Keep your attention on God’s call to an assignment rather than on your spiritual gifts, personal desires, skills, abilities, or resources. Once you understand God’s call to an assignment, obey Him, and He will work through you to accomplish His divine, eternal purposes. (excerpt from Experiencing God by Henry & Richard Blackaby)

Recently, I read a chapter in “Experiencing God” that changed the way I think about God’s will and my spiritual gifts. All these years, I thought that all I needed to do was find out what my spiritual gift is and then join a ministry that suits my natural inclinations. But, I learned that there is more to this thing. All throughout the Bible, there are examples where God had first called people and then qualified them to perform a certain task. By right, people like Moses, David, the prophets and the twelve disciples were all unqualified to participate in God’s plan; however, He empowered each of them with the Holy Spirit and gave them the ability to carry out every task. These people didn’t take a spiritual gifts test or anything. They simply made themselves available to the Lord and relied on Him to not only reveal His plan, but to instruct them every step of the way as they helped carry out that plan.

This is liberating to me because I have been kind of frustrated trying to figure out how to fit my personality and list of skills into God’s ministry. I keep feeling a pull in certain directions to pursue certain things, but those pursuits don’t seem to align with my list. Because I have already determined the extent to which God can use me, I usually end up turning down opportunities that go outside of those parameters. How self-centered and foolish of me to stuff God into a box that I created! It’s foolish because no one really knows what God’s plan is until He reveals it, and once He does, He always gives instruction on how we fit into the plan. God can and will use anyone He chooses, but the key for us is to be available and willing to accept His invitation to be a part of His plan.

From now on, I will live in anticipation of what the Lord wants me to do. In order to live in anticipation, I will have to position myself accordingly. Spending quality time with God everyday and inviting Him into every part of my life is the best way to position myself to hear Him more clearly. Once I do receive God’s instruction, obedience is key. Obedience is the open door  the Holy Spirit uses to come and work through us. Like every other person God called into service in the Bible, I too am flawed and have some insecurities. That is why it’s critical to wait on God before making decisions in life, especially in ministry. If we do this, we can be certain that our efforts will be fruitful and will be completely pleasing in the sight of God.