As a follow-up to the most recent post (see below):  

When I speak of your calling, as I did in the previous post, I am speaking of the specific mission God created YOU to fulfill.  The calling that if you refuse or ignore will mean certain people, places and things will be left untouched.  Your calling is truly the reason you live and breathe, and should cause you to jump out of bed each day eager to get to it!

Your natural talent, while also given to you by God, is usually not your calling.  You may use your natural talent while carrying out your calling.  i.e.  If your calling in life is to encourage people, and you also are a gifted guitar player, you may use your music to help encourage others.  But the music is not your calling, the encouraging people is.

Two of my natural talents are cooking and organizing things.  In the ministry we have, we sometimes prepare and host large meals for the poor.  While that takes lots of cooking and lots (and lots) of organizing, the actual lifting up and helping of the poor is my calling.  My God-given talents of cooking and organizing are TOOLS that equip me for my calling.

Some talents you have will not really affect your calling.  For instance, I love to play the piano.  But, I never play it for others; I play it for myself.  It is a stress-reliever, an outlet for me, and it can help lift me up out of a down mood. 

I trust, between this post and the one below, you are gaining a better understanding of the mission God wants YOU to fulfill!

In case you haven’t figured out, I have two callings in my life!  They are my reasons for being.  Obviously, you can tell from the posts in this blog that I love to declare that God is GOOD!  So one of my callings is derived directly from scripture:

Psalm 40:9-10 (NLT)  I have told all Your people about Your justice.  I have not been afraid to speak out as You, O Lord, well know.  I have not kept the good news of Your justice hidden in my heart; I have talked about Your faithfulness and saving power.  I have told everyone in the great assembly of Your unfailing love and faithfulness.

My other calling is to help those in need – to stand up for the downtrodden, to defend the underdog.  I do that through my ministry, www.TheEncouragementCenter.org   This calling also comes from scripture:

Psalm 82:3-4  Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.  Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

What is YOUR calling in this life?  Do you know?  If not, do you want to know how to find out?  Ask Him! Spend time alone with God and His Word.  Don’t let go until He shows you your specific purpose for your life.

If you do know your calling, are you walking in it?  If not, why not?  What are you waiting for?  There is no one on earth who can do what He has for YOU to do!

Be encouraged today to not only find your mission in this life, but to walk boldly in it – no matter how you feel, no matter what comes against you!

How often have you heard someone say, “Just knuckle down and do it!”?  How often have you heard someone say, “Just let go and give it to God!”?  Well, which is it?  Do you do it or does God do it?

There is a lot of confusion in the body of Christ today; a lot of teaching that tells people they don’t have to do anything at all because of His grace.  They go as far as to call anything we do “works” and “legalism”.  On the opposite end we have others who are so into “doing, doing, doing” that they don’t even know what grace means.

Well, it isn’t all up to God and it isn’t all up to us!  He makes it very clear in the Word that we have a part to play.  We need to know the difference between His part and our part in certain segments of our lives.  The promises of God are conditional, just like any covenant.  A covenant, a contract, a promise says:  “IF you do this, THEN I will do that.” 

A few examples of conditions in the Word:

Matthew 6:33, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and (then) all these things shall be added unto you.”

Deuteronomy 28:1-2 (paraphrased), “If you hearken and obey My word, then all these blessings shall come upon you.”

John 14:15, “If you love Me, keep my commands.”

2 Thessalonians 3:10, “If a man does not choose to work, neither shall he eat.”

It quickly becomes clear that we cannot sit on our sofas eating bonbons all day and expect to receive anything in life.  We do have a part to play.  Since the Word provides us with knowledge, and God tells us He will give us the wisdom to use that knowledge – IF we ask Him (another condition – James 1:5) - let’s ask for it.  That’s the first step I take in determining His part v. my part in the things of life.

The second step is to act on that wisdom.  Jame 1:22 in the NLT says, “But don’t just listen to God’s Word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.” 

Two things happen when we ask for wisdom and act on it:  1.  God meets us in our step of faith – He is then able to do His part since we have done our part; and 2.  We find solutions to our issues of life.

Take some time today to search the Word for the knowledge you need right now.  Then ask God for the wisdom to handle that knowledge.  Once He speaks to you (and He will), act on that immediately.  You will be glad you did! 

So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God.”   Mark 11:22

As mature Christians we are told we aren’t to rely on feelings to know God is with us.  If that is the case, I must not be a very mature Christian because I sure like the feel of God!

When surrounded by a world struggling in turmoil, sin and despair, it is sometimes not surprising when doubts start to spout up.  When He seems far removed and the walk seems so lonely, I find the doubting “why” questions sneaking into my brain.  In times like these, I remember days of feeling His presence all the time, and it almost hurts because I wonder what happened.  I cry out, “Where are You, Lord?”

But………………………

One glance up into the clear blue sky, or a stop at the beach to take in the crashing waves of the majestic Pacific, or one look into the faces of my kids erases all doubts that there is a God and He is with me!  The sight of my two precious and comical little dachshunds not only tells me there is a God, but that He has a sense of humor, too!

What do we do in the times of drought of feelings?  The older I get the more I realize we do the same thing we do with just about everything in life:  We choose to step out in faith, in spite of how we feel, knowing - in time – the feelings will come.

Most of us don’t relish getting out of bed when the alarm goes off.  Yet, we force ourselves to in spite of our feelings.  In a few minutes, we begin to feel differently; we are fully awake and ready to face the day ahead.

We don’t feel like putting on the tennies and going for a walk.  But, in spite of how we feel, we do it anyway.  Ten minutes into it, we start to feel better.  When we are done, we are glad we did it.

You may not feel like going to the business function with your spouse.  You override your feelings and choose to go anyway.  Once you are there, you find you are actually enjoying the event.

Feelings are fickle!  Feelings are subject to change – we often have to prod them along to change!  It is in the doing that the feelings come.

Choose to live in faith, believing and knowing He is with you today.  It will change the way you feel!

Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you.  Psalm 55:22

Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.   Matthew 11:28

Living in emotional pain of any kind can be very discouraging. 

Obviously, when one goes through a sad time, such as a death of a loved one, a divorce, loss of a job one loves, death of a beloved pet, a major sickness, etc., there will be a season of troubled emotions.  That is to be expected.  What is not to be expected is to find oneself stuck in that emotional pain.  However, many people are stuck, and no matter what they try to do to unstick themselves, they remain in the pain.  Soon they find their lives are on hold because the pain is all-consuming.

I was seriously talking to God about this one day during a time when I was mired in some long-standing residual pain.  He told me, clearly, “Give Me the pain!”  Now, I have often heard we are to surrender our pain to Him; we are to lay it all down at the foot of the cross; or, add any useless platitude that has been thrown at you which doesn’t help one iota!  We need to know:  what does it mean?  What does ‘giving Him the pain’ look like in real life?  Certainly, we cannot wrap it up in a pretty ribbon.  We cannot literally rip our hearts out of our chests and lay them on the altar. 

I ended up telling God, “I must be dense, Lord, because I just don’t get it.  I don’t understand how I am to give the pain to you.”  Besides, haven’t I tried to do that a zillion times already?  I further told Him, “Lord, the pain is so entwined in the fibers of my inner being.  I wouldn’t have a clue how to unravel it to give it to you.”

God spoke to me again, saying, “The pain that causes paralysis and grief has to go.  Give it to Me.  The other pain, the pain that serves to motivate you and propels you to action? Let it do its work.”  Hmmmmm.  Here I was given a specific directive from the Lord and I was still puzzled.  “HOW??” I cried.

After a few moments, it was strongly impressed upon me that I was to live as if I was pain-free!  What does a person who has no pain do?  What would they do today?  Tomorrow?  Next week?  A healthy, pain-free person would live each day full of joy, energy, fun and happiness….. they would DO!  They would take life by the tail and run with it!

So, how do you do it?  You make a choice.  You purpose in your heart to live pain-free by faith.  You step out in faith and He meets you there.  When the pain starts to suck you under again, you speak to it saying, “No!  I reject you pain in Jesus’ Name!  I live pain-free!”  Refuse to give into it again.  You have the victory, as always – if you persevere!

When you are walking in God’s will you become an open target for the enemy.  He sees you, in spite of all your fears and other obstacles, still doing what God has led you to do.  It doesn’t make him happy – in fact, it riles him up and the intensity of his attacks on you increases.   For example:

• You have stepped out and faith and started that business God showed you was His will for you and almost immediately you are bombarded with customer complaints and false accusations. 
• You make the decision to tithe in faith, even though it seems to make no sense because of your already strained bank account.   You write that tithe check and sow it in love and faith, and then – WHAMMO – your car and washing machine break down at the same time!
• You have been wanting to make a career change and, after much prayer, you believe God has said, “Go for it!”  So you take that new position, hopeful and in faith, and the company bankrupts right after you start and you are now looking for another job.
• You are going about your business, helping many others in many different ways – sowing faithfully into their lives love, finances, prayer, counsel and time.   All of a sudden, you experience loads of technical equipment troubles.  You are ignored by most anyone that matters and you thought would help you.  People verbally assault you for no reason.  You feel beat up, battered, and wonder, “Why the heck do I even bother anymore?”

What do you do? 

Well, the human reaction is to react, to lash out, and to cast away our confidence.  The natural reaction is to scream “God!  I trusted You.  I thought I was doing what YOU wanted me to do; why did it go wrong?”  My favorite line is “Good girls are supposed to get the reward!”  What do you do when you are doing good, walking the right path, sowing into the Kingdom, yet you are attacked and don’t get the reward?

One:  You must know the enemy does not want you following God’s plan!  He wants to steal the love and Word of God from your heart.  He will do anything in his power to stop you.  He will send people onto your path to assault and offend you.  As the prince of the air, he will cause all sorts of technological troubles for you.  He will do whatever it takes to FRUSTRATE and DISCOURAGE you to get you to give up.  We must know this; we must know our enemy and be aware of his methods.

Two:  You need to rejoice!  Do not rejoice in the trouble itself, but rejoice in Him!  (1 Peter 4:12-14) 

Three:  Allow yourself the time to get from One to Two!  Don’t beat yourself up if your first reaction is “Ouch!  God!  This hurts and I am angry and hurt!”  Just don’t stay in that mode.

Four:  Stay on the path you were on before the obstacle or offense was thrown at you!  Don’t give up on your mission from God.  Galatians 6:9 says, “So don’t get tired of doing what is good. Don’t get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time.”

Five:  Submit yourself to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.  James 4:7   At some point, the devil will take a break because he sees your persistence and perseverance.

Remember –

“You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”  1 John 4:4

Notice that is says “have overcome”!  That means you already have the victory, no matter the attack!  God is bigger that it all! 

Once we start hearing the voice of God, it is important that we obey what He tells us to do (or not to do).  He communes with us for a purpose – so we know His will for our lives. 

A story from my own life is a good example of how NOT to do it.  For years, I was a Diet Coke fiend!   I was not always feeling very good.   One day God spoke to me saying, “Drink water.”  I would hear this voice saying drink water.   But, I shrugged it off.   Every time I would reach for a Diet Coke, I would hear “drink water”, and I would hesitate, but still take the soda.  I hated drinking water.  Yet, here I was asking God why I wasn’t feeling well and here He was telling me! 

I hate to say it, but it took me years to finally get the revelation of this knowledge; and unfortunately, it took me having two kidney infections before I did.   Now, did God want me to have kidney infections?  NO!   He is a good God and wants His children healthy.  But, He allowed it to happen because I was so stubborn and rebellious.   Yes, I was spending time talking to Him, but I wasn’t obeying what He told me to do.   Here I was even given the knowledge and I still wasn’t getting it, what a goof.  If I had only obeyed the first time I heard Him, I would have saved myself a lot of agony. 

In the next few days, practice instant obedience to what you hear Him speaking to your heart.  You will quickly see the rewards!

Is it possible to know God’s will for you?  Far too many Christians have a nebulous view of God and make statements such as, “You never can know what God is gonna do!”   However, I don’t believe it!  We already have established that God is good – would a good father leave his children in the dark, never knowing what he wants?  No way.

If I want to know what my husband wants, I go to him and ask him!  I don’t read a bunch of books or go get ten different opinions from ten different people to find out what he wants – I go to the source.  It’s the same way with God.  He has given us His Word, which is His will.  If we want to know what He thinks, desires, wants from and for us, all we have to do is go to Him.  He makes it easy, if we will spend time in His Word and with Him.

Jesus said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  John 8:32  Notice that He did not say doctrines will set you free, denominations will set you free, or religious tradition will set you free.  We can know the truth, but only if we know Him; we get to know Him by spending time with Him in the Word. 

When you go on a road trip from Los Angeles to New York City, you get a road map and follow the directions.  When you buy a new flat screen T.V., you read the instructions in order to install it properly.  When you begin a new business, you create a business plan, a guide to growing your business.  The bible is your road map, your instruction manual, your business plan for your life!

“For I know the plans I have for you”, declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  Jeremiah 29:11

The Word is full of God’s promises to us – His will for us.  Jesus came and conquered sickness, poverty, and sin.  God’s will does not include His kids being subjected to the power of the enemy.  He tells we have power over the evil one, “Therefore submit to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” James 4:7

He also tells us that we can prove His will, “And do not be confirmed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”  Romans 12:2

I encourage you to dig into the Word today.  Transform your mind.  Find out what God says about YOU!  He does have a good plan for you.