WHAT IS A “CALLING” FROM GOD?
A calling from God is an invitation from God Himself, inviting you to partner with Him in redeeming the world as you use your grace-infused gifting, personality, and skill set. Discovering your calling is lot like falling in love, when it happens you know. You have an internal passion that matches your external gifting.
“For we are partners working together for God.” 1 Corinthians 3:10 GNT
ALL CALLINGS FROM GOD ARE SACRED VOCATIONS
Being a Gospel-empowered middle school teacher or a Gospel-empowered Wall Street Executive is just as important to God’s kingdom as being a pastor or international missionary. God has no second string on His team! We need more Gospel-infused, Jesus-adoring, Spirit-empowered Christ followers in Hollywood, in politics (in both parties), education, music, and in technology.
As the Apostle Paul says,
“Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.” Colossians 3:22-23 NLT
FOCUS ON JESUS, NOT YOUR CALLING
You will discover your calling, not by focusing on your calling, but by focusing on Jesus, the One who called you to be loved by His Papa. Your greatest ministry will be a ministry of receiving the limitless love of God the Papa through Jesus.
“See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!” 1 John 3:1 NLT
YOUR CALLING FLOWS OUT OF YOUR HEALING
As you delight in Jesus, as His the unsearchable riches of grace captures your heart, you will want others to be captured by His grace too. And that’s your calling. Out of your hurt and healing, God the Spirit will match your gifts, skill set, and personality with a sacred vocation that will allow you to do something in the world that displays Jesus.
BE PATIENT, BE PERSISTENT AND PLEASE BE HUMBLE
This short excerpt from book, Limitless Life: You Are More than Your Past When God Holds Your Future, will help you:
“I’ve logged quite a few miles flying over the years, traveling the country and preaching at various conferences, churches, and business gatherings. As I travel from one city to the next, I often fly into an airport and have a layover before I board another plane to reach my final destination. Discovering your sacred vocation is like flying from one city to the next, with a layover in between. You may start in one career, spend some time there, learn some things, and then move on, just as I spent a summer working at Geneva Steel in Orem, Utah. I learned some things there that have helped me in life, but Geneva Steel was not my final destination. It was just a layover where I learned and grew as a man. Just because your current job may be a layover, however, doesn’t mean that you do not give your all for the glory of God. Often people were created for something else, but because they were not faithful in their “layover season” the layover become their final destination. Be faithful with the job you have now because you are worshiping Jesus through your work.”
YOUR CALLING IS A COMMITMENT, NOT A EUPHORIC FEELING
Discovering and walking in your calling means that you will do a lot of mundane, uneventful, boring tasks. Never forget that your “heart being alive” is a commitment to the task God has called you to, not constant feelings of euphoria.
And please don’t expect to have things and positions within an organization that people in their 40’s and 50’s have. It took us a long, long time, and it took a lot of hard work to get where we are. It will be the same for you too.
Let these drip into your heart, you will need them:
“In the realm of ideas, everything depends on enthusiasm; in the real world, all rests on perseverance.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Listen to Your Life
Our days are filled with busyness to the point where we don't take time to listen to our lives. Quieting yourself and answering the following questions will help you uncover your passion.
1. If money were not an issue, what would you do with your time?
2. What do you love to do? What do you hate to do?
3. What gives you energy? What drains the life out of you?
4. What do you want to change, shape, and leave better than you found it?
5. What segment of the population are you drawn to help?
6. What do you want to experience, witness, and learn?
Not sure what to be when you grow up (whenever that is)? Fret no more.
We can figure this out together. Let’s get started.
1. Ignore the future, deal with the present.
The question, “What should I be when I grow up?” is wrong. Ask instead, “What is next today?” People become fat one bite at a time, and we become adults one hour at a time, so what we do today matters.
2. Shop around.
Unless you try on the outfit, you’ll never know if it fits. Do the same with vocations, avocations, hobbies and skills. You’ll need to sample every flavor to know your true favorite taste.
3. Say yes to odd opportunities to do ministry of all kinds.
Say yes to the things that intrigue you, instead of the ones that bore you.
4. Find a problem to solve in the world and your church.
Being the solution makes your work feel meaningful.
5. Burn your plans.
Your life will not go according to a plan. Nobody’s ever has. So don’t worry if you get off track. The track was imaginary anyway.
6. Do not follow someone else’s dream.
Your parents want you to be A. Your boss wants you to be B. Your friends want you to be C. And society is clamoring for you to be D. You can’t please everyone, but if you do what YOU think you should, at least you’ll be able to sleep at night.
7. Blend your talents with your gifts.
Instead of doing something that only takes advantage of one skill, create a mash-up of several things you do well. You’ll set yourself apart and feel more satisfied with what you’re doing.
8. Seek out people you actually like.
It’s more satisfying to dig a ditch with friends than to design a skyscraper with a team of sociopaths.
9. Give yourself permission to change your mind.
Most of us choose our paths around 18. As time passes, you might find new things to do and places to be and people to know, and a few calls you made at 18 will probably need to be overturned.
10. Ask the elderly or an elder for advice.
They’ve been there, done that, got the AARP card. You’ll find that happiness and satisfaction have more to do with love and purpose than dollars and cents.
11. Roam a Christian book store.
You never know which book, author, or topic will speak to you from the shelves. You might just find what you didn’t even know you were looking for.
12. Seek support, not tolerance.
You’re going to need help with anything and everything. Make sure you have people in your corner who do more than just nod and say, “that’s nice,” when you tell them your dreams.
13. Spend time before you spend money.
Invest in reading and talking and finding out before you plunk down a ton of money on a degree or a certification or a relocation. You might find that you don’t have to write a check to compose your future.
14. Don’t confuse a job with a purpose.
If you are working to support your family, they are your real bosses. If you are working to further a goal or idea, don’t let your paycheck (however plump it is) become an obstacle to it.
15. Consider your epitaph, not your resume.
Thinking long term can help you see both what’s vitally important and what’s certainly silly.
16. There’s no need to be THE best.
Very few people are the very best in the world at anything. Doing your best doesn’t mean you have to be THE best. Your best is more than enough.
17. Don’t keep score.
No one will be at the top or bottom of their game forever, and who you perceive as your competition is a constantly changing cast of characters. Keeping score can become a full-time job if you let it, and that’s an awful way to spend a day, much less a lifetime.
18. Change course if you find yourself coasting.
It’s possible to get stuck on a very easy and vaguely rewarding path, like a cushy or undemanding job. If you feel yourself simply rolling along, it’s time to switch gears, because coasting can atrophy your dreams.
19. Be authentically uncool.
Stick with what you love, even if others sneer at it. This is also referred to as integrity.
20. Relax and trust in God.
There’s no right answer, but there are thousands of viable options available, besides you can do all things with Him.
Here are 7 questions that you can ask yourself to help you discover your life’s calling.
1) What is your message to the world?
Without fail, it is this question that helps many of the people I work with discover their life’s calling.
Each person has a lifetime of experiences, education and thoughts that has guided them in their lives. Each person has a life story and a life message.
Based on your personal story and life experiences with God, what is your message to the world?
2) What kind of legacy do you want to leave?
No one likes to think about themselves after they’ve lived their lives but taking this larger view helps put everything in perspective.
Let’s say you’ve lived a full and rich life and were able to leave something behind for your family, friends, society and church.
What would that be? What did you do or change or live in your life that will impact people when you’re no longer here?
What qualities will you have been remembered for? What did you change? What was your life lesson?
Who did you inspire? How did you touch people in your life?
3) What doesn’t feel like work to you?
There are parts of your day that feel like pure drudgery: difficult and painstaking tasks that bore you to death.
But there are other parts of the day when you feel on top of the world. Your project doesn’t feel like work and you love doing it. Not only is it a breeze for you to get done but you get a lot of compliments when doing it.
What tasks don’t feel like work and what work can you do in your sleep?
4) What did you imagine doing when you were a kid?
You’d be surprised how much we were in tune with our intuition and our callings growing up.
Many of our strengths, passions and aspirations go back to our childhood days.
What did you tell people you wanted to do as a kid growing up?
What were you preoccupied with? Which ministries fascinated you? What did you dream about doing in your day-dreams?
5) Who is doing your dream job? And what exactly is that job?
Look around you in your everyday life.
What would you want to do if you could do any job out there? Which job or career seems like a blast to you? Whose job would you want to be doing if you could do any job out there?
What do you need to do in order to get that job yourself? More skills, more school, more contacts?
6) What are you most passionate about?
All right, this might be an annoying question because you’re trying to figure out what you’re passionate about.
But let’s forget about your workplace for a minute.
What are you passionate about outside work?
What ministry or activities do you do for fun?
What books and magazines do you read?
What’s the main section of the bookstore you visit?
You can try to tie your passions to your job later but for now, determine what it is you’re passionate about generally in life.
7) What work would you never do again no matter how you much you were paid?
It’s important to discover your calling in life but one way to help you get there is to eliminate those jobs that are definitely NOT your calling.
Once you know what career doesn’t fit or what jobs you can’t stand, you will get clearer on what jobs are left.
You can use the process of elimination and identifying jobs you’re allergic to, to help you get closer to your true calling in life.
Finding your calling can be a life-long process just jump in and go for it, bring glory to God in all that you do.
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