What happened in Nineveh as Jonah preached was something of, well, biblical proportions. The people repented and turned back to God. Not just a few of the people. Not just a majority count. The entire city! Can you imagine that? Some theologians have called this the greatest revival in history. An entire city, a wicked, evil, violent, sinful city, repented and turned back to following the true God!
God had an effective plan for Jonah to enact. And God’s will for your life is effective as well!
Never doubt God’s ability to impact a whole city with truth! And never doubt God’s ability to use your ministry to do it! God called Jonah to the city of Nineveh so that He could show those people His mercy. God wanted the people of Nineveh to repent. God knew that if Jonah would just go, that those people in Nineveh, despite appearances, were ready to trust Him.
What could God do through YOU? Where is your city? What has God prepared for you already?
Do you believe that God could do something great through you? Is God calling you to do something great? If God has laid a desire on your heart, that may be a good indication that He has already prepared the harvest ahead of you.
Charles Blondin was a French acrobat and tight-rope walker. His most famous stunt was walking across Niagara Falls in America. One time he pushed a wheelbarrow across. Once he carried a person on his back. After carrying a person across successfully, he asked another man in the crowd, “do you believe I could do that with you?”. “ Of course”, said the man. “Well then come on, I will carry you across”. “No way! Never!”, said the spectator.
The spectator said that he believed, but his belief did not lead him to action. What does God want to do through you? Do you really believe that He can? Do you believe that God’s calling is effectual? God prepares people to receive His gospel.
If God has called you to be a pastor, then those people are just waiting for you! If God has called you to be a missionary, then those people are just waiting for you! If God has called you into any area of service, He has called you to effectiveness.
God’s call on your life is effective. His call is always effective.
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you. Jonah 3:1
After Jonah repents of his decision to run away and turns back to God, the same specific call comes to Jonah for the second time: to go to Nineveh and preach.
God’s call on your life is unchanging as well.
If God has called you to serve Him, He will not stop calling you. He will not remove the call. He will not change His mind. He made you for a purpose. He will not be satisfied until you are fulfilling it. And by the way, neither will you! I absolutely knew when God was calling me into the ministry, that I would not be fulfilled doing anything else. Jonah thought that he could run away from God’s call and the call would stop. But that’s not how God works.
When I was around fourteen years old, during our church youth camp, I committed my life to serving God however He chose to use me. But (I hate to admit this), honestly I forgot about that commitment. If you had mentioned it to me in the ensuing high school years, I would have definitely remembered my commitment. But no one mentioned it, and I had put it far from my thoughts. However, God did not forget. I’m amazed at how patient He was with me for many years! And God in His grace continued to call me.
Some of you reading this (yes, you) know that God has called to serve Him. If you know that, but you’ve never acted on it, step out in faith and begin to pursue God’s calling in your life. If you are already serving God in ministry, are you confident in what He is calling you to do? Do you hear the specific call of God?
What ministry is He leading you to develop in your church? What desire has He placed in your heart?
Our God does not change, and His purposes do not change, and His call does not change. If God has called you, He has plans to use you! Don’t run from God’s call; embrace it!
Now, a caveat. God’s call is unchanging, it’s true. I believe you can see through the volume of Scripture that if God calls a person into vocational service as a priest, prophet, preacher, missionary, etc that His call is permanent, unchanging, and for a lifetime. There’s no example of God’s servants retiring and moving to the beach. Once you are in, you are in for life. If God calls you into full time ministry, He wants you in full time ministry. God’s separation of a person to full time ministry is an enduring separation.
But (and this is worth noting) God may adjust the mode of the separation over a person’s life. For example, a missionary may leave the field to plant a church in his home country. Then he may later return to the field (or not). A pastor may know that it is time to move on from his current pastorate, not in search of money or ease, but as a response to God’s (new) specific calling.
This reasoning also applies to lay leadership in the church. God may move you from nursery worker to high school Sunday school teacher, back to children’s ministry volunteer, etc. God has called every believer to be a servant – vocational or not – and when you finish one area of service – you aren’t finished!
If God has moved you around in your ministry life, don’t be dismayed. In fact, you’ve receive a double (or triple, or quadruple) blessing of God’s specific calling. God’s separation of you to His ministry has not changed, but like a general moving troops around in battle, God positions His enlisted servants in specific places at specific times.
Be willing to listen to God’s continuing specific, unchanging call in your life!
“How did you know you were called to be a missionary?”
I have heard this question many, many times, and I love to hear it. This question means most often means that someone is trying to find the will of God for their own life. They want to know the “secret” to hearing or recognizing the call of God. As we will find out in the story of the prophet Jonah, the call of God is often not what we think, but there are some markers that help us distinguish it.
The call of God is specific.
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” Jonah 1:1-2
First, God spoke specifically to the specific man Jonah and gave him a specific assignment.
It was not optional for Jonah to participate, nor could he find someone else to do the job. It was his and his alone. Next, God gave him “the word of the Lord”, or in other words, He told him what to say. Jonah could not just meander somewhere and say whatever he thought needed to be said. God gave him exactly what message to deliver. Lastly, God specifically told Jonah where to say it: the city of Nineveh.
I can relate to this pattern in my own life. First, God spoke to me about serving Him in ministry. I can remember being on a mission trip in Peru in 2007, and through the influence of the missionary Rudy Johnson and his wife Lorraine, combined with the devotions and prayer time that week, God touched my heart.
It was on that trip that God began to call me with a simple question: “what are you doing with your life?”
My life’s verse is Psalm 37:4 which says “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart”. That verse does not mean that if we give God a little time, He will bless us however we want to be blessed. What The Psalmist David is expressing in this verse is that as we give ourselves to God, as we delight in Him, as we spend time with Him, rejoice in Him, serve Him, that as we do those things, He will change our heart’s desires to match His desires for our life. And that is how God called me. He put a burning desire in my heart to serve Him in the ministry, to give all my efforts for Him and His gospel.
In the immediate months that followed, God gave me specifics as to my calling including the place to minister, specific ministries to be involved in, and He gave me a wife to serve alongside!
What is my point in sharing my story? To encourage you that God’s call is specific. It was specific for Jonah, it was specific for me, and God still speaks to people specifically today. We must learn to listen. God may speak to you about a specific person you need to share Jesus with. God may call you to a specific country to serve (it happened to me!). God may call you to a specific place to plant a church (it happened to me!).
God wants specific people for specific tasks. God has made you for a purpose, for a reason.
God has given you the abilities He has given you for a specific, special reason. He has gifted you so that you can use your gifts in His service. And the great thing is that God knows what needs to be done. God has the plan, He just wants servants to carry it out! It was God who saw the need in Nineveh, not Jonah. God looks at whole cities and sees their need! God is looking at places right now and He sees their need for the gospel, and He is calling people right now, today, to work the harvest.
What is He calling you to do?
This post is part of a series on Finding God’s Will. Part 2 is here.
This post is an edited excerpt from the book Big Things.
A lot of people ask me the question “how did you know you were supposed to be a missionary?”. They are usually asking this question not just out of curiosity but from a place of consideration. Many of them are wondering if they too are called.
Find out where God is working and join Him there – Henry Blackaby
I’ve also been at this missionary thing long enough now (10 years!) that I have also seen several missionaries leave for the foreign mission field only to find out that it wasn’t their cup of tea after all. Every circumstance is unique, but I do think some of these were the result of a lack of due diligence.
So how can you know if God is calling you into ministry?
Delight in the Lord
Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4
First of all, the Bible very teaches that God will give us the desires He wants us to have. In short, if you are spending ample time with the Lord, and you have a desire to serve as a missionary, that’s sort of the first box checked off. If you know you really aren’t spending daily time walking and talking with the Lord, then you better tamper your excitement about missions and seek the Lord first.
Seek Counsel
Without counsel, plans go awry, But in the multitude of counselors they are established. Proverbs 15:22
Second, God’s Word tells us that there is wisdom in a multitude of counselors. Have you talked to spiritual leaders in your life about your desire to be in missions? Your pastor is in your life for a reason. He can even see things about your life that maybe you can’t. Your spiritual mentors are there to help guide you into God’s will for your life.
When I take my kids bowling, we ask for the lane bumpers to help the game go a little smoother. It’s more fun when you can accomplish the goal of reaching the pins. It’s the same with life. Wisdom from mentors and leaders are the bumpers in our life to help us find our way. Don’t try to play the game without them!
Go Exploring
Last, if you’ve checked the first two boxes and are still certain that God is calling you to missions, it’s time to venture out and explore. We recommend for anyone looking to join our Global Surge team that they do a six month internship to test the waters first. This period helps them see if they are a good fit for us and honestly helps us to see if we are a good fit for them!
If God has opened the doors for you, and you are moving in a wise way, then it may be time to take the step of faith and go for it! Go explore what God wants to do with your life!
Finding your call to ministry is just as much about saying “no” as saying “yes”. And those “no’s” help give you a focused direction. They help you to zero in on finding God’s will for your life.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said that “the art of leadership is saying no.”
Warren Buffet, the American billionaire investor said “The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say ‘no’ to almost everything.”
Steve Jobs said ““People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the 100 other good ideas that there are.”
All of these leaders are speaking to the fact that you must first know what you are committed to, so that you can reject other opportunities efficiently. You must first know what you want to do, before you can know what you don’t want to do.
The Critical Piece: Finding Your Divine Ideal In ministry this principle is even more critical. Because we are not dealing in financial gains, we are dealing with eternity. You will struggle with ministry impact until you learn to focus on what God made you to do – your call to ministry – or what I call your Divine Ideal.
You will struggle to speak the gospel effectively until you find your Divine Ideal, your place in God’s plan.
More Opportunities Than Possible One of the biggest challenges for ministry leaders is knowing which ministry opportunities to follow and which to avoid. If you are like me, you have more opportunities than you can possibly realistically engage in.
Sometimes we engage in the wrong ministry. When we were first starting our church plant, God opened the door for us to have access to a local elementary school. The principal, who was not a Christian, agreed to allow me to lead their daily faculty moral value session. I was sure this was a great opportunity! How could it not be? So once a week, I started leading their meetings and introduced some Bible topics. The problem was, none of the teachers wanted to be there, they were forced to be there. And they certainly didn’t want to hear from me, a Baptist preacher. After a few weeks of that, I didn’t want to be there, because none of them were responsive or engaging in any way. It was tortuous. I was actually glad when that opportunity had run it’s course. It was just the wrong ministry for that situation.
Are you Uncertain of Your Ministry Direction? In the end, I was uncertain why I was even there. Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever been uncertain in what you were doing in your ministry?
Being uncertain as a ministry leader is like an airplane pilot with no real destination. He should have a plan, other people assume he has a plan, but really he is just up there on a trip to nowhere.
In ministry, being certain or being sure means not only knowing what you want to do, but more fully, knowing what you are called to do.
If you are going to follow the right path, you must know that you have a God idea – your call to ministry – so that you can say no to other good ideas. You must learn to focus on your Divine Ideal.
The Secret to Finding Your Call The secret is in the book of Psalms. Psalm 37:4 is my life’s verse.
Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4
The secret to finding God’s idea is to first find God. The secret to fulfilling God’s desire in your life and ministry is to delight in Him. The key to accomplishing for Christ is abiding in Christ.
The secret to doing is being. The secret to finding your ideal is to focus on your Divine Maker.
For more information, I’ve written a 3-part series on Finding God’s Will.
These snowflake photos from photographer Alexey Kljatov are incredible. They instantly inspire awe in all of us, and for good reason. They also create questions.
Photos like these spark a debate among those who believe in a Creator, and those who adhere to evolutionary theory. The “discussion” (which quickly digresses to an argument) is usually centered around explaining how these came to be.
But the question for these snowflakes with regard to their genesis is not “how” but “why’?
