As I began to reminisce on the call of God on my life, I saw that through the years since I "sensed" the Spirit of the Lord calling me to full-time ministry, that there truly was a great and divine plan of God at work in my life. It would have been a great thing if everything that pertained to the fullness of the call of God was deposited to me on that day back in 1981. It wasn't. What followed is what has happened to many individuals who have responded in the affirmative to the call of God.
We truly are a work in progress. We start off and we allow the Spirit of the Lord to inspire, lead, train and equip us during this whole development process.
We start off and we allow the Spirit of the Lord to inspire, lead, train, and equip.
2 Timothy 4:6-8 says "for I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."NKJV
Look at the word that he uses- "finished". Paul was now a finished product. My prayer for all of you is that you will have a great desire to become a finished product in the ministry that the Lord has given to you. Fighting the good fight and finishing is the mindset that we need in response to the call of God upon our lives.
My prayer for all of you is that you will have a great desire to become a finished product in the ministry that the Lord has given to you.
As Christians, we have all received a call to redemption and to live a life with purpose and direction. We have been called to be a light to a lost world. Even though every Christian is called to ministry, not all Christians are called to ministerial offices. The call that is the focus is God revealing to someone His purpose for ministry. Paul was called to be an Apostle but never started out that way; he never began the work of an Apostle until Acts 13:2, when the Holy Ghost said, "separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work where unto I have called them." Phillip started out as a deacon before he became an Evangelist (Acts 6:1-5, 8:5-39).
God will not put someone in a leadership capacity who has not allowed Him to develop that call for such a purpose. It takes time for spiritual maturity develop and to become seasoned. I am not at all suggesting that before a person is ready for that specific call that he must be perfect in all things, but a sure sign is the availability of the person and the progress of development is evident in their lives. This speaks to a specific process in the development of the call of God upon our lives.