Since God is a God or order, we can safely say most of the time He wants us to use our talents to honor Him. There will be times that He calls us to step out of our comfort zone and serve Him in ways that make no sense to us. Uh…what if He calls us to serve Him out of the box?
During those times, the Holy Spirit will lead us. He will give us direction. How do we know it is Him? Well, first off, John 10:27 tells us “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”
Those of us, who are His children, know his voice. It is recognizable. He speaks to us through His Word, the Bible. He speaks to us in our heart of hearts and he speaks to us through others and our world. Nothing He leads us to do will contradict His Word. In fact, His Word will support what He tells us to do.
For example, a few weeks ago, both my husband and I felt the Holy Spirit give us specific direction to share some instruction with a couple who had some authority over us. Both of us were dreading the conversation that was destined to happen. For the first time in my life I was on my way to Tarshish.
One thing I have noticed is when God is the one telling me what to do, He doesn’t let it go. He keeps prompting me, prodding me and down right threatening me when I refuse to obey. In the above example, my husband and I knew the outcome would not be pleasant. We were fearful of the reaction of man until I heard God whisper to me “Who do you fear more? Mortal man…or me, the God that created the heavens and the earth?”
Needless to say that prompted action. And yes, the aftermath was less than desirable. But I knew the threats that were attached to us by not obeying; in fact I should call them promises because God does not make idle threats. We would not walk in the blessings God has set aside for us had we not obeyed.
To calm our stomachs afterward, the Lord did something amazing just for us. We visited a friend’s church and when her priest went to the give the message, he told us all that while he had a complete other message prepared, the Holy Spirit would not let him deliver that message. Instead the Holy Spirit had put the story of Naaman on his heart. He then proceeded to tell the story of a man who was in great authority with a high position that humbles himself and takes instruction from his servants. Wow! Exactly what our doubting hearts needed, confirmation that could only come from God!
That is how good our God is. He will comfort us, cradle us and confirm to us when we have been obedient to His calling. In fact, He sends us confirmation again and again and again, if that is what is needed.
Tune in next time when we tackle: What if my calling is so far out of the box I have to lay on my left side for 390 days and bake my bread with human feces? Ewww………!
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