Thursday, January 29, 2009
Have You been Called?
To the Ministry that is.....Below is in interesting article I found online by Moyo-Angel Bamidele. Enjoy and hope it enlightens someone..
Amen! Over the years of my teaching God's Word in the area of mentoring, adjusting and building the man that makes the ministry. I have discovered that the major problems of many young ministers are in the areas:
· Answering the question of the how, the when, whom and the where of their ministry.
· The question of am I called
· The question of how do I know that am really called
· The question of how do I fulfill my ministry.
I have preached/taught several messages answering these questions, but by the grace of God this articles will be giving an answer to the above questions as the Spirit will help because much cannot be said in article form.
AM I CALLED?
Jesus gave a commission that all should go and preached the Word. The Bibles says 'you did not choose Me, but I chose you and appoint you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain' John 15:16.
Jesus instructs us all to partaker in this calling, but this does not mean you are called into ministry like many will call it. God does the setting and the calling not man. You don't enter into ministry-any phrase of it- just because you feel it is a Holy calling and you'd like to respond.
You cannot make yourself a ministry gift and it is dangerous to do something just because you want to do it.
You don't enter into ministry because someone else tells you that you are suited for it. I have seen people in church that who were apt to work for God and I believe some of them are called. The calling to serve in the ministry is not determine by your service in the vineyard of God, some church members will even come around says 'Bro/Sis, hum you are wonderful I could see you are called', but who told them?
You don't go into ministry because somebody else called you.
Don't go into ministry because your wife or husband is called and want to put you into ministry; don't make a pastor out of your husband or wife.
Don't go into ministry because you father, mother or your pastor called you.
There is a divine call to the ministry. You determine whether or not it is on your life. Don't try to go into ministry without a calling from God to do so.
How can I tell a divine call?
The truth is this, you will know it.
You will have the conviction in you spirit.
You will have the witness in your heart.
You will have the spiritual equipment- gifts of the Spirit- that go along with the office or offices to which you are called.
God deals with man's spirit, learnt to learn to your spirit. Young minister miss it in this area. Many young ministers are waiting for a till voice that will come saying 'I have called you...' waiting for that prophecy and dreams and voice. Fine, these are good, but they might not come the way you thought.
Some young minister thought that the way Pastor 'A' was called I will be called also. Our God does not work in that way, our God is dynamic, mystery and full of knowledge.
Personal Experience: I entered into the ministry without any kind of 'supernatural' (if you want to call it that- actually, everything about our God is supernatural) visitation. I entered into the ministry will an inward intuition, a knowing.
Learnt to listen down on the inside of you and you will know many things you don't know. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:10-12, but God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
1 John 2:20, 27 say 'but you have received an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.
But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.
Wonderful! When we walk in and by the Spirit we will understand and know the things that have been freely given. And there is a place of the Anointing of the Holy Spirit on every ministry.
Don't try to function in the ministry you are not called, graced into and anointed for or carry the anointing for. (Read my article or order for 'The Significance of Anointing and The Minister and the Anointing)
Check yourself if you are just playing neither cold nor warm. If you are fully dedicated and consecrated to God to do anything He want you to do, you will become conscious of that something inside you.
There will be a divine compulsion on the inside of you.
The methods to which men are called are not important but are all about obedience.
If you are not called into full-time ministry, don't try to get into it; you will be a misfit.
The Bible says 'And say to Archippus, take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it' Colossians 4:17.
This is wonderful. Some Bible verses render it in this way 'the ministry that was delivered to you, the ministry that was given to you.
That shows that you don't make a ministry, but God gave, delivered it. Seeing a need is not a call into ministry only the ministry given of the Lord can be fulfilled.
Note that having a ministry does not make you a Pastor or to build and pastor a church.
THEN HOW, WHEN, WHOM AND WHERE OF A MINISTRY
The most important is knowing that you are called and having this understanding that you are called is not enough but answering the question of how, when, whom and where of your ministry.
To everything we do there is always a question:
How do I go about it? (In preparation, what to use...)
When to set out? (The timing)
The target and location
So also these are important to God. When God calls a man He doesn't leave him alone, He tells him how to go about it, things that are needed and necessary he put him through in order to fulfill his calling.
There is a place of preparation, everybody God calls He prepare and equip. Jesus was prepared, Moses was prepared, Daniel was prepared, and Elijah was prepared...
Personal Experience: when I was in the University, my friend normally tells me this 'I know you are called and you have the ability, but there a place for you to prepare...' That was true.
God call is different from God sending, there is an interval that exist between the calling and the sending, the interval is called the stage of preparation. In fact, the process of answering these questions is like the process involve in making of a vessel (read my article on the making of a vessel or order for my tape).
It is very important we understand this stage. Everybody wants to get to the top, getting to the top is not the problem but how long we stay at the top matters and preparation will tell.
When God calls a man, He gave him a kind and a special message to a set of people, a minister is not sent to everybody but a set of people, so it is important you know the people you are sent to.
God respects location, so when God calls a man, He sent him to a location. The call of God upon you life does not mean you are sent to everywhere.
It is important for you to know that at any point never have the thought that 'maybe am out of the will of God, even while you check yourself remember He said 'Go'.
Like what Wigglesworth said:
I am not moved by what I see.
I am not moved by what I feel.
I am moved only by what I believe.
In fulfilling your earthly ministry, The Bible says in Colossians 4:17 'And say unto Archippus. Take heed to the ministry I have given to you that thou might fulfill it.
The fulfillment of a ministry is necessary and a ministry can only be fulfill in line with the caller or the way the caller has given it i.e to the standard the caller gave it.
The only ministry that can be fulfilled is the ministry that was given of the Lord, the ministry you received, that was delivered to you. Not a ministry out of demand, seeing a need, out of desire.
In fulfilling your ministry, these laws will help you:
· Law of Divine Commandment
· Law of Mentorship
· Law of Focus
· Law of Total Abandonment
Fulfilling ministry also is all about bearing fruit and that the fruit should remain. Read my article or order for my tape on 'Fulfilling your earthly ministry.
Amen! Over the years of my teaching God's Word in the area of mentoring, adjusting and building the man that makes the ministry. I have discovered that the major problems of many young ministers are in the areas:
· Answering the question of the how, the when, whom and the where of their ministry.
· The question of am I called
· The question of how do I know that am really called
· The question of how do I fulfill my ministry.
I have preached/taught several messages answering these questions, but by the grace of God this articles will be giving an answer to the above questions as the Spirit will help because much cannot be said in article form.
AM I CALLED?
Jesus gave a commission that all should go and preached the Word. The Bibles says 'you did not choose Me, but I chose you and appoint you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain' John 15:16.
Jesus instructs us all to partaker in this calling, but this does not mean you are called into ministry like many will call it. God does the setting and the calling not man. You don't enter into ministry-any phrase of it- just because you feel it is a Holy calling and you'd like to respond.
You cannot make yourself a ministry gift and it is dangerous to do something just because you want to do it.
You don't enter into ministry because someone else tells you that you are suited for it. I have seen people in church that who were apt to work for God and I believe some of them are called. The calling to serve in the ministry is not determine by your service in the vineyard of God, some church members will even come around says 'Bro/Sis, hum you are wonderful I could see you are called', but who told them?
You don't go into ministry because somebody else called you.
Don't go into ministry because your wife or husband is called and want to put you into ministry; don't make a pastor out of your husband or wife.
Don't go into ministry because you father, mother or your pastor called you.
There is a divine call to the ministry. You determine whether or not it is on your life. Don't try to go into ministry without a calling from God to do so.
How can I tell a divine call?
The truth is this, you will know it.
You will have the conviction in you spirit.
You will have the witness in your heart.
You will have the spiritual equipment- gifts of the Spirit- that go along with the office or offices to which you are called.
God deals with man's spirit, learnt to learn to your spirit. Young minister miss it in this area. Many young ministers are waiting for a till voice that will come saying 'I have called you...' waiting for that prophecy and dreams and voice. Fine, these are good, but they might not come the way you thought.
Some young minister thought that the way Pastor 'A' was called I will be called also. Our God does not work in that way, our God is dynamic, mystery and full of knowledge.
Personal Experience: I entered into the ministry without any kind of 'supernatural' (if you want to call it that- actually, everything about our God is supernatural) visitation. I entered into the ministry will an inward intuition, a knowing.
Learnt to listen down on the inside of you and you will know many things you don't know. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:10-12, but God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
1 John 2:20, 27 say 'but you have received an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.
But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.
Wonderful! When we walk in and by the Spirit we will understand and know the things that have been freely given. And there is a place of the Anointing of the Holy Spirit on every ministry.
Don't try to function in the ministry you are not called, graced into and anointed for or carry the anointing for. (Read my article or order for 'The Significance of Anointing and The Minister and the Anointing)
Check yourself if you are just playing neither cold nor warm. If you are fully dedicated and consecrated to God to do anything He want you to do, you will become conscious of that something inside you.
There will be a divine compulsion on the inside of you.
The methods to which men are called are not important but are all about obedience.
If you are not called into full-time ministry, don't try to get into it; you will be a misfit.
The Bible says 'And say to Archippus, take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it' Colossians 4:17.
This is wonderful. Some Bible verses render it in this way 'the ministry that was delivered to you, the ministry that was given to you.
That shows that you don't make a ministry, but God gave, delivered it. Seeing a need is not a call into ministry only the ministry given of the Lord can be fulfilled.
Note that having a ministry does not make you a Pastor or to build and pastor a church.
THEN HOW, WHEN, WHOM AND WHERE OF A MINISTRY
The most important is knowing that you are called and having this understanding that you are called is not enough but answering the question of how, when, whom and where of your ministry.
To everything we do there is always a question:
How do I go about it? (In preparation, what to use...)
When to set out? (The timing)
The target and location
So also these are important to God. When God calls a man He doesn't leave him alone, He tells him how to go about it, things that are needed and necessary he put him through in order to fulfill his calling.
There is a place of preparation, everybody God calls He prepare and equip. Jesus was prepared, Moses was prepared, Daniel was prepared, and Elijah was prepared...
Personal Experience: when I was in the University, my friend normally tells me this 'I know you are called and you have the ability, but there a place for you to prepare...' That was true.
God call is different from God sending, there is an interval that exist between the calling and the sending, the interval is called the stage of preparation. In fact, the process of answering these questions is like the process involve in making of a vessel (read my article on the making of a vessel or order for my tape).
It is very important we understand this stage. Everybody wants to get to the top, getting to the top is not the problem but how long we stay at the top matters and preparation will tell.
When God calls a man, He gave him a kind and a special message to a set of people, a minister is not sent to everybody but a set of people, so it is important you know the people you are sent to.
God respects location, so when God calls a man, He sent him to a location. The call of God upon you life does not mean you are sent to everywhere.
It is important for you to know that at any point never have the thought that 'maybe am out of the will of God, even while you check yourself remember He said 'Go'.
Like what Wigglesworth said:
I am not moved by what I see.
I am not moved by what I feel.
I am moved only by what I believe.
In fulfilling your earthly ministry, The Bible says in Colossians 4:17 'And say unto Archippus. Take heed to the ministry I have given to you that thou might fulfill it.
The fulfillment of a ministry is necessary and a ministry can only be fulfill in line with the caller or the way the caller has given it i.e to the standard the caller gave it.
The only ministry that can be fulfilled is the ministry that was given of the Lord, the ministry you received, that was delivered to you. Not a ministry out of demand, seeing a need, out of desire.
In fulfilling your ministry, these laws will help you:
· Law of Divine Commandment
· Law of Mentorship
· Law of Focus
· Law of Total Abandonment
Fulfilling ministry also is all about bearing fruit and that the fruit should remain. Read my article or order for my tape on 'Fulfilling your earthly ministry.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Happy New Year
Happy New Year to everyone!!! Hope this year is filled with Heavenly prosperity. May the Lord richly bless you in 2009.
New Century Pastor
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