SATURDAY 26TH AUGUST 2017
TOPIC: WHEN GOD CALLS YOU (1)
TEXT: 1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord…”
A career is something you choose; a calling is something you receive. A career is something you do for yourself; a calling is something you do for God. A career promises status, money, and power; a calling generally gives one the opportunity to be used by God and with no doubt in mind that challenges are inevitable. The love of God in a calling specifies that His love beareth, believeth, hopeth and endureth all things. A career may end with retirement and earthly rewards; but a calling doesn’t end until you die. A career can be disrupted by any number of events, but God enables you to fulfil your calling even in the most difficult circumstances. For some people in Scripture obeying the call of God meant living in slavery, being captured and sent into exile, or being put to death. Their career trajectories didn’t look promising, yet they fulfilled their calling in extraordinary ways.
Some high profiled persons in the past- social circle are today great workers in the prison ministry. Suddenly, their career came to an end while their calling began. They were called as ex- convicts to reach others like themselves while they were in prison. Their great humiliation – being sent to prison – was the beginning of God’s greatest use of their life; they chose the one experience in which they couldn’t glory [and used it] for His glory.’ In the providence of God, the end of your career can be the beginning of your calling. So whatever God has called you to do, the Bible says, ‘Give yourselves fully to the work … because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.’ Beloved, capture the story of the Samaritan woman that won a whole city for God in the Book of John chapter four for your blessing.
MEDITATION: Rom 4:5, Jn 4:34
BIBLE STUDY
1 Sam. 18, Romans 16, Lam. 3, Ps. 34