God's calling - our calling

There can be times when we may feel that past failure, sin or fear will keep us from stepping into or fulfilling the calling of God for our life.  Fear of failure, inadequacy and guilt can be huge stumbling blocks but our God is mightier than any of our sins and failings. The Bible is full of stories of people who felt inadequate or who in human eyes had disqualified themselves from ministry yet God had not finished with them despite their failings and weaknesses.

When God met Moses at the burning bush, he told him to go back to Egypt and speak to Pharaoh to set the Israelites free.  Moses argued with God five times about his inadequacy and every time God gave him the words and signs necessary. Finally God’s anger burned against Moses and as a concession he said that Aaron could go with him to speak to Pharaoh.

By the time of the tenth plague though Moses didn’t need anyone to speak on his behalf because his confidence in God meant he was more than adequate for the task. This stood him in good stead for leading the people out of Egypt, crossing the Red Sea and dealing with a difficult and rebellious group of Israelites for 40 years.  Moses had asked God at the burning bush to send someone else but God knew that Moses was the man for the job.

Moses’ brother Aaron was one who could also have been disqualified from his calling of being the first high priest of the nation.  While Moses was up the mountain for 40 days and nights Aaron led the nation into idolatry by making and worshipping the golden calf.  Not long after that debacle God appointed him as high priest.  Most of us would have thought Aaron had blown it irrevocably but not God. He had called Aaron to the priesthood.

Or what about David, the great king, the man after God’s own heart who committed adultery and murder? Surely he should have been stoned to death but when confronted with his sin, he repented before God writing surely one the most beautiful psalms, Psalm 51.

Peter let Jesus down by denying him three times on the very night when he could have used a friend. Yet Peter became one of the leading apostles in the early church. And Paul persecuted and murdered the early Christians yet when confronted by the love and grace of God he stepped into his God given destiny to be a great apostle and author of much of the New Testament.

God has a calling on each of our lives and whilst we may not be called to lead the nation or be a great apostle, we have a unique and important role to play. The devil would like to remind us frequently of our sin, failure and inadequacies but God would remind us that those he has called he will also equip. His love and grace are always more than enough to overcome our shortcomings. 

Next time you feel you have irrevocably blown it just remember these great men of God who fell or were overcome by their insecurities and recall what they achieved.  If they can do it, so can we.

Peter - an inspiration

²¹ From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.  ²² Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”  ²³ Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” Matthew 16: 21 – 23

I love the fact that over the next week after Peter’s well-meant but ill-judged rebuke of Jesus which showed a lot of pride and earned him a rather shocking rebuke in turn, Jesus showed Peter such grace. Within a week Jesus chose Peter, James and John to go up the mountain where he was transfigured.

Jesus didn’t hold Peter’s foolishness and pride against him but continued in his plan and purpose to bring the best out of him and use him for his glory. We all know Peter’s mouth constantly let him down but it was this impetuousness that Jesus turned around.  Even at the very moment of Jesus’ transfiguration, Peter was still coming up with his own ideas of building three booths or shelters so everyone could stay on the mountain. However Jesus never gave up on him.

After they came down from the mountain and Jesus healed the epileptic boy, some collectors of the temple tax approached Peter to ask if Jesus paid the tax. Peter confirmed that he did and Jesus sent him to the sea to catch a fish which would have a coin in its mouth to pay the tax for both Jesus and Peter (Matthew 17: 24 – 27).   Peter did not hesitate to obey, he just did it. Time and again Jesus did not hold Peter’s zeal against him, even when it was misplaced but used it to bring out the best in Peter.

After Peter denied Jesus three times, Jesus restored him and following the anointing of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost that impetuous yet bold voice spoke to the crowd and 3000 got saved.

Jesus does not give up on us - ever - no matter our sins and weaknesses. So often the worse things in our character are also the strongest when in Jesus’ hands. Peter’s rashness turned into faith-filled bravery when anointed by the Holy Spirit. Peter’s weakness in speaking before he thought was also turned into the courage to step out of the boat when Jesus walked on the water.

Jesus takes our weaknesses and turns them into his strengths. His grace towards is endless and his patience with us infinite. Jesus will never give up on us so we must never give up on ourselves. We must never disqualify ourselves through our failings, perceived or real. We must give them into Jesus’ hands and let him with limitless grace turn them into great strengths which he will use to bring glory to himself.

Sleeping in peace

The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains and sentries stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell.  Acts 12: 6- 7

Herod had just killed John’s brother James in a persecution of the believers. Seeing that it pleased the Jews with whom he was constantly trying to keep favour, he imprisoned Peter. He was going to bring him out for public trial but the church was praying.

What I love about this story is that Peter was sleeping in prison. He was surrounded by guards, chained but he was sleeping. This does not speak of someone fearing for their life. Even though James had just been killed by Herod, Peter does not seem very worried. This speaks of someone very confident that God was with him in whatever happened next.  He was obviously not expecting to be miraculously released from prison even though that had happened before (Acts 5: 17 – 20) because as he walked out from prison, led by the angel, he thought he was dreaming (12: 9). 

Maybe he was remembering what Jesus had said to him at that daybreak breakfast after his resurrection when Jesus restored him. ‘…but when you are old you will stretch out your hands and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.’ John 21:18. Peter knew it was not his time, he was going to get old, so he could sleep peacefully even though he was bound and surrounded by guards.

Jesus too was quite confident in his time. When the ship that he was sailing across the Sea of Galilee was hit by a storm, the disciples thought they were going to drown but Jesus was sleeping in the stern of the boat. (Mark 4: 31 – 35). He knew it was neither his time to die nor the manner so he could sleep knowing he had nothing to fear.

Our days and our times are in God’s hands (Acts 17: 26). We do not need to fear. If we are saved, we do not need to fear death. It is the gateway to eternal life spent with our God and Father and his Son Jesus. Nor do we need to fear when we may die. All we need to do is live our lives to God’s glory day by day. He will look after us in the good times and the not so good times. He never leaves us and we can trust him so that whether in prison, in a boat or in our own beds, we can sleep in peace for God makes us dwell in safety (Psalm 4:8).

It doesn't work

Peter went with them, and when he arrived he was taken upstairs to the room. All the widows stood around him, crying and showing him the robes and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up.  Acts 9: 39 – 40

Doubt and unbelief are our greatest opponents in our Christian walk because they directly oppose our faith. When Peter was asked to go to Tabitha’s house because she had died, the first thing he encountered was all the widows standing around mourning her death and showing him all the wonderful clothing that Tabitha had made. She was known for ‘always doing good and helping the poor’. The widows were mourning the loss of this wonderful woman.

The first thing Peter did was send the widows out of the room because they had no expectation of resurrection. This got the unbelief out and then he prayed and let faith arise. Then he was able to raise Tabitha from the dead. The mourning widows with no faith would have been no help.

Reinhard Bonnke likes to have the first few rows of people at his crusades and meetings full of faith filled people. People with doubt and unbelief in their hearts can hinder the move of salvation and the miraculous. 

One of our biggest problems can be the ‘It doesn’t work’ thinking. The devil would love us to believe that our prayers and actions are ineffectual and that nothing has happened. Nothing could be further from the truth. Steve Backlund says, ‘As people of faith, we believe that our past prayers, declarations, godly choices and prophetic acts are working powerfully and effectively in the unseen realm’.

There are times when I think my prayers are not working and then suddenly God graciously shows me how effective my prayers have been. My personal journey now is to pray for the sick. Sometimes they are healed and sometimes nothing seems to happen but I am determined to persevere and pray for them on every opportunity that God gives me. I want to see more people helald in Jesus' name.

Don’t let doubt and unbelief steal from you the joy of moving in faith to see loved ones saved,  people healed, lives transformed, provision flow into needy areas and so on. Root out ‘it hasn’t worked’ from your life and let faith arise afresh today in your heart.

The miraculous catch of fish

After his resurrection, Jesus met some of the disciples on the shore of the Sea of Galilee with a freshly cooked breakfast (John 21). The disciples had been fishing all night but with no success. When Jesus told them where to fish, they caught so many fish they could not get them into the boat and had to tow the net to shore.

I love these stories of Jesus and the miracles he did because they are so full of important details that we can learn from. Peter and the disciples had tried to fish all night with no success and this speaks of trying to do things in our own strength and not succeeding. When Jesus comes though and gives the word, the unsuccessful works suddenly become a miraculous work of God. We notice too that Jesus already had fish on the fire for the breakfast – where had they come from? However Jesus also adds some of their catch, which he had given them, to his own! This speaks of using our God given talents to be part of the work God is doing. We can also see that it took all of the disciples to haul the net in. This speaks of joining together to manage the harvest but notice the nets were not torn – nothing was lost despite its great size. If we put this in terms of souls saved, it is very encouraging what can be achieved if we pull together. 

Peter was called to become a fisher of men following the first miraculous catch of fish (Luke 5: 4 - 11). For the next three years he trained with Jesus with some success but he had not fully come into his calling. Following the second miraculous catch of fish, I wonder if Peter remembered the first miracle three years previously, for it was after the second miracle that he really started to fulfil his calling as a fisher of men. The breakthrough came on the day of Pentecost when, following Peter’s preaching, 3000 were saved. The book of Acts is full of times when Peter saw many people saved.

When we start out on the road to our God given calling, we may see a small amount of success at first but we need to keep training, keep letting God use us, keep persevering through the good and bad days. Like Peter, we need to keep going through our disappointments and our own weaknesses and failings. If we don’t give up, if we keep trusting God, then like Peter we will come into the fullness of all that God has planned and purposed for our lives. Today let us determine to keep going till we come to maturity.