What is your calling/office?
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I always knew what I wanted and how I wanted to serve The Lord. For the most part He said "...Nope." (Probably too many uses of the word "I".) That took a long time for me to accept. Now that he has given me a little longer perspective, service was in His way, not mine!
I understand the concept of "your calling in life", but i don't understand what does 'office' have to do with it.
@Eli1 The office, is like when someone has been given a position in a church to do things. Like their office might be to cast out demons, or heal the sick. God commands them to do these things when he wants. Sending them here, there. They might be at a certain church and every Sunday they do this type of work God gifted them with.
Then there are those who have the same gifts, but they don't have that office. But they may use that gift for people.
What I mean by my post, is I wonder what God wants from me.
I want to play music, but nothing is going to work unless it's God's plan.
Then there are those who have the same gifts, but they don't have that office. But they may use that gift for people.
What I mean by my post, is I wonder what God wants from me.
I want to play music, but nothing is going to work unless it's God's plan.
He wants your faith.
He may want other specific things from you, but He will tell you when you're ready to hear.
In the meantime, get on with earning a living, building your relationships, and growing in Christ through study, prayer, fellowship, and outreach.
In your spare time, build the skills you hope to use in a future ministry or calling.
I was just talking about my life verse last week. It was a prophecy for Jesus. Since He has ascended, He has given me His Holy Spirit to continue His mission until I am called home.
1The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
The demons have fought me hard to eliminate this possibility the past couple years. However, God kept me alive, has been healing and prepping me for full time ministry to evangelize those who are poor and forgotten. Those in Nursing/assisted living homes need Christ as do the prisons, colleges and everywhere there are people willing to hear the gospel and in need of comfort.
Please pray that our Father will make this a reality as soon as possible.
1The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
The demons have fought me hard to eliminate this possibility the past couple years. However, God kept me alive, has been healing and prepping me for full time ministry to evangelize those who are poor and forgotten. Those in Nursing/assisted living homes need Christ as do the prisons, colleges and everywhere there are people willing to hear the gospel and in need of comfort.
Please pray that our Father will make this a reality as soon as possible.
My office is to sweep and mop the floor.
What? SOMEONE has to do it.
What if your office is to mow the church yard? Will you do it?
My office is also to balance the sound mix when the singers are practicing Sunday morning. I am not on stage singing. I am making sure the singers sound good.
I have had many other offices in the past. Most are not needed any more - bulletin typing was obviated by more modern technology, van driver is not needed when we don't have anybody who needs a ride, etc. - but they were what the church needed done at that time.
What if your office is to vacuum? Will you do it?
What? SOMEONE has to do it.
What if your office is to mow the church yard? Will you do it?
My office is also to balance the sound mix when the singers are practicing Sunday morning. I am not on stage singing. I am making sure the singers sound good.
I have had many other offices in the past. Most are not needed any more - bulletin typing was obviated by more modern technology, van driver is not needed when we don't have anybody who needs a ride, etc. - but they were what the church needed done at that time.
What if your office is to vacuum? Will you do it?
In the meantime, focus on earning a living, strengthening your relationships, and growing in Christ through dedicated study, prayer, fellowship, and outreach.
What is stopping you from playing music?
You could busk on the street, you could livestream from home to the whole world, you could record and upload to YouTube or Music sites.
Everything you need to do good is within you. You just need to allow it to happen. Do not fear.
For now, my office is delivering food in the hood for minimum wage. It used to be managing a few hundred million dollar commercial real estate portfolio making a nice professional salary. I also had a small business on the side which I had to give up. The Lord has shown me there is a lot of need in the hood and a lot of suffering. Cycles and generation of poverty. I am thankful for the min wage job because when there was nothing, my bank account was draining. It still is but way less. There is always a lesson in the season, I've learned humility, compassion, and hard work.
I struggled with this question when it was posed to me about twenty years ago. I considered the various gifts and none of them seemed to be the thing I wanted. I have prayed for people to be healed, and they have been healed, but I had no desire to turn that into a ministry. I have spent many years involved in the gospel, I enjoy that, but would not want that to be my ministry. But then I read James 5 and I was like That is it! That is what I would like more than anything!
"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."
But what is the context of this?
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.
"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."
But what is the context of this?
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.
interesting that the context of being effective in prayer is confessing your faults, rather than being a fault finder. Our office is not to find fault with others. Confess our faults and pray for those who confess their faults.
IF you are a Born again Christian, then you can ask for WISDOM, and if you do so Single-mindedly, then you will recieve it Freely from the Holy Spirit ( James 1:5-8).
Personally, I function as a "Teacher" primarily, and "being of service" to others is a parallel calling.
@I_am_Canadian After reading the test, It has reminded me of scripture for faith. Something I needed to think of right now because of the attacks coming against my money.
Tribulation works patience.
Tribulation works patience.
my callings are to witness, serve my landscape customers, teach the Bible & speak by way of example of the Lord Jesus..
Acts 6:2 Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.
Consider this, the first martyr is not one of the twelve who are speaking the word of God. It is one of the guys who is serving tables.
This illustrates why I think the debate over the "greatest football player of all time" is so stupid. There is no single person who would have been anything were it not for the team and the coaches. Emmit Smith said this, he considers Barry Sanders the best running back despite Emmit having all the records. He said 'if Barry had the offensive line that I had then he would have had all the records'. Would Jerry Rice have had as many receptions if Joe Montana and Steve Young weren't the quarterbacks throwing him the ball? As great as Tom Brady was, how good would he have been without his teammates? One Super Bowl was won by the kicker, another was won by a "rookie" defensive secondary. Without those two victories he is 5/10 and that is very different from 7/10. Many would reasonably argue that Montana was better.
Think about Samson. We would all think he was a "superstar" able to kill thousands of Philistines himself. But imagine if on his team he had someone who could have seen through Delilah and warned him about her? Everyone finds some things that are easy to them that are impossible to others. Samson was blind when it comes to deceitful, manipulative women. But to those who can see through them that is easy. Meanwhile fighting thousands of Philistines with nothing but the bones of a dead donkey is impossible for many of us, but for Samson that is easy.
The Body has many members, we need every one of them, and it was of God that the first martyr would be someone serving tables, and not one of the twelve speaking the word of God.
Acts 6:3 Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. 4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.
This is an excellent example to us. At this time what the church needed desperately was for the 12 to give themselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the word. Yes, there was a need for taking care of the increase among the Grecians, but that need does not supersede the other need. We are often tempted every time there is a need in the church to try and take care of it ourselves, but the reality is the first thing we should do is to pray. Seek the Lord's will and the twelve, after doing that, saw that the Lord's will was for them to focus on prayer and the ministry of the word. Yes, there was a need, but that doesn't mean the twelve need to do everything, find seven more men who can rise up to shoulder the burden.
First and foremost you need someone of honest report, let's not forget Judas, and let's not forget Ananias and Sapphira. Second, they need to be full of the Holy Spirit. When you get into ministry it is essential that you are full of the Holy Spirit, like the tire on a car. If you are flat you will be no use to anyone. And you need someone with wisdom. I have seen many genuine believers who are well meaning, but not wise. Because of that lack of wisdom they take twice as long to do a job as others.
A good example of this wisdom is The "shoot" (or curved chute/race) that helps guide cattle humanely to slaughter was significantly designed and popularized by Dr. Temple Grandin, an animal behavior scientist who developed systems based on animal psychology, using curved chutes and solid walls to reduce stress and fear by preventing visual distractions. This made it much more efficient to slaughter cattle and at the same time much more humane. Many of us would not have the wisdom to realize that the chute the cows walk up during the process of being slaughtered could be made in such a way as to make this much less stressful for the cows and thus made the process easier, faster and more efficient.
Consider this, the first martyr is not one of the twelve who are speaking the word of God. It is one of the guys who is serving tables.
This illustrates why I think the debate over the "greatest football player of all time" is so stupid. There is no single person who would have been anything were it not for the team and the coaches. Emmit Smith said this, he considers Barry Sanders the best running back despite Emmit having all the records. He said 'if Barry had the offensive line that I had then he would have had all the records'. Would Jerry Rice have had as many receptions if Joe Montana and Steve Young weren't the quarterbacks throwing him the ball? As great as Tom Brady was, how good would he have been without his teammates? One Super Bowl was won by the kicker, another was won by a "rookie" defensive secondary. Without those two victories he is 5/10 and that is very different from 7/10. Many would reasonably argue that Montana was better.
Think about Samson. We would all think he was a "superstar" able to kill thousands of Philistines himself. But imagine if on his team he had someone who could have seen through Delilah and warned him about her? Everyone finds some things that are easy to them that are impossible to others. Samson was blind when it comes to deceitful, manipulative women. But to those who can see through them that is easy. Meanwhile fighting thousands of Philistines with nothing but the bones of a dead donkey is impossible for many of us, but for Samson that is easy.
The Body has many members, we need every one of them, and it was of God that the first martyr would be someone serving tables, and not one of the twelve speaking the word of God.
Acts 6:3 Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. 4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.
This is an excellent example to us. At this time what the church needed desperately was for the 12 to give themselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the word. Yes, there was a need for taking care of the increase among the Grecians, but that need does not supersede the other need. We are often tempted every time there is a need in the church to try and take care of it ourselves, but the reality is the first thing we should do is to pray. Seek the Lord's will and the twelve, after doing that, saw that the Lord's will was for them to focus on prayer and the ministry of the word. Yes, there was a need, but that doesn't mean the twelve need to do everything, find seven more men who can rise up to shoulder the burden.
First and foremost you need someone of honest report, let's not forget Judas, and let's not forget Ananias and Sapphira. Second, they need to be full of the Holy Spirit. When you get into ministry it is essential that you are full of the Holy Spirit, like the tire on a car. If you are flat you will be no use to anyone. And you need someone with wisdom. I have seen many genuine believers who are well meaning, but not wise. Because of that lack of wisdom they take twice as long to do a job as others.
A good example of this wisdom is The "shoot" (or curved chute/race) that helps guide cattle humanely to slaughter was significantly designed and popularized by Dr. Temple Grandin, an animal behavior scientist who developed systems based on animal psychology, using curved chutes and solid walls to reduce stress and fear by preventing visual distractions. This made it much more efficient to slaughter cattle and at the same time much more humane. Many of us would not have the wisdom to realize that the chute the cows walk up during the process of being slaughtered could be made in such a way as to make this much less stressful for the cows and thus made the process easier, faster and more efficient.