“Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him.” 1 Corinthians 7:17
On January 15th I resigned from the job I had held for two years, following an extended time of prayer and listening to the Lord with the help of some godly friends. It was a step of obedience, and the doorway to a new phase of life and ministry. I had no idea what was next. In my mind I would begin a freelance career as a translator, making use of my fluency in Dutch and German, and utilize the flexibility of freelance work to engage in “whatever ministry opportunities would present themselves.”
Wrong!
Mid-February, the COVID-19 pandemic began to reach the US. The country began to shut down. A potentially large freelance opportunity with a major international search engine that was presented to me broke off at my finger tips, and the freelance market began to get flooded with suddenly-out-of-work people more gifted and experienced than me competing for work. Uh-oh!
“I have an assignment for you,” whispered the voice of God in the midst of my complaint about this unexpected work crisis. “Remember I promised you back in December that I would bring you the work whenever you needed it? You don’t right now, so focus on this assignment.”
He took me took Habakkuk 2: “I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint. And the Lord answered me: ‘Write the vision; make it plain on tablets so he may run who reads it.”
We’re past the age of (stone or paper) tablets, but the assignment couldn’t get any clearer: watch, listen, pray back to me what you hear from the Spirit in intercessory prayer, and write. Hence this blog.
I am a strong believer in the fact that every Christian who has surrendered his life to Christ and has the Holy Spirit indwelling in him gets an assignment in God’s masterplan of forming for Himself a people of His own possession from every tribe and nation (Matthew 28:19, 1 Peter 2:9-10, Revelation 7:9-10).
There are three texts from which I get this.
The first one is the text at the top of this blog post, which implies that God has a life He has assigned to us and called us to. The context of this passage suggests that it refers to our stations in life which have been pre-ordained by God. But I do think that the life of which Paul speaks includes specific assignments in relation to His kingdom. And I think that because of the other two texts:
1 Corinthians 12:11 states that “all these (the spiritual gifts) are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as He wills.”
So there is an apportioning of gifts that takes place for the common good (vs. 7) – the implied meaning of that common good is the building of one another’s faith, the growth of the church, the advance of God’s Kingdom.
So were are given gifts of the Spirit to carry out our assignment. Not just that, but we are also allotted a certain measure of faith and grace to empower us: “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let bus use them…” (Romans 12:3-6)
In short: we are all members of the worldwide Body of Christ, we are all interdependent on each other and the various gifts given to us, we were all given gifts and a measure of grace (think power) and faith to work together in the advance of God’s Kingdom as directed by the Holy Spirit. We are each given a place and a role to play. The New Testament also often refers to us as servants of Christ – which also implies an assignment.
Some get one assignment for their entire life. Think Billy Graham for instance. He was called, gifted and empowered to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. He knew it, and would turn down any distraction and any other requests for ministry that differed from that. In fact he once turned down a multi-million dollar gift to build a college, because that was not what he was called to do.
Others, like me, get different assignments through out lives, with the gifts and grace to carry it out. I’ve been a prayer mobilizer, a law enforcement chaplain, a pastor, a missionary, a tentmaker, a teacher, a prophet and a prayer warrior. Sometimes phased over different periods of my life, sometimes several lumped together. Why? I don’t know, only that the Holy Spirit is sovereign in giving us these assignments.
As the nation is opening up again following the various degrees of lock-down and churches are beginning to resume services, the idea of having a God-given assignment, with the spiritual gifts, the faith, and the spiritual power to carry it out, is an important aspect of the revival and reformation I have been praying for.
If God is being restored to His deserved and needed place of preeminence in our hearts, our lives, our homes, and our churches we will soon blunder into the fact that He is a missionary God who wants to put us to work to build up His Body in its most holy faith and to advance the gospel to every tribe and nation. We’re not going to be able to sustain intimacy with God and shirk our responsibility to exercise the gifts He has given us at the same time. Especially since has He has given us all the faith and power we need and we don’t have put them to use in our own strength. We all know from the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25 that burying our gifts does not end well.
So, dear reader, I invite you to pray with me along these two lines:
- Pray that God gives you clarity on what your kingdom assignment is, and what the spiritual gifts are that the Holy Spirit has assigned to you. If you need help, I suggest two resources:
– A spiritual gift inventory. You can download one in PDF form here:
https://www.lifeway.com/en/articles/women-leadership-spiritual-gifts-growth-service
(I know it says “women-leadership” but don’t worry, it’s for me too!)
– The book “Discover Your God-given Gifts” by Don and Katie Fortune, available here:
https://www.discoveryourgifts.org/?getpage=Online%20Shopping or get it on Amazon. - Pray that God awakens His people from their slumber and cumber to their god-given assignments and gifts. The church in the US has been passive and left ministry up to paid professionals or small, dedicated cores of volunteers for too long. Their role is to equip the saints for ministry, not do the ministry for them.
The church has suffered a great deal from the 20-80 principle: 20% of the people doing 80% of the work, and 80% of the people doing 20% of the work. Can you imagine what could happen if the other 80% would step into their assignment with the faith and power supplied by the Holy Spirit?
Be encouraged! Our assignments are designed to give us joy, not stress. The joy of obedience to God, partnership with God, and partnership with one another to change lives and change the outcome of this world according to His will. I can’t think of a greater thrill!