March 13 – Acts 13:1-12

March 13 – Acts 13:1-12

Lesson: He Calls to Ministry

Dear Lord, bless our time with you today.  Meet us where we are at, guide our minds, and hold our hearts as we search for Your truth.

First, do your own quiet time with God and 4R journaling.  When you are complete, come back here for the lesson.

Request Gods’ help

Read Acts 13:1-12

Record a verse that stands out to you

Respond to God

While today’s ministry is the calling of ministry, God pressed upon me to focus more on what should come before that calling, or rather our actual state of being.  What do I mean by that?  Well, let’s crack open our Bibles again and look at Acts 13:2-4.  Here is laid out the formula:

1. Worship 2. Fast. 3. Be called 4. Obey and go. Today we will discuss worshipping, our calling, and obeying.

Don’t put that Bible down quite yet, turn to Galatians 1:11-17.  Ohhh, okaaayyy, there it is.  Our state of being should be one of humbleness.  We need to be in a place where we recognize that we are lowly, lower than God is.  We remember to put ourselves where we belong, at His feet.  He is the most high God, the creator the heavens and the earth, the God who gives and the God who takes away.  He makes the sun remember to shine and earth to keep spinning. He holds it together with just His will.

That God… He is the one who sends His Spirit to call us to ministry. Our calling is to serve Him only;  not others, not work, not church, not our own agenda or what we think is serve-able.  But God, the only God.  And until we are in that humble and reverent place, we won’t know what our ministry area will be.

And don’t be fooled.  We can be so busy serving the Lord that we forget to worship and praise Him and soon all that serving… just serves ourselves.  Stop: Worship the God of universe, the God of salvation, of healing, of judgment.  Stop:  Praise Him for His goodness, His faithfulness, His promise keeping, His everything.  Stop:  Seek of Him His will for you.  Stop:  Search Him and know Him.

Preparing your heart can take years for the Spirit to reveal your ministry.  There could be years upon years.  I didn’t know mine until my 40’s!  Such a long time to wait… and to question Him and His promises.  Yikes, those were sometimes dark and often silent times.  So prepare your heart, seek His will and pray for discernment so that you know the calling is from Him and not just an emotional response on your part.

I remember back to my dear friend and pastor, who once told me (as I was questioning where God’s call to me was) that in the waiting… just serve.  Don’t sit idly by wishing, hoping and praying the call would come.  Do.  Be actionable. Serve where needed.  And it’s so true right?  As I look back at all my times of just serving where needed I realized that all those places were stepping stones for the ministry to which He called me.  I had no idea the amazing things God had planned for me.  At the time, I was a struggling wife, mom, and navy gal who had just lost her brother and a baby.  I was heartbroken and lonely.  And I had no definitive place where I knew for certain God had called me to be.  But in my brokenness, I just served where needed.  I gave it to God and did it for His glory.  Twenty odd years later… He called.  I answered.

And be prepared!  I thought for sure He was calling me to a life of feeding people and/or children’s ministry. Nope.  As it happens, it’s for women.  Ha!  The exact demographic I ran from!  Turns out, my safety net of nursery work and feeding the hungry weren’t what He had in mind at all.  It was chatty women! But He also showed grace in that my ministry too, is for those with developmental and intellectual disabilities, a group of people who have always been so close to my heart.  He gave me one ministry to work in and another ministry where I find rest.  God is so good!

I share my story to show that it’s not always cookie cutter perfect, Instagram ready, neat and tidy. It can be messy and hectic.  The thing about the ministry God calls us to, it’s guaranteed to not be doable in our own strength, it absolutely beyond doubt has to be on God’s strength.

You are not alone, you have the Holy Spirit who calls you to the very will of God.  You are not stranded on an island floundering about waiting for the help to arrive.  He is already here! And He is already working!  Be still, and know that God is God and you are not.  Be still and be at the ready to serve where He calls you. Be still, and know that He is near.

Dear Heavenly Father,  we praise You for You know all things.  We thank You for giving us just enough information, just enough that we can handle.  And we thank You for Your persistent patience with our falterings and our doubts.  May we strive to have more and more confidence in You with each passing day.

(Further reading: Acts 4:31; 8:29, 39; 10:4; 16:6)

What’s next?

As the Spirit leads, in the comment section below, share what He has laid on your heart.

Then join us again tomorrow to learn about the ministry of empowerment.