How did you get on with the questions yesterday? I found that I was surprised by how many dreams God had already fulfilled in my life. And I was shocked by my lack of gratitude for these. Some dreams were things I'd barely breathed for a lack of faith that I could ever be a part of them.
The apostle Paul was clear on what his one thing was. He had one vision.
'It has always been my ambition...' Romans 15:20
I started to ask God:
What is my life about?
What is my one thing?
It was helpful to discover that Paul also knew what was not his to do. What should be left to someone else.
I loved this quote: from The West Wing:
In one of the later episodes, Matt Santos – the party’s nominee for president – is concerned they are narrowing their focus too much. He says to his running mate, Leo, ‘It feels like we’re closing a lot of doors.’ Leo responds, ‘Good strategy always does’ (Series 7, Episode 9, ‘The Wedding’ by Josh Singer; original air date 11 December 2005, Warner Bros©).
A clear calling from God gives you confidence to do what you are uniquely gifted to do and leave alone the things you are not gifted to do.
When closing doors, be careful not to close a door that others may need to go through.
What are your ambitions?
What do you plan for, work towards or dream of?
What do you boast about in the quiet of your heart?
'I glory in Christ Jesus... in my service to God... I have spoken and acted through the power of the Spirit. It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel.' ~ Paul
Ref: www.wordlive.org
Thank you Louise,
ReplyDeleteThese posts are really speaking to me right now. I lost my way for a time there and now I'm reconnecting with God and trying to truly decipher what his plans are for me, and whether or not they tally up with my own. I've been ignoring a call to ministry for a while now as I've been too scared and felt too unworthy to pursue it. I'm going to pray about this directly (like a teenage refusing to speak to her parents, I've been 'ignoring' God, because I didn't want to face this issue)
Hi Floss
ReplyDeleteI have been thinking of you open since you posted. I wonder how you are getting on. My hubs always says that God doesn't call the empowered and equipped. He empowers and equips the called. Perhaps it helps if you consider that we are all unworthy. Everything we have from Him is grace.
I have been reading an interesting book by Eugene H Peterson. He's a favourite of mine. A pastor of pastors. I liked this passage:
'We're all in this together, needing each other, praying for each other, forgiving and serving one another. "Pastor" is not an advanced form of "Christian" - you don't have to hang around churches and pastors very long to find that out...your pastor's work is not to train you to think and work like a pastor so that you can preach a sermon, conduct a liturgy, and negotiate your way through congregational management and church finances...We each have our proper work by which in Jesus' name we serve each other...'
You could substitute full-time ministry worker and their responsibilities and joys in there. We are all called. We just have different callings. Not sure if this helps... Keep on mulling it all over with God. He will show you what to do. He always does.