God's Call to Ministry

God's Call to Ministry

I Corinthians 12:28 tells us, "God hath set some in the church..." You must decide whom you are going to work for and from whom you will receive your pay. Man's ways have no place in the body of Christ. You may behold the best that man can produce, but it is not and never can be part of God's ministry, "workmen created unto every good work by His Spirit." Let us take the "weak things" and let God's grace and power make the difference. They will, if you will only have faith, and you must have faith to please God. The way of faith is narrow. It is God's word. His word is the only place in which faith can find expression.

If God is moving in your heart, you have a choice to make: whether to take the lowly way, or man's way. Has God really called, and are you satisfied to minister just to Him and not be seen or recognized of men? Remember, if God has called you, you have been called to labor according to His divine order. It is the Lord who is building His church.

With every call comes wisdom and knowledge that is from above. God's ministry must see His plan, not just the need. Too many men called of God have gone on to try to work in their own ability to meet the need as they see it or as their group directs, but they have missed God and His purpose. Yes, many meet the great needs, but are those needs the needs of God's heart, fulfilled when God directs? Can we truthfully say that God must support our program, or is it His program that He upholds and says the gates of hell shall not prevail against? There can be no expression of His church, unless God gives that expression.

Is the call only what man has called you to do? Have men appealed to your senses, or has God called you by His Spirit? When God calls and sends forth, all work is by the Spirit. If there is not a divine call from God, it is impossible for us to work in God's plan as a minister under His divine authority.

All God's working is supernatural. Anything done apart from the Spirit's ability will not build in God's eternal purpose. Every word, every movement, every work begun or finished must be by the specific direction of the Spirit. If God is not directing our walk by His Spirit today, there is no value in our labor.

Each member of the body must hear God, because hearing God is the beginning of faith. His speaking to us is what gives us the ability to do His work. There must also be a continuing in God's word. God is speaking to us now by His Spirit, if we have life in Him. If we fail to move in what God is saying right now, we are not moving in faith.

With God's call comes His direction: when to work, what to do, where to do it, how to do it. This is working on and in the building that God is building. God has a special way of seeing to it that nothing foreign can be built into His building. His building is controlled by the hearing of His word, the way of faith.

God has only one building. It is His glorious church according to His divine plan and order. Let us clear out the rubbish, that we may not be found working in our own building, but that God may use those He calls to be workmen in His eternal purpose.