Heaven Pt. 16

“For the LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and my native land, solemnly promised to give this land to my descendants.He will send his angel ahead of you, and he will see to it that you find a wife there for my son. ” Ge. 24:7 NLT

  Once upon a time I lost my job at Cornerstone. The church was in pastoral transition. Money was tight. The board made the difficult decision to lay off the staff (yep it can happen in churches too).

     I was mad at God. After all He was supposed to be the “Provider”, wasn’t He? He had called me to minister and now it seemed like ministry was drying up.

     Then God shared with me a timeless truth from the book of Romans. In my lowest moments of those days when I asked God why He was allowing the ministry to be destroyed out of my life He came to me and said “… God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. ” Rom. 11:29

     God showed me that jobs would come and go but the ministry was a part of who I was. Everyone of us is called in some way, gifted with certain gifts that will not be revoked regardless of our circumstances. God will never remove the gift. He does, however reserve the right to create or change the circumstances in which those gifts manifest.

    Like Abraham we may be called out of a land of comfort into what seems a dark place. But that is only an illusion. The end of my story is that God called me out of the church for a season to teach school in the inner city. I had one student and (get this) a Bible study. Turns out God’s people had been praying for Him to send someone to help!

    Maybe you are being called into a change today. It doesn’t mean you are being called out of your gifts. God’s just going to use them differently in the days ahead.

Let’s pray: Dear Lord, I come to you realizing that while your gifts will never be taken away that doesn’t mean my circumstances will remain the same. Lord in all of life’s changes help me to remain constant and intentional. Show me how to use these gifts in all the places You are going to take me. In Jesus name A-men!