Christian Readers discussion

How do you know that God is calling you to do something? Ministry? I feel God is calling me to start a women's group but I don't really have any qualifications.

I believe we're all called into a degree of ministry (i.e. to serve God in some way), but the only qualification you'll ever need is the anointing of God. :-)

Andrew Wommack is a great Bible teacher, and he offers some great insight into callings. I forget exactly which teaching it is, but it's among his free audio teachings online:

http://www.awmi.net/extra/audio

Basically, if you feel genuinely drawn to an area of ministry, and it lines up with the Word of God, then stand on faith and go for it! If you're still a little unsure, then pray about it, and speak to more mature Christians in your church (ones who know you quite well), to see if they can offer some advice.

One really good way to discover where you are meant to be is by trial and error. If your motives are based in love and your purpose is not self seeking (which im sure it isnt) then give it your best shot... go for it!
In Joyce meyer's book "I dare you" she says she tried several types of minstry, including children's creche(?) until she found one that felt right and in step with what God wanted. If you don't step out into the possbility, then you limit what God can do in your life. The worst that can happen is that it won't work out and you learn a lesson about yourself. the best is unimaginable! Be blessed!

Hey Kym, The advice already written is real good. The thought that came to me is that if you have a burden go ahead and seek where you can serve. One thing I have learned is God may have a slightly different plan and is just wanting you to step out in faith. Remember its His agenda, not ours. I became very aware and then burdened for dads, especially dads of sons. I thought I was supposed to start something but I didn't know what. I did a small group study called FAST Fathers and sons together, a new idea of getting fathers learning and growing with their sons. I think it was very successful but was just short term and the church didn't really like the idea. Well, today I am the author of A River Calling, a book for Christian dads raising sons, now being sold at Focus On the Family bookstore. We just never know where our burdens will lead us but we must remain in prayer and willing to give it over to Him.

> "Remember its His agenda, not ours."

That sums up my experience perfectly! I used to say "I will never be a teacher", but now one of the major callings on my life is to teach. (Specifically Bible teaching, although I'm an educational technology researcher by day).

God will sometimes turn our worst failings into our greatest successes, for His glory, because His strength is made perfect in our weakness. (2 Cor 12:9).

When you get to the point where you feel like you're not qualified, you're just about ready. If there's a calling to teach people about Christ, you can be pretty sure that's not Satan's doing.

WOW! Thank you all for writing back. I've felt for over 3 months now I should start a group for women who lost baby(s) by miscarriage, still birth, or early infant death. I know there is a need because we have nothing in our area. We have lost 5 children who now are with the LORD and I feel that is my only qualification and that I know Jesus (to do this ministry). I am in the process of writing a proposal on the group. I guess I am just second guessing myself (am I ready? Do I have the knowledge, skills)... no really God. That's it. I'm not letting God be the one to do this. I am looking at it like I am the one who is the strength and the knowledge. It's all Him. Please pray that I will listen to God and not to my self or the adversary. Thank you for all your in put. God's Peace, Kymmy : )

I feel that realizing God's call on your life can come in a number of ways, but that you are always qualified- to begin with or through trial- to do what He wants you to do. Ministers of music have talent as instrumentalists or vocalists. Childrens' workers have a great fondness and greater patience for kids. et cetera.

Sometimes He asks you to do things you don't want to do in the process, but anything done by His will and calling will glorify Him. Best wishes for your group. Let us know how things go.

Just remember: God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called!

I agree. Not everyone with the "gift of gab" is called to preach. :)

thats true brittany but we mustnt let our own egos convince us that its Gods calling either lol.

How do you know when God has called you to ministry?

I'll write this only from my experience of what I'm currently going through. For years I have had thoughts and dreams about writing and speaking about how I was able to cope with the brutal murder of my father. Yet, I kept fighting this strong urge to do so.

Lately, God has been placing people in my life, and putting me in situations where I had to witness to people who were struggling with the death and loss of a loved one. God has been showing me signs of writing workshops and how to get published workshops, and leadership seminars that just seem to be popping out at me from the newspapers and various websites that I visit; and I'm not able to shake this strong feeling of the need to attend them.

Last month I had decided to start my studies for going into the ministry. I can not tell you how much I have been richly blessed since I'm made this decision. People and opportunities keep coming into my live to help me accomplish this goal. All I can say is that when God has something for you to do, there is no shaking it off. You can try to run away from it, and avoid it for awhile, and God just may let you do that until he gets tired of you goofing off. Then when he's ready for you to begin his work, there is no one and nothing that can stop you. God will supply you with all the things you need to accomplish your task for his good works.

I see this happening with me each and every day. So each day I strive to start my day with a prayer giving him thanks and recognition for all he's done for me and my family, and that he will continue to lead me and guide me in the direction that he wants me to go.

So, I said all that to summarize with this... You will know when God calls you into the ministry, because you will not ever have to ask this question and seek and answer for it. Because you'll known in your heart and mind that God has touched you in a way that you can't shake the feeling, in knowing that he "GOD" has sanctioned you to be a messenger of his word. You will be so excited that you can't wait to share this joy with everyone that you come into contact with. God will start to open doors for you that you never dreamed of being opened to you before.

Just Stay in his "WORD" and prepare yourself for the wonderful Blessings that are about to rain down on YOU!

May God Continue To Bless You,

Lady V

I agree with you Sarrah about not letting our egos get in the way of God's work. If that's what people are in for it then they are just wasting God's time.

Beautifully said Lady V. What encouragment that I needed today. Today at church a friend came and told me about a friend of hers that is also struggling with infertility and then another friend who had a friend who is struggling with loss of her baby born still born. I have also been fighting God about this. He told me this morning YOU NEED TO WAKE UP!! THERE IS WORK TO BE DONE!! YES SIR. And our sermon today was about FEARING NOT. 1 SAM. 17 David wasn't afraid of the giant because he had GOD. I shouldn't fear either because I have the same GOD!!! Thank you for your wonderful words!! PTL!

http://freedom2flythruchrist.blogspot...


Check out my blog.

No hurt in trying! :-) If your leaders &/or you feel like you should try, then go for it!! If your leaders & you decide later that you're not passionate about it, don't have the same vision/goals for the ministry, &/or not ready after you tried, then at least you gave it your best shot & now you know what you will need to work on. Everyone have different gifts, interests, & service needed by God. It is also really important to continue working on our relationship with God, growing in character (the fruit of the Spirit), and build relationships with other sisters and brothers in Christ besides focusing on serving.

This is a good question, Kym and there were some good answeres given.

I would like to ask: After it is revealed that God has indeed called you. Is there a fear in accepting the call into ministry?

Examples: Fear that people won't be receive you (Jeremiah) or fearful that your not good enough to carry out your ministry? (Abraham)

Blessings,
Vanessa

Thank you Jennifer and Vanessa. I so appreciate your comments and questions. I feel more like Abraham. Can I do this? I am so excited on what God has done but I still get nervous for a moment or two...

Kym, I confess that I have my moments of nervousness. I think we all do. :) It is in those moments, that I rely heavily upon God. I remind myself, that I am His chosen instrument. I then breath. Then I let go and let God have His way.

Greetings to All my new friends here. I was called to ministry quite extrordinarily. God sent his Angel to me. I saw the Angel Raphael outside of me. The angel spoke to me in spirit then held out towards me a long brown monks rode and said "Put on this habit woman. Put on this holy habit". I was up in the heavenlies during this revelation and understood on God's Holy level and so I simply said "Yes." Another time Christ Jesus manifest to me. I entered in to Communions With Christ and the Lord imparted to my spirit that He was placing a mantle on me. My reaction was "Not me,Lord! You must have the wrong person!"
Many extrordinary miraculous experiences later the Holy Spirit gave me words to write about these things.
I asked God what I should call the book. The Lord replied COMMUNIONS WITH CHRIST. I've walked out an amazing God ordained journey and its not over yet! My testimony in the book has just been published and released. I give the Lord all the credit. Now I am going on Book Signings, another thing I told God "Not me Lord, you've got the wrong person!" In fact I had quite a struggle with all of this, resisting this call because it is so fat our of my comfort zone. I guess we can all relate to the way God does that with us!
The Bible says the sharing of our testimony if for the building up of our faith.

Peace, Sharon

Glenda wrote: "One really good way to discover where you are meant to be is by trial and error. If your motives are based in love and your purpose is not self seeking (which im sure it isnt) then give it your bes..."

all of us are supposed to minister. Use your gifts where they are needed in the church in your community which best follows the teaching of the bible then go with the holy spirits flow. God has called me to minister to my family in my home. I know this because of titus chapter 2. I know God has also called me to go to the church in my community because that is where he has placed me to serve. You have to go to your jerusalem then go to other places. Its not has God called you to ministry, but where has he called you to serve? thankfully you can find all the answers in the bible. Listen to those that are sober minded because God has called us to be of a sober mind.

Long time! Since 2009! Still ur advices are as timely.

N'geo, that is so true, Gods word is never out of date. :) God bless you and your journey.

I think it comes down to what you're really passionate about and what you believe in. I believe I've been called to a ministry of writing and that God is going to use my words to touch people's lives. One of the reasons I hold this belief is that I just don't find myself anywhere near as passionate or interested in other fields as I do regarding writing. Some people are called to do different things in life e.g. fix cars or program computers, and those callings are Godly because they serve a purpose in God's eyes and the people who are doing it know they simply can't not do what they are doing because it means that much to them.

I reckon if you're called into ministry, you'll just find that building into people's lives and investing into them in the hope of seeing them grow and change for the better is your main focus in life and you literally can't see yourself doing anything else.

Graham, what do you write? Would love to read something of yours. Have you read Randy Alcorn? He is amazing non fiction as well as fiction. His book series Deadline is awesome!!

Thanks Kymberly. I've walked through depression and anxiety in my life. I've written a book about my testimony of walking through the depth of the inner darkness I've struggled with and some of the answers that I've found that have helped heal me and I believe could help to heal others. It's just been published by Creation House in Florida. Here's the link -
http://www.amazon.com/No-Way-Out-But-...

I have heard the name Randy Alcorn but I can't say I've read any of his work. Will check it out :)

Awesome I will check it out! God speed to you and your journey!

Kymberly wrote: "Awesome I will check it out! God speed to you and your journey!"

Thank you, appreciate your kind words! :)

I also have benefitted from this read. So Kymberly, I have to ask, what are you up to now? What happened on your journey with this ministry to women? I sensed that your desires to start it were very earnest - all the best, Angus

I found this article on the website and I found your answers really enlightening. So I thought I would ask a question too, can God call someone to be a politician??

I'm working on

I'm working with a crisis pregnancy center though I think that God is taking me to a different area. I am working on some things though I am struggling with everything with school, family and ministry. Please pray for me.

Will do Kymberly. If you want to keep in touch, feel free to add me as a friend on Goodreads. :)

Shelley praise The Lord I'm glad that God has used this thread to help you! I so have been encouraged by y'all and this discussion. And yes I think God does call people to be politicians and even lawyers. ;) we need Gods people in office and in the court rooms. Do you feel that God is calling you to office?

Yeah...because I went to a conference about Europe and one of the pastores there said that when God looks at each of us beleivers he sees our country, so I had an idea come into my head which was "well if God blesses me in my work and I represent my country and work for my country then if he blesses my work he will also bless my country" so that is where I got the idea from. But I was a bit uncertain if it was emotion or God speaking. Thank you Kymberly for this thread.

Last semester God told me to co-lead a women's group at church for women that have been sexually abused. I was like really...Me Lord? I am nervous to pray in front of people. But God used it to stretch and grow me, and to show some things I still needed healing from. He also used my story, and my vunerability to help the women in my group. I think your group would be an amazing help for women struggling with the pain of losing children through miscarriage, etc. We have a group at our church for women who are infertile. It has really helped them through their struggles. It is great to have someone to lean on, who has went through the same process.

It seems to me that God has laid this on your heart for sure, and for His reasons. My husband and I have six children. Four of them are in Heaven; one of them, Rachel, was still born. We were blessed to have raised our two now adult children. We are looking forward to a big family reunion when we get to Heaven. Our oldest son was our first, and is 27 now. Our youngest daughter was our last, and is now 21. All the others came between them. Our marriage grew during all this time, and was made stronger through all of it, because we leaned on God, and one another. We were also blessed to have a very loving family, church family and friends who ministered to us in every way we needed. We were then able to minister to others. I encourage you to step out in faith. Taking that first step, you'll find God guiding you to the next, and the next. I pray God's blessings on your ministry as you follow Him.

when He opens up an opportunity for you..as simple as that..the problem is your availabity and willingness to commit..it's a commitment to God not to people..

Since we're all on Goodreads because we are bookworms, I recommend: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56...

I am so amazed at this feed. Y'all are such an encouragement to me. I really needed this! God has so overwhelmed my cup with peace and joy! Thank you for posting! Gods peace!

Isn't it great when God can use any and all of us collectively to encourage one another?

Amen, Cindy!!

Lady V!

That is exactly the way I feel right now. Amen!!!

Hello! When I type in the google about "how to know that you are called as a teacher" this is one of the results.. I read all of your discussion then I felt happy and inspired. Hope you'd also help me in praying and giving advice as I search if God really called me to be a teacher.

Anyway, Kym God bless your ministry! :)

Thank you Nicah. Your prayers are so appreciated!

When God is calling an individual into Ministry, they will know unless they choose to ignore it. There will be a burning desire on your heart similar to the dying need for water to quench your thirst on an extremely hot day. The calling will be on your mind constantly and you will never be at ease until you act on it.

Wooow after so many years later .. And this post is still blessing .. I also looked up .. How to carry out your purpose with fear .. And this came up .. I pray God blesses you all . Nothing is by chance with Him and this whole conversation is really informative and helping people .. He knew this would help people. God bless y'all as you continue to allow God to work in your lives and edify others .. Just this alone is a ministry . God bless

My Dad beat me with tree limbs that left scars on my body to this day. He showed God that he never spareth his rod. Proverbs 13:24 He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes. (at the right time) It must have been at the right time because Dad said he was called to preach afterward. [https://www.createspace.com/4612897} Mutton's Decadence by Mickey R Mullen

Thank everyone for commenting, it is such an encouragement. Please let's stay on topic.

A hallmark of when you are heading in the right direction is God's blessing. When you are called to a path, whatever that path might be, God will make a way for you and bless you in your efforts.