Most of us know from the Word of God that the things we are to do in service to the LORD are to be done in the Spirit and not in the flesh. The works of the flesh will be burned into ashes; the works of the Spirit will survive eternally.
The difficulty is that we sometimes have a difficult time determining what is of the flesh and what is of the Spirit. It occurs to me that there might be a rather simple test.
When we are specifically "called" by the LORD Himself to perform any service I believe we will find that our flesh never wins over the Spirit in the area of that service work. (I am talking specific areas of service in which some or all of our giftings are being utilized by the LORD.)
We might find ourselves tired, we might feel totally unprepared or insufficient at times, but no matter what obstacle the flesh presents to us, we will GO because the CALL compels us to GO!
I find this to be true even in attending church.
There are many who do not feel "called" to attend the church they are attending. I have always felt the "call" to attend one church over another. It is the CALL that keeps me coming to church even when my flesh cries out that this week has been crazy and it needs a day to "veg." Still I GO.
And it is because I understand that the LORD wants to use me in that church in whatever way He chooses, whether significant or insignificant in my eyes. The direction He leads me is HIS choice...not mine....for I belong to Him. The call is strong. And so I am compelled to present my body a living sacrifice for His use each Sunday at church.
When it comes to mission work or outreaches, whether domestic or foreign, the same "call" compels us to go to places of darkness to minister to those captured by the darkness. It is never pleasant to walk into such places. Sometimes our flesh cries out for us to run away and leave this work for someone else to do.
But still we are compelled by the CALL. Who can turn away from the voice of God speaking so softly and yet so compellingly? I find that I cannot.
And so, once again, I present my trembling, whining body, pitiful and earthly as it is, as a living sacrifice to that divine and heavenly CALL, walking into the very pits of hell to bring out those that are being held captive by the darkness.
My little test will also reveal areas in which I am not called. There might be things I dread doing, no matter how often I have done them, and no matter how good at the task I am, I just dread doing them, and I find myself procrastinating and thus not preparing properly for the task. It is obvious I do not have a calling from the LORD to work in this area of service. It is best for all if I step down from that area and vacate it for the one that God HAS called to do it.
A wise friend once told me "God can't fill the spot until you vacate it." I don't know that I can recall a scripture to back that up, but it helped me stop worrying about who would do this particular job if I didn't do it! God can do it, if we trust Him to! He can bring the right person for the job onto that very spot...once we get out of His way.
Somewhere in the middle of CALLED and DREADING is what I call LOVE OF OTHERS. Those are the jobs that you aren't CALLED to do, and you don't DREAD, but you do them simply to help others with their work for the LORD. Perhaps I have a skill that can assist them in their calling. My love for them does compel me to help, but I am not called specifically to that task and so I do not get the same blessing from it as I do the things that God has called me to do. But the ones that I help get the blessing they are to receive from doing what the LORD has CALLED them to do. And so I present my body as a living sacrifice to help others in love. But there is never DREAD involved.
Where DREAD is involved, we should most likely step aside and let the CALLED one take over. It could be we just have gotten ourselves into something that the LORD never CALLED us to do. Our intentions might have been right, but it is important that we actually hear from God and follow HIS lead instead of going our own way. Stress arrives when we are going our own way and not the LORD's way. I know this very well. Or we could have done it because we were "guilted" into it by someone we care about. Even us Christians can sometimes slip into "guilting" others to work, but it isn't going to go well when we do...not like when the LORD establishes a work!
When it comes to church attendance or any ministry, we must go to the LORD and find out whether He has called us to this one or to another. One of the worst things to happen to any church OR ministry is to have folks in it who are not CALLED to be there. The anointing does not follow when we are walking or working outside of God's specific will for us.
God has a specific place for us in His body and in His service and it behooves us to find out where it is. If you find out that God has indeed CALLED you to the church you are attending or to the ministry that you are involved in, then (to put it rather bluntly) stop the fleshly whining and criticizing and just be the LIGHT that He has CALLED you to be.
If you find He has NOT CALLED you there, then go find the right spot that someone else has probably just vacated in time for you to fill it! Our lives are much too short in terms of eternity to waste it by whining, criticizing, and accomplishing nothing, versus moving on and getting down to the real GOD-CALLED and ANOINTED work at hand!
The difficulty is that we sometimes have a difficult time determining what is of the flesh and what is of the Spirit. It occurs to me that there might be a rather simple test.
When we are specifically "called" by the LORD Himself to perform any service I believe we will find that our flesh never wins over the Spirit in the area of that service work. (I am talking specific areas of service in which some or all of our giftings are being utilized by the LORD.)
We might find ourselves tired, we might feel totally unprepared or insufficient at times, but no matter what obstacle the flesh presents to us, we will GO because the CALL compels us to GO!
I find this to be true even in attending church.
There are many who do not feel "called" to attend the church they are attending. I have always felt the "call" to attend one church over another. It is the CALL that keeps me coming to church even when my flesh cries out that this week has been crazy and it needs a day to "veg." Still I GO.
And it is because I understand that the LORD wants to use me in that church in whatever way He chooses, whether significant or insignificant in my eyes. The direction He leads me is HIS choice...not mine....for I belong to Him. The call is strong. And so I am compelled to present my body a living sacrifice for His use each Sunday at church.
When it comes to mission work or outreaches, whether domestic or foreign, the same "call" compels us to go to places of darkness to minister to those captured by the darkness. It is never pleasant to walk into such places. Sometimes our flesh cries out for us to run away and leave this work for someone else to do.
But still we are compelled by the CALL. Who can turn away from the voice of God speaking so softly and yet so compellingly? I find that I cannot.
And so, once again, I present my trembling, whining body, pitiful and earthly as it is, as a living sacrifice to that divine and heavenly CALL, walking into the very pits of hell to bring out those that are being held captive by the darkness.
My little test will also reveal areas in which I am not called. There might be things I dread doing, no matter how often I have done them, and no matter how good at the task I am, I just dread doing them, and I find myself procrastinating and thus not preparing properly for the task. It is obvious I do not have a calling from the LORD to work in this area of service. It is best for all if I step down from that area and vacate it for the one that God HAS called to do it.
A wise friend once told me "God can't fill the spot until you vacate it." I don't know that I can recall a scripture to back that up, but it helped me stop worrying about who would do this particular job if I didn't do it! God can do it, if we trust Him to! He can bring the right person for the job onto that very spot...once we get out of His way.
Somewhere in the middle of CALLED and DREADING is what I call LOVE OF OTHERS. Those are the jobs that you aren't CALLED to do, and you don't DREAD, but you do them simply to help others with their work for the LORD. Perhaps I have a skill that can assist them in their calling. My love for them does compel me to help, but I am not called specifically to that task and so I do not get the same blessing from it as I do the things that God has called me to do. But the ones that I help get the blessing they are to receive from doing what the LORD has CALLED them to do. And so I present my body as a living sacrifice to help others in love. But there is never DREAD involved.
Where DREAD is involved, we should most likely step aside and let the CALLED one take over. It could be we just have gotten ourselves into something that the LORD never CALLED us to do. Our intentions might have been right, but it is important that we actually hear from God and follow HIS lead instead of going our own way. Stress arrives when we are going our own way and not the LORD's way. I know this very well. Or we could have done it because we were "guilted" into it by someone we care about. Even us Christians can sometimes slip into "guilting" others to work, but it isn't going to go well when we do...not like when the LORD establishes a work!
When it comes to church attendance or any ministry, we must go to the LORD and find out whether He has called us to this one or to another. One of the worst things to happen to any church OR ministry is to have folks in it who are not CALLED to be there. The anointing does not follow when we are walking or working outside of God's specific will for us.
God has a specific place for us in His body and in His service and it behooves us to find out where it is. If you find out that God has indeed CALLED you to the church you are attending or to the ministry that you are involved in, then (to put it rather bluntly) stop the fleshly whining and criticizing and just be the LIGHT that He has CALLED you to be.
If you find He has NOT CALLED you there, then go find the right spot that someone else has probably just vacated in time for you to fill it! Our lives are much too short in terms of eternity to waste it by whining, criticizing, and accomplishing nothing, versus moving on and getting down to the real GOD-CALLED and ANOINTED work at hand!
