Discern Your Calling
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Reflections in the Lake by Tom Curtis
What could be more inspiring than to live on purpose for God? To live for God is to live abundantly. When we fully surrender to God, He uses us for our best and highest purposes. But how do you discern your calling?
Jesus promised that Our Father will meet our every need if we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. What an amazing promise! So how then do we seek God’s kingdom? In short, we seek God’s kingdom when we know, love and serve God. This involves trusting and obeying Him. “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” (John 14:15) If we remain in God, He will remain in us. His Spirit will lead us, and we will see things more and more from His perspective…including our own role and purpose.
Although each of us is called to love and serve God, we have different ways of fulfilling this. “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” (Romans 12:4-5) It is clear that the members of the body of Christ have different functions as do the different parts of the human body. How then can we discern God’s calling to us? It helps to ask questions and to give deep thought and prayer to the answers. Some questions may be: Will this bring me closer to God? Is this calling in alignment with His Purposes and His Laws? Would my role serve to build God’s Kingdom in some aspect? Is it reasonable in my situation? Does the calling utilize my talents and experiences? Is it something for which I have passion? Is it God’s glory I seek – or my own? Often we find that the trials we have overcome through God’s grace have helped to equip us for His service.
Although we may be anxious to work out every detail once we hear and discern our calling, we must trust God in the entire process. Yes, we must plan. Yes, we must take steps of action. Yes, we must be persistent. But, if God suddenly leads us in a different direction or stops the motion altogether, we must trust Him completely. We must love Him far more than the dream. We commit all – including our calling and our visions – to Him. “Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed” (Proverbs 16:3)
Certainly Jesus is the utmost example of living on purpose. He lived every moment aligned with and faithfully fulfilling His Father’s work for Him. He knew when to walk, when to sleep, when to pray alone, when to teach, when to heal, when to rebuke, when to eat, when to fast, when to live and when to lay down His life. Every moment of His life on earth was lived on and with purpose. The more we resemble Christ and grow close to Him, the more clearly we see our own unique purposes.
A beautiful shift occurs when we are in tune with our purpose, as distractions no longer cause worry and anxiety. We see them simply for what they are: those things which try to take our eyes off the Kingdom. With a God-centered mindset, priorities and purpose are clear. In turn, commitments are easy to make or to refuse. To focus on the most important aspect of life is to discover peace and joy. God’s yoke is indeed easy and His burden light. (Matt 11:30)
If you long to know and fulfill your divine calling, I encourage you to look at your talents and at the things you truly love to do. Then PRAY. Pray fervently. Pray frequently. Listen patiently for His answers. Allow God to speak to you through daily devotions and meditations, sermons and conversations with those committed to Christ.
You have a special and unique purpose which God ordained before creating the earth. Truly we become more ourselves when we are more His. Surrender to God sublimely expresses the beauty of individuality. My prayer is that you will find your purpose and discover the incredible joy in being all God created you to be!
© COPYRIGHT 2011 Caroline Gavin
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