. And allow me to say that until we also come to terms with this wisdom and become enlightened to this same truth, our lives will never enlarge beyond how this man lived. God is not happy for His people to walk around “proud” of their religion or who they are in the eyes of the world, He is touched when He knows that someone has presented themselves completely to Him and is sincerely ready to do whatever He says! This is the highest level of spiritual living unto the Father. “And He (Jesus) was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine be done.” (Luke 22:41-42)

Number three: Be ready to be rejected. If anyone thinks that spreading the gospel is like passing out twenty dollar bills – they have never tried it! I would say one of the most discouraging aspects of the ministry is the seemingly endless lethargic attitudes from those who know you are a Christian. And it is shocking, but many times you will find those who you thought were brothers and sisters in the faith are the ones rolling their eyes as an obvious way of NOT wanting to be associated with you. We remember that when Jesus was arrested and a young girl accused Peter of being one of His disciples. As the crowd became focused on this accusation, Peter fell apart and lost his courage to stand boldly with Christ. In his fear and anxiety of the moment, he angrily cursed and denied that He was a follower of Jesus in order to save his own skin. Of course he later regretted what he had done and cried because he knew he had failed, but the point is that we must be prepared for the rejection and lack of enthusiasm toward us – and Christ.

Allow me to say that in most cases across the board, the way people react to you and your calling is nothing “personal” – it is spiritual. Remember the old saying, “birds of a feather – flock together?” Everyone is an individual and has different desires, specific interest and hobbies that they usually try to make time for because people are captivated by what they love. (Selah). Even Christians can easily have their priorities out of order and cherish several “idols” that take preference over being obedient to the Lord. For example, you would think those who follow Jesus would enjoy reading Christian books and articles about their faith or listening to Christian music that edifies and encourages their spirit – but that is not always the case. Many who call themselves Christians do not even read or study their Bible or worship God in any way. Sadly, many do not pray unless they have a personal crisis. So, if you write, sing, teach, give, or create any type of spiritual contribution to the body of Christ and expect those fellow Christians around you to be jumping up and down excited about your gifts and talents – you will probably be disappointed. It is NOT because they do not like you or believe that your ministry is not a quality and worthy cause, they are just not interested in it! There are so many distractions with technology that most people have chosen to NOT filter out the garbage and embrace the living Word. By the time they read the newspaper, magazines, surfing the net, texting, e-mailing, face-booking and watching TV in the evenings – there is no time left. People are allowing the enemy to steal their time and ultimately distort and diminish their spiritual life! We cannot change their heart or make them rearrange their desires; we can only pray they will return to their “first love.”