When we have received a call from the Lord, our lives will bear the wonderful fruit of it—the fruit of assurance, ownership, pure motivation and seeking only the Lord’s approval.
Assurance
When you know God has called you, you walk in that assurance. No person or difficulty can deter you or make you turn back. You are certain that He who called you will be faithful.
Consider Joseph as one example. He stayed assured of the promise of God even when his brothers threw him into the pit and sold him to the Egyptians. He ended up in the dungeon and many years were lost, but nonetheless, nothing could stop his brothers from bowing down to him as prime minister of Egypt for 43 years!
Why? Because the Lord had placed that call upon his life!
Ownership
Not only is there that absolute assurance in the life of one called by God, but there is a sense of personal ownership as well. The difference between someone who is called and someone who does something because it is a profession is this sense of ownership over the work.
The one who is called says, “It is my Jesus’ work, so it is my burden also. If I receive some kind of financial help, that’s great. If I do not, no problem. I don’t care. I will do it anyway.” It is the call that gives you the motivation to journey on.
Salary and benefits do not compel you; difficulties do not sway you. The knowledge that God is faithful and that He has called you is enough.
Pure Motivation
Those who know they are called serve because of the knowledge of that calling, not because of the benefits they may be able to receive in the ministry or because of the salary they are provided. If your salary were stopped and your benefits discontinued or if nobody encouraged you through the provision of material things, what would your response be?
When we are motivated by the knowledge of our calling, it also affects our personal lives and our relationships with those we serve with. Oftentimes, “the ministry” is marked by bickering, murmuring, jealousy, arrogance, comparison of self with others and internal strife. Hundreds of workers are destroyed along the way because they rationalize and justify that kind of behavior. The character of such a workman is fallen and flawed, seeking and motivated by something other than the calling of God.
The person who knows he is called by the Lord acts differently.
The Lord’s Approval
The person who knows he has been called by the Lord for the work of the ministry seeks only the Lord’s approval in all the work he does. In 2 Timothy 1:3 (TLB), Paul says, “My only purpose in life is to please him.”
- Is that your goal too?
- Is pleasing God the compelling motivation of your life?
- Do you know you have been called by Him for the work of the ministry?
- Does your life show the reality of that calling and burden?
Dr. KP Yohannan, founder and director of Gospel for Asia, has written more than 200 books, including Revolution in World Missions, an international bestseller with more than 4 million copies in print. His Road to Reality radio program airs on more than 200 outlets worldwide. He and his wife, Gisela, have two grown children, Daniel and Sarah, who both serve the Lord with their families.
Gospel for Asia has been serving the “least of these” in Asia since its beginning in 1979, often in places where no one else is serving. GFA supports national workers who are serving as the hands and feet of Christ by ministering to people’s needs so they can understand the love of God for them for the first time. GFA is engaged in dozens of projects, such as caring for poor children, slum dwellers and widows and orphans; providing clean water by funding wells; supporting medical missions; and meeting the needs of those in leprosy colonies. Through GFA’s Bridge of Hope Program, tens of thousands of children are being rescued from the generational curses of poverty and hopelessness.
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