Your Calling

A week ago, God spoke to me in an unusual manor, well, it was apparently the way He normally talks but I just wasn't aware of it. I explained it as a sort of media frenzy, sounds, pictures, and feelings all at the same time.

What I didn't share was what He said to me. That is mostly because He hasn't pointed at me to share it, but partly because I am still processing it.

Now, I know He doesn't do this to most people, and I am not saying I am special, but it is what it is... and I am not crazy. He does talk to most of us, and it is actually not up to US to hear Him.

It is, like all things, up to Him.

"Why me", is a question I have asked many times, "because I want to" is usually the answer. No, it is not clear, but it is very much like Him.

Last week, I had asked about faith and why it was so important. I had been considering this in light of the fact that He is sovereign, and all things are His work... especially our faith.

His work. That IS what this is all about. What is He doing and what is it for. Oh, and how do we fit in with it.

My purpose. What is it? What must I do to accomplish it? Life questions that almost everybody has. Ones you think becoming a Christian would answer... but it doesn't.

No, "God has a purpose and plan", isn't always enough. It's like asking a significant other where the dating relationship is going only to get "I have a plan!". So, I guess THAT is what I was really asking.

His answer?

Faith is more than just believing.

I knew that already, and write about it all the time, but what He added was "the connection".

Faith itself is a gift, given when we get saved. It is the measure of the Holy Spirit God places within us. It is a gift, not given to the "deserved". It is given specifically to losers like me. Saved, meaning we desperately needed someone to do something... so He did.

The gift doesn't end with the giving. That measure does a whole lot more. It grows. Now, since we did nothing to earn it, we can do nothing to keep it. Nothing to make it grow.

I know this is hard to follow. That is because it is absolutely beyond our understanding, like many things God does. It takes faith itself to accept it... even when our minds can make no sense of it at all.

This is where it gets really weird...

So, I have seen and know there is much more to this "life" thing than what we can see, feel, and understand, with our fleshy, time based, mind. I first saw this when He first gave me dreams.

They are loaded. Not far different from the media frenzy communication, every detail, every nuance has meaning in the dream. Some of the dreams He has given me take years to unpack. What I mean is, in a year from now I might get a revelation to something in a dream that I did not previously see or grasp. It has happened, many times.

He does this with His book... does He not? Yes, yes, He does.

The connection... that is the key. It's about the relationship.

Oh, you could think it is up to you, but that will only limit that connection, for to connect with something it has to be that something, not something you "think" it is.

Yeah, I know, it makes no sense. I write what He gives me... yet it does make sense.

You see, it's the connection, the relationship that gives you eyes. I used to get so frustrated that when I said something so plainly obvious that God revealed to me, why others just could not see it. I did until, He revealed that everyone "sees" only if or if not, He gives then the connection. It has nothing to do with desire or effort. It is ALL Him.

We choose to come to Christ, or so it seems. Yet, biblically, truthfully, it was His choice to have us see and come to Him at all.

Most can easily accept that they got saved by nothing they did, and it was all because of what Jesus did on the cross. However, most also struggle with the lie that everything that follows, their life, their walk, their calling... is up to them and their "ability" to obey.

It is not and never was.

Now, do you see my dilemma? Why would God, who is in complete control, set up a reality where people cannot find Him unless He picks them, and then He alone moves their lives, every choice, every step, to make a connection with a few that will last forever. Why is the connection so important.

It is our purpose. Our reason for existing.

So, scary part, as written in scripture, this purpose, this connection is not for everyone. No, Jesus didn't die for the sins of all on this planet. He didn't die and throw out a blanket grace to anyone who would decide to accept it. That is not biblical. He said, "no one comes to me except the Father draws them".

No one.

This means that many, most even, will never receive the grace, the connection. Yes, that seems sad, it seems unfair, if you consider it from this earthly perspective only. You must see it from HIS perspective.

You know He is good, if you know Him at all. True?

You know the Bible is His word.

True?

You know it says WE are "the chosen".

True?

So, doesn't it follow, that those who "reject" Him are not? Yes, yes, it does.

Let me be blunt now. The lost, those who will never see Jesus Christ as who He is, their calling, their purpose, is for God the Father, to use them as tools to make the Chosen grow.

"What!?"

Romans 9:22-24

[22] What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath--prepared for destruction?

[23] What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory--

[24] even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

That IS what it says it the book! Do you accept it? Do you believe it is God's Word?

Of course it is. Now, whether you accept it or not... is up to Him.

Yes, yes, it is.

So, if you are still with me, maybe you can understand this next part...

If that connection, that relationship, that faith, is everything that God wants out of you, then everything in your life, every nuance, every event both good and bad, every thought, every failure, every stupid or brilliant move, EVERYTHING is Him deepening that connection.

It has nothing to do with you.

Is it fair?

Well, I know He is beyond fair, so yes, even if it looks unfair, it IS, in fact, fair.

We don't see the big picture yet. He does. He IS the big picture.

So, your calling isn't to feed the hungry, witness to the lost, create a big ministry, or make even one person's life better. No, your calling, like mine is to walk with Him, as He, day by day, minute by minute, second by second, reveals Himself more and more intimately.

He makes that connection grow. It is His love. His love for you, if you can see it.

If you can't, well, I am sorry, but if He wants you to see it, you will, if not, you won't. Maybe not now, maybe not later. Your calling then, is to be a tool for the chosen to see Him better.

He IS God. So, of course you will perfectly serve your calling... either way.

As a chosen? Grow in that connection. See that you can trust Him with each and every step, every thought. Know that He is working in you "to will and to act according to his good purpose".

Your calling IS the connection, the trust in Him. It is you and It is Him. It is what He made the entire universe for.

He wants you, for something like a big heart felt hug that lasts forever.

You are for Him. THAT is your purpose...and you can do nothing to mess it up.

Now isn't that a rather big deal?