What is Our Calling?

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 2 Peter 1:10

Recently, I was listening to a young Christian woman minister talk about living a purposeful life.  It was her testimony and to her the center of her purpose was ministering in prisons where she became a Christian, holding Bible studies and she wrote a book in prison.

I can somewhat relate to what she said since I was in full time street evangelistic ministry and traveling to different churches off and on for seven years, but that was/is not my “purpose” in life as a Christian to minister.

Ministering is more like a vocation and a job. I've had ministries change.  I always liked Kenneth Hagin, Sr. when he was alive, and he went from being an evangelist to a pastor and then he was also over a Bible college.  Lester Sumrall had various different ministries over his life too.

I was dong street evangelism full time, a radio ministry, singing in church, then as a lay person children's church, leading worship at a woman's Bible study, next teen prisons, recently single's, widows and homeless ministries.

I was knocked out of ministering full time due to the problems of being married to a minister who wanted a divorce.  Same thing happened to another friend of mine who met her spouse in a Bible college.  Some people can’t handle the pressure of full time ministry, and character flaws can definitely knock them out of ministry.  

I considered my full time ministry became supporting five children as a single parent, working and going to college to better myself. For my friend who went to Bible college, her ministry appears to be a large number of grandchildren.

What I believe our purpose is to fellowship with God and lead others back into relationship and fellowship with God.  Adam walked and talked with God.  Enoch walked with God and was not because God took him.

God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Cor. 1:9

walking in close fellowship with God. Then one day he disappeared, because God took him. Genesis 5:24

I had this dream about my former spouse.  The first one I met my spouse for the very first time and I wanted to talked to him again, but I did not have his phone number.  I asked several people to see if anyone had his number, but no one did so I had to wait to Sunday to see him again.  The next one was my spouse was blowing me off for three days and did not talk to me.  I went to his office and I noticed his desk was moved and I had to search for him.  I talked to his friends about hanging out that night and my spouse seemed disinterested.  I remember how rejected I felt.  I had a third dream like this.

At first I thought it was the enemy, but then I realized the dreams were from God. The interpretation of the dream was that is how Jesus feels when we blow him off until Sunday and we don’t take the time to really “fellowship” with him.  I can fellowship with Jesus when I pray, get in the word, worship through a CD or go help a person in his name, but it’s a “daily” fellowship.

We don’t always talk and see our adult children and it seems the older they get it takes more of an effort to spend time with our children because of their busy life with their own spouse and kids. We can get so busy with "cares of this world" that we don't always spend much time with God. 

As an older Christian, it’s not good to take for granted the word and things of God.  The problem with the story Jesus gave of the elder brother in the Bible is he “slaved” for his father so he lost the joy of fellowship of living in the house with his father. 

Like the elder brother is that many people can break fellowship with God and then they lose the "richness" and "deepness" of the joy of their fellowship.  They are like a child that barely ever talks to their parent, or they are slaving for God out some sense of duty and obligation rather than a sense of joy.  The elder brother became a judgmental (Pharisee) Christian.

But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him. "But he answered and said to his father, 'Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.'…Luke 15:28-30

It's very simple to restore fellowship as a Christian which is simply, "Lord if I have done anything to offend you or grieve the Holy Spirit forgive me and bring any darkness in my life to your light."

Pride is a bondage, we can't afford.

It says that "God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble." 1 Peter 5:5

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. 1 John 1-9-10