God wants us to build His Kingdom here on earth. We are responsible to cooperate with Him to fulfill His desired goal, which is chiefly to have a people in Jesus' image and likeness whom He can inhabit for all eternity. For this reason we are called colabourers.
"For we are fellow workmen (joint promoters, labourers together) with and for God; you are God's garden and vineyard and field under cultivation, [you are] God's building." 1 Cor 3:9 Amplified
God is the custom builder of His own house, "For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His habitation." As the custom builder, you would have the house designed and would require the services of subcontractors to build it for you. These would include framers, concrete men, plumbers, tile layers, electricians, the list goes on. These are the men who actually do the labour of building the House.
If a subcontractor does a bad job or misses his assigned time, then the builder will call on someone else who can do the job. The newly appointed worker will have to come in on short notice and and possibly rip out the bad job by the previous sub. Even though a sucontractor misses his assigned job, the builder will make sure the work is finished.
God has been planning His house for a few THOUSAND years. He has laid out all the plans as to who will fulfill what role. He had to start with a foundation, which is non other than the Redeemer Himself; Jesus!
"See I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation" Isa 28:16 NIV.
"The Lamb slain from the foundations of the world" Rev 13:8
"He indeed was forordained before the foundation of the world" 1Pet 1:20
Jesus is not only the foundation but also the chief subcontractor.
God began the whole design by scheduling Jesus at the appointed time(Gal 4:4); then He scheduled all the subcontractors. These are you and me."He chose us in Him BEFORE the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love" Eph 1:4
He also chose us as subcontractors, for again we read,"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do"(Eph 2:10) Notice He prepared our assigned tasks in advance. Everyone has a divine calling on their lives. Each of us has an important part of the master plan of God's house, so it is indeed important to know,
In regard to your calling;
you'll not be judged according to what you did,
but rather according to what you were called to do!
Here is an example. At Judgement's Seat, Jesus may say something like this, "Evangelist Smith, please step forward and give an account of all the souls I called you to lead to Me." That man may come before Jesus a bit confused and tremblng, saying, "Sir, You mean Accountant Smith; right? I was an accountant with my own firm. This was my occupation. I set up many church and non-profit orgaizations. Those ministries influenced many souls into Your Kingdom. Do You have me mistaken for someone else?"
The master may reply, "No, I called you before you were born to win multitudes in Asia to Me; give an account of where they are. If you had obeyed me, you would have been rewarded greatly for all the fruit you harvested for My kingdom. Now as a result, your works will be burned up, as they were not in obedience to Me."
Another example; "Accountant Jones, please step forward and give an account of what I called you to do"
That many may step forward also very confused and trembling saying, "Sir, You mean pastor Jones; right? I was a pastor of a church and had 6000 members. I built that church from ground up"
The master may reply, "No, I called you to work in the marketplace as an accountant and build a strong firm that would help many of My churches and ministries effectively fulfill what I ordained them to accomplish. If you would have sought Me earnestly, I would have shown you this. Then all the multitudes of people those ministries eternally changed would have been credited to you; you would have been rewarded for each soul. But now you will receive nothing for what you did, as it was not in obedience to Me. I also ordained you to be head usher at the church across town from your church. Had you obeyed, all seven thousand souls that this church eternally touched would have been accredited to you. Since you were not there, they are not."
So what to do? How can you be assured of what God is going to say to you about what you have been called to do. Many people always say the words that they do not know what their calling is. So how do you find out? It is quite simple really.
First: have you sought God earnestly?
Bottom line: Are you fulfilling your destiny? You may think, But I don't know what I am called to do! There could eb acouple of reasons for this. First, have you sought God earnestly? We are told that God rewards those who diligently seek Him in faith, not casually seek Him in wonder or doubt (see Heb 11:6) If anyone earnestly seeks God, fully expecting an answer, he will be shown what he's been put on the earth to do.
Second:Have you planted yourself?
This brings us to the second reason why many don't find the will of God for their lives. They don't plant themselves in the local church. God's word tells us, "Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God" (Ps 92:13)
Those who plant themselves in the house of God, whic in this life would be the local church, shall flourish in the courts of our God. An aspect of the courts of our God is the Judgement Seat of Christ. So we will flourish both now and at the judgement if we've been firmly planted in a local church. This is God's design.
It is the Lord who ordained the church, not men. Jesus says, "I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" (Matt 16:18)
Think of the word planted. To understand the operration of the kingdom, you must consider the law of seed time and harvest. Jesus told His desciples that if you don't understand the principle of the seed, ground and harvesting, you cannot understand all the parables (Mark 4:13). Simply put, the entire kingdom of God is:
And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, 27 and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. 28 For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. 29 But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
Let's say I have a handful of various seeds, all of which are fruit trees, but I'm not familiar with them. The only way I'll be able to discover their kind is if I plant them. Once planted, as time progresses, I'll discover the nature of each different seed. God places in each of us a predetermined calling. He then gives us gifts to accomplish it: "For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable" (Rom 11:29) According to Jesus , my calling and gifts are in seed form. If I plant myself in the church, I will reach my God-given destiny. If not, I may use the gifts in my life for a different purpose than my Creator intended. So don't be deceived by success by the world's standards. You may be very successful in your gifts but they may not be in obedience to the Master's plan. Some examples; You'll see many in the world who have great voices and can move people to tears. Their gift was given to glorify God and stir people to pursue His heart and desires. They never fulfilled their destiny because they didn't get saved or were not planted in a church.
However, there are also people who have given their hearts to Jesus but attend church irregularly. They are not fulfilling their highest kingdomcalling either because they have not been planted.
There is one more thing but I will save it for another day. Use this time to meditate on these ideas and faithfully ask God what is the calling of your life. I did it and it has resulted in a career change. I ask you do the same, before it is too late!
God bless
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