DIFFERENT CALLINGS
DIFFERENT CALLINGS
https://europeanapostolicleaders.eu/bloggers/blog/paivi-heikkila-different-callings
Sometimes we are so focused in our own calling and ministry for the Lord, that we forget He has many other callings too, some of them totally different from ours. He is doing such a big thing on earth in building His living Body to the fullness, and in expressing His kingdom on earth, that it can be sometimes difficult for us to figure the whole picture.
There is one very useful key in staying in the Spirit and pleasing the Lord in all this; obedience. The Lord Jesus pointed out especially certain things to His Church to consider, one of them is to love each other, another to respect each other. He even said we ought to compete in honoring each other! This is a good foundation for seeing the calling, another person has. And to understand it is from the Lord, and is as valuable as your own calling.
A servant is not meant to choose the work he is to do, but his Master tells him his job. He has called him, and prepared him for the specific tasks He has for him.
Jeremiah 1:5 says: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born I sanctified you; And I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”
This goes for every believer; whatever you calling is, God has made you for it and given it to you. It is your place and you are fully authorized for it. Lord Jesus is the Head, we all are His members, trying to fulfill our place and ministry. This makes all us just brothers and sisters, in love and unity, understanding that we all are equally needed, for the whole Body to move and function as the Head purposes. What a beautiful picture! Everyone found his own place given by the Lord, loving each other and seeing that we all, with our different callings, are actually in the same ministry, together, obeying the Head, for His glory and for His pleasure. Then we will find also our own satisfaction, the fulfillment that we yearn for. We cannot manage to get it alone, it takes the whole Body.
If we are able to see, that we are not separate agents in His purposes, but need each other to get the job done, it would give us better stand in understanding and accepting the different callings God has.
The higher we get in our own position in the calling God has given, the more there is danger to fall in to pride, and with that in to underestimating our brother’s or sister’s calling. I just recently heard a minister of God speaking about the importance of God’s glory, shown in miracles and expressed in His manifested presence midst of His people. That is so true; it is very important. And it is also much longed after, and it brings glory to God and enables many things to happen, not only in midst of those experiencing it, but in whole cities and even in the level of a whole nation. But when he continued, by comparing this with some things others are doing, kind of looking down on those, it didn’t sound so good anymore.
Of course, if you are so filled with the Holy Spirit and carrying His presence in such a measure, that you can change the whole city and a nation, that’s wonderful! Praise the Lord! Come here too! We need you everywhere!
But the fact is, that there are other workers too, who may not have the same grace that you have, but they are still obeying the call God has given to them, with the grace He has given specially for them, to do the job they are called to. That grace is as real, as the grace of carrying His miracle working manifesting presence. Everyone is carrying the grace they need in order to get their job done. No one can take anything that has not been given by the Lord. He is the Head and He is leading everything according His plans and purposes.
The Holy Spirit then started to speak to me about this; the variety of different callings and the importance of them all, and how we should always respect and rejoice over all the things God is doing. He is also working in other ways than miracles that we can see right away, those like deliverances and healings. He has called many to bring forth righteousness, justice and honesty in places that just are not filled with His presence, but He still wants to work and effect there in different ways. He has given a place to some of His servants in business world or in governments, and in other places of influence, in order to bring His kingdom values to the laws and practices of that nation. He is working in so many ways, and through every member of His Body!
After all, Moses still had to come down from the mountain, where God had shown him the model of the tabernacle, and to actually build it! When we are in the glorious presence of God, He gives us revelation and visions, to help us understand, and act accordingly.
Instead of reviewing what others are doing in their ministry, we should rather concentrate in evaluating the things that are not of God, as they are those God has told us to uproot and to destroy. Jesus said, that every plant that has not been planted by His Father, should be taken up and thrown away. There are still today many things in the Church of Christ, that needs to be judged, but they are all from the devil, and not of God!
For myself, I pray God to help me to see and understand and to respect all the different callings we have in His Body and in His work. And not to think too much of myself, but in a proper way, according to the grace that is given to me. Alone I’m not able to do even that, how little it maybe be, or how big it may be.
“But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’.” (1 Cor.12:18-21a).
“Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another.” (Rom. 12:10).
Despite of, if we are wooden or clay, or gold or silver vessels, we are still called to honor each other, and to encourage each one in their ministry to the Lord, according to what Paul wrote to Romans. But we ourselves need in all to seek the honor that comes from the Lord, our sender, and not from the people.
The Bible tells us, that Lord Jesus is going to build His Church, and we are going to grow up to the full measure of Christ, and become one in the unity of love. Then we understand the fullness of Christ, and rejoice in it, and in all the different callings in Him.