No. 4: How Do I Know Where God is Calling Me?

How do I know where God is calling me? Is this His will? Should I major in this or that? Should I move here or there? Is it right to take this job, or that job? Is this something He's calling me to or is just something I, in my flesh, am wanting?

These are all common questions we as followers of Jesus find ourselves asking at one point or another.

In this episode we discuss:

• What a "calling" even means in the first place
• What we're all called to as followers of Jesus
• Biblical examples of faithful followers
• What to ask to practically determine what God is calling you to do
• Discerning what passions and opportunities God has uniquely given you
• The importance of receiving counsel from fellow, mature believers

First things first

Before getting in to the nitty gritty, there are a few things we must remember about God's calling on our life.

1. Our first call is to the Gospel (1 Corinthians 3:11). If Jesus is not the foundation of our lives, then the rest of this conversation is entirely pointless.
2. Our next calling is to sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:3). No matter who we are, or what context we're in, we can see that God has a will for everyone's life to be sanctified. If we are amazing leaders, evangelists, workers, or anything else, but are not growing in our love for and obedience to Christ, we are not following God's calling.
3. We are always called to make disciples (Matthew 28). No matter what we do for a living, we are called to be a disciple and the make disciples.
4. We are to be faithful where God has placed us. This is crucial. So often, our focus on what we will do in the future prevents us from being faithful where God has currently placed us. We can look to the example of Pricilla and Aquilla, who were faithful to mentor Apollos (Acts 18:26), and utilize their house for a house church (1 Cor. 16:19).

We must not get so caught up in what we will do five years from now that we miss opportunities to be faithful five minutes from now.

If you cannot be faithful where God has currently placed you, what leads you to think you will suddenly be faithful where God will place you next?

Questions to ask to determine God's calling

What gifts has God given you?

Ephesians 4 lays out the beautiful picture of the different gifts God has given to His people so that all believers may be equipped. The gifts that He's uniquely given to us should not be ignored and should be used to their fullest ability to glorify Him.

Assessing these gifts is a great place to start with determining our next steps.

What passions has God given you?

In Acts 16, we see the story of Lydia who was a seller of purple goods, meaning she had wealth. While she was not in vocational ministry, her passion for selling goods enabled her to be faithful in hospitality and ministering to believers in her home (Acts 16: 40).

What opportunities has God given you?

Prior to the story of Lydia, we see this peculiar story of the Holy Spirit preventing Paul from preaching the Gospel in Asia (Acts 16:6-10). Paul's response was not to force his way into Asia, but rather he preached the gospel elsewhere. He followed the opportunities that were given to him.

If we believe that God is calling us to sing at the halftime of the Super Bowl, but that opportunity never arises, then He wasn't calling us to do so in the first place (sorry to crush those dreams).

What do fellow, mature believers say?

THIS IS VITAL. There are numerous passages throughout Proverbs emphasizing the importance of wise counsel. Proverbs 12:15 states “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.”

Whenever we are seeking to determine something as big as what God is calling us to do, we must receive the counsel of other mature, and preferably older, believers.

As we were making the decision whether to move to Wisconsin or not, we received counsel from SO many people – older, younger, more mature, peers, etc.

Have these people in your corner to consult. If they're not already there in your life, they're worth fighting to have.

Your One Degree Shift

Write down one way that you can be more faithful, right now, where God has placed you in this season of life.

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