The message that I believe the LORD wants us to get inside today is that each one of us is called to full time ministry! Few are actually called to a "pulpit" ministry, but we are ALL called to the Ministry of Reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18). We will carry this out in unique and different ways because we are all unique and different individuals! For that very reason, we will each be able to reach different people! I LOVE God's wonderful plan for the Gospel! I want to share two devotional readings for today that address different aspects of this, to encourage you in YOUR ministry! First we have "My Utmost For His Highest" by Oswald Chambers:
I have appeared unto thee for this purpose. — Acts 26:16
The vision Paul had on the road to Damascus was no passing emotion, but a vision that had very clear and emphatic directions for him, and he says, "I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision." (Acts 26:19) Our Lord said, in effect, to Paul – Your whole life is to be overmastered by Me; you are to have no end, no aim, and no purpose but Mine. "I have chosen him."(Acts 9:15)
When we are born again we all have visions, if we are spiritual at all, of what Jesus wants us to be, and the great thing is to learn not to be disobedient to the vision, not to say that it cannot be attained. It is not sufficient to know that God has redeemed the world, and to know that the Holy Spirit can make all that Jesus did effectual in me; I must have the basis of a personal relationship to Him. Paul was not given a message or a doctrine to proclaim, he was brought into a vivid, personal, overmastering relationship to Jesus Christ. Verse 16 is immensely commanding – "to make thee a minister and a witness." There is nothing there apart from the personal relationship. Paul was devoted to a Person not to a cause. He was absolutely Jesus Christ’s, he saw nothing else, he lived for nothing else. "For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified."(1 Corinthians 2:2)
The vision spoken of here is not necessarily a vision seen with the eyes, but a purpose for our individual lives in HIS plan! Jesus said that HIS sheep hear and know His voice (John 10:27)! You CAN and MUST know what YOUR purpose is! TRUE prosperity is being WHERE God wants you to be, doing WHAT God wants YOU to do! The next devotional reading is from Kenneth E. Hagin's "Faith Food":
"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover" (Mark 16:15,17-18).
Jesus delegated the power and authority in His Name to "them that believe." Some have relegated spiritual authority exclusively to preachers mightily used of God. But this passage of Scripture isn't just talking about evangelists, pastors, or others in the ministry; it's talking about the entire Body of Christ - the believing ones.
Authority is invested in the Name of Jesus. And authority is invested in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the earth. Some of us have touched that authority now and then, but none of us have been able to abide in it like God wants. However, I am thoroughly convinced that in these last days, just before Jesus comes, there will arise a body of believers who will learn how to take advantage of all that belongs to them in the Name of Jesus - that Name which is above every Name!
Confession: I am a believing one. And these signs in Mark 16:17-18 follow me. I will learn and know how to take advantage of the Name which belongs to me - the Name which is above every Name
AMEN! Let's each be about our Father's business by doing OUR part in HIS plan! Time is running out for the lost on this earth to hear the Gospel before Jesus comes for the church! We MUST make the most of our opportunities to share the Gospel! Are you ready? YOU ARE! Now let's GO! Here is Hillsong United with "Go":
Shalom in Him!
