Calling

While i was in Tauranga - back up a few steps. I believe you have an anointing for your calling and an anointing for your personal relationship with the Lord. I will not develop a theology on that. While I was in Tauranga I received a Moses anointing - when my hands are raised, then there is battle being fought, and victory is coming to our side. But when my hands are lowered, then we have trouble. God himself is the one who battles for us - this is important. Anyway... I received two pictures during my prayer time for someone. One of them was of an empty casket - i knew that both of the pictures where for this person. Then when I came to Church yesterday when the talk progressed to talking about "building coffins - a new experience for us" it really resonated within me. Well that time, I was wanting prayer - because I had a strong urgency that I needed someone to come and pray for me. By the end of the second service I had sat down and written "to sit at the feet". It says in Acts, Paul, "sat at the feet of Gamaliel" he learned from Gamaliel, all that he was trained in. It also says "sat at the feet" of Jesus. This is what Mary did. However, for a long time I could not reconcile the two, but now they are reconciled - you see a scripture came to me while speaking with Steve - Isaiah 11:1-2 which writes:

"There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.

2 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord."

also it has a lot of connotations to the calling of David in 1 Samuel 16. If you have ears to hear - because our calling is always has been and always will be primarily people. We say "you are called to a ministry in 100s of nations that will affect many people" but our calling is people. I cannot stress this enough. What God has said of this is just - we've got it all wrong if we think our doing is some activity that we envision ourselves doing. Our doing is our calling - which is people - what we are good at. I will give an example. The time that you heard God say "talk to the person over there and share what you have been thinking about with Her" and then you didn't, but then you remembered that God has a calling for you.

God doesn't use what you don't have - The talents that have been given to us are accentuated with the help of the Spirit of God. Use Paul as an example - Do you think he knew the impact of his message to the Gentiles when he was called? It says - "For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake." which is to say that he in his life was aware of the sake of suffering for righteousness. But he had no idea what kind of suffering he would undertake in knowing Christ Jesus. He knew this - that he had such an amazing powerful conviction that he wanted to be zealous for the law of his fathers far beyond even his brothers -

Four things. That are by no means an exhaustive list

- First. He was supposed to teach.
- Secondly to instruct.
- Thirdly to show people the way in which to walk for Jesus. And
- Fourthly - wanting to know God and encounter him in anyway possible.

In fact he was an apostle from birth. He was given this gift. He knew it - just like Jeremiah. While He was not following Jesus he did not fully grasp the implications of his drive. Instead of teaching he taught the strictness of the law - he instructed others in the walk of the Pharisees but then would not lift a single finger to help them. Thirdly - he walked into all the synagogues and persecuted and sent to prison those that followed Him (Jesus). He was extremely zealous (his own words)

This has got to get out! so many people are trapped in fear because they think the calling God has for them, is somehow out there, and they don't know how to do it. One more point - do you think that David was ready to be King when he was anointed - he had the Spirit of the Lord, right, and he had the 6 fold skills that would flourish so much in the latter years of his life - 1 Samuel 16:18

"Then one of the servants answered and said, “Look, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person; and the Lord is with him.” "

It's like in Micah 3:8

"But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord,
And of justice and might,
To declare to Jacob his transgression
And to Israel his sin. "

Whether people see it or not, that's irrelevant, my calling has come from God and it will not be taken from me. How could it? It's me. I'm the calling!

Yep David was probably very aware of all these things at work in his life. Or may not have. In fact - i doubt even Paul did. He had to spend 14 years in the deserts of Damascus before he was ready. No what He has called you to do He will make you into.

This is our teaching - David wasn't ready for being King - he had to Live with God. Had to experience God. because this is where he teaches us. This is his teaching. When we have the talents we've had since birth - the focus becomes far less on going out getting a degree and all intellectual and manageable - and more on experiences. How could it be any thing else? Experiences - that is what The Holy Spirit is good at.

I'm so fascinated by Paul. So when we have dreams, and ideas, visions for others - they are for others - That is God's way of calling us. People will always be our calling - surely the anointing isn't for us personally? I'm not going to make a theology of it. You know and I know that you are anointed, you even have the anointing in you - You don't need me to tell you the truth. You know it already.

This is why: I can see that in some one inparticular that I know. He knows that He is an apostle - that the apostle touches all 5 effective ministerial giftings of Jesus - Apostle, Prophet, Pastor, Evangelist, Teacher. All those things are coming out in Him. He is out there going to be teaching others, equipping others, and gripped by others. et cetera. We all have a calling from God - Just like Jeremiah. Maybe it's been covered by cobwebs for too long. Maybe are using our giftings, like Saul, to persecute Jesus even though they were made to glorify Him.

I'm fascinated by Paul - He wrote half the new testament and he was tailor made for the role. Don't you want to know your whole life's ambition? the whole purpose of your existance? you can't just sit up in the mountains being intimate with God - if you can well done! But for me personally I find myself wandering all over the place. I have to be doing something. That's gotta be part of my calling. Why not go for it now? In fact, i bet you can name a few times in your life where you thought - now that was exciting, that was different. Let me tell you, even though Paul was talented and called to be an Apostle - he also found that his inheritance in God makes everything else look like pittance. That sounds good. What did He find? what did Jesus gain by being obedient through sufferings? You are not just called, you are chosen - from before the foundation of the world - to be like Him. Replace that with - His Son (or Daughter) His gifts are good but himself, that is the real treasure. Don't get hooked up on calling. Find the limitless riches of His person. Did you know he'll rescue you out of situations, personally, even when you are responsible for it? David did that on occasions. The town did not escape the consequences but David did. That's because his promise to you is that he will show you mercy. That means take you out of the situation completely. He will give you peace in the situation and knowledge that you did what you could, and then remind you of your calling. That mercy became the stand point of his dealings with others. The mercy that he was shown by God. What a lovely picture.