UNDERSTANDING GOD’S CALL/ ORDINATION

One common undoubted factor about the calling or ordination of God is that most who are called are more often sure about their calling. But one overriding factor is that the Varying Dynamics of those calls and the uniqueness of each call is a key proponent that escapes many believers’ minds and understanding. Let’s take a look at these Dynamics through the lenses of the scriptures.

1) The first understanding is that every call has to be Answered and Understood and giving us the best example concerning this is the young boy Samuel; 1 Samuel 3:2-11.

2) Secondly, God does not make up His mind to ordain someone for a particular assignment once that person has been born and already grown. The careful planning and ordination happens way before even the parents of that individual planned of bringing them into this world Jeremiah 1:4-5. This means that when you’re in employment and feel being pushed by the Spirit into ministry it doesn’t show that that’s when God is calling you or ordaining you for ministry. It just means that your ordination happened way before you were born but because you didn’t have contact and fellowship with the Holy Ghost earlier in life you took a path God didn’t intend for you and now He’s just redirecting you to your originally intended path.

3) Thirdly, every Calling or Ordination is Uniquely Personal and can’t be substiuted regardless of how much we would like to think or imagine. The best example is that of Jonah in Jonah 1:2-3:4. However how much Jonah would have run away from God and how long it would have taken, God would still have brought him back to fulfill the task he was ordained for. Why is this important to us? It’s because the assignments God has ordained for us in this life are things He has invested in by preparing us for them since before birth. That’s why we’re irreplaceable in our assignments whether we like it or not. However if people were given a chance to advise God, Jonah would have been replaced as soon as he left for Tarshish.

There may be some who because of Jonah’s diversion, indecision and delay would have felt that due to the urgency of the mission it would have been necessary for God to get someone who could deliver the assignment faster. But God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts;- Isaiah 55:8-9. In fact Isaiah goes ahead to say as follows:- Isaiah 40:13-14 “Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?” This means we can never direct the Spirit of God on how to do His work regardless of the challenges faced by the one assigned a particular task or assignment or how long it may take inspite of the urgency (just think of Jonah). It also means you can never run away from your call or assignment however much you try which brings me to my fourth dynamic.

4) Fourthly, No excuse, confusion, indecision, dilemma or delay can get you off the hook of the call/Ordination of God. Just ask Moses; Exodus 4:10-15. When God ordained you and gifted you for your call or assignment He was in His right mind and didn’t make a mistake. The scriptures say He is not a son of man to change His mind, and that His gifts and calling are without repentance; Numbers 23:19, Romans 11:29.

5) Fifth and Most Important; DON’T Overstep your Office, Call or Assignment however interesting and fun your neighbor’s call might be. Just stick to your ordained call and assignment. There’s a reason God ordained you for a particular assignment and not another. We can’t have it all for the Sole Purpose that we may depend on each other as parts of the Body of Christ, respecting one another and recognizing each other’s role and authority 1 Corinthians 12:14-31 (Key Verses 28-31). One person who learned the hard way was the King Saul. Because of the restlessness of his men and because he thought the Prophet Samuel was slow and delayed the sacrificial offering, he took it upon himself to do the work of a Priest Knowing very well he was anointed a King and not a priest. This costed him his throne as the king of Israel 1 Samuel 13:6-14.

Learning from Saul, however much you may see your brother or sister delaying in their office or assignment, don’t take it upon yourself to do it but pray for God’s will to position them. Taking a role, assignment or authority that has not been given to you by God can be very detrimental to your Spiritual progress in ministry. Having talked about these Five Dynamics of God’s Call/Ordination, I pray that The Holy Ghost may help us understand them and lead us all through the calling that we were ordained for from before the foundations of the world, Complementing one another and Completing one another in The Body of Christ!!