Today I want to share with you something very informative from our partner Rick Renner and his powerful devotional - "Sparkling Gems From The Greek - Volume 2".
When God Calls You, He Also Equips You
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun
a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. — Philippians
1:6
When God calls you, He will equip and prepare you to
effectively complete your assignment on time. He will use every aspect of who
you are and where you came from to bring about His will in your life. He
factors in your background, your level of education, your past occupations, and
everything else you’ve accumulated from your life experiences. Many times He
will also lead you into new territory where you are surrounded by unfamiliar
faces in order to teach you lessons that you couldn’t learn any other way. Perhaps
no example of this is clearer than the life of the apostle Paul.
Paul played a major role in the founding of the Early
Church. God used him to write almost two-thirds of the New Testament, and his
inspired epistles have guided the Body of Christ for nearly 2,000 years.
However, when Paul first came to the Lord, he was very inexperienced in the
arena of ministry. In order for him to accurately understand God’s vision of
the Church, he had to be adequately equipped and prepared. This period of training
would not happen in the way Paul planned. He would have to go somewhere
entirely unexpected.
Soon after his life-changing conversion on the road to
Damascus, Paul traveled to Jerusalem, eager to connect with the disciples who
resided there and begin his ministry. Given his background as a former rabbi
who spoke fluent Hebrew, Jerusalem seemed to him like the natural choice to
focus his efforts, since he was so intimately acquainted with the Jewish
culture, tradition, and religious thought that permeated that city. However,
God had called him to bring the Gospel to the Gentile world first and
foremost, and Jerusalem’s predominately Jewish environment could not adequately
prepare him for this ministry.
Paul’s stay in Jerusalem didn’t last long. The Gospel
message he had boldly proclaimed in the synagogues soon after his arrival
enraged the local Jewish leadership, and they conspired to kill him. When the
local believers learned of this plot against Paul’s life, they helped him
covertly leave the city and then sent him off to his hometown of Tarsus. There
Paul remained until God was ready to usher him into the next phase of his
calling, where the sure foundations of his ministry would be laid and his
Christian walk would be strengthened by leaps and bounds.
The proving ground for Paul would be the city of Antioch, a
major city located approximately 300 miles north of Jerusalem in modern-day
Syria. Antioch was the third largest city in the Roman Empire during early New
Testament times, with only Rome and Alexandria exceeding it in size. Situated
on a crossroads between East and West, it was a thriving commercial center and
a true melting pot of cultures and peoples. The city’s population was also
composed primarily of Gentiles — a very important factor for Paul, given the
nature of his calling.
The multiplicity of cultures found within the thriving urban
environment of Antioch naturally resulted in a colorful and diverse Christian
community. When the Gospel was first brought to Antioch in the wake of
Stephen’s martyrdom, it was warmly received and the city experienced a revival
as pagans and Jews alike left their old lives behind and accepted Jesus into
their hearts. Before long, a thriving church was established as believers in
Antioch began to actively evangelize their city and the surrounding region.
During Paul’s time with this congregation, he regularly ministered alongside
Gentiles and learned to communicate effectively with them. These experiences
would do much to equip him for the epic apostolic journeys that he would later
embark upon across the Roman Empire.
From its onset, the church of Antioch had grown rapidly
until it was second in size only to the church of Jerusalem. However, despite
the distinction of these churches having the two largest congregations in the
mid-First Century, the two works were very different. Many of the believers in
Antioch were Gentiles who came from pagan backgrounds, whereas the believers in
Jerusalem were nearly all of Jewish ancestry.
Antioch’s rich, diverse environment was the “right place”
God chose to equip and prepare the apostle Paul for ministry. A brand-new move
of the Spirit was taking place in that city, and by following God’s calling to
move there, Paul put himself in a position to receive an entirely fresh
perspective of the Body of Christ. During his time in Antioch, he learned
important lessons from what he saw and experienced that he could have never
learned if he had stayed in Jerusalem. Following God’s call led Paul to a place
he would have never anticipated, but it was an essential step to equip him for
the rest of his ministry.
Never forget the promise that Paul himself wrote to us in
Philippians 1:6. It says, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
Paul was certainly speaking from personal experience when he wrote this verse.
According to Paul, God will begin a good work in us and will “perform” it until
the day of Jesus’ return for the Church. The word “perform” is the Greek
word epiteleo, a compound of epi and teleo. The word epi adds force to
the word. The word teleo means to finish, complete, or conclude.
When the two words are compounded, the new word epiteleo shows that
God is forcefully moving His plans for us in the right direction until we are
finally complete! Paul started that verse with the word “confident” — the Greek
word peitho. It means you can be sure, convinced, and ever
certain of these things!
Likewise, God knows exactly where you need to be and who you
need to be with in order to equip you for your life assignment — and He is
working to get you exactly where you need to be! As He did in the life of Paul,
God will use every aspect of who you are and where you came from to bring about
His will in your life. He will use your background, your level of education,
your past occupations, and everything else you’ve accumulated from your life
experiences. And He may also lead you into places where you are surrounded by
unfamiliar faces to teach you lessons that you couldn’t learn any other way.
One thing is certain: If God has called you, He will equip you for the
task! You can be sure of it!
Whatever it is that God has called you to do, and He has a part in His plan for every born again believer, you will invariably run into someone who thinks you're wrong, that you've missed God, that ..... just fill in the blanks! WHEN this happens, simply get out THIS devotion and remind yourself that God's calling in YOUR life is NOT subject to another person's approval! We can all receive guidance from those whom God has placed in our lives for that purpose, but we must ultimately obey GOD, whether anyone else believes in us or not! AMEN! We will ONLY be rewarded in Heaven for our obedience to HIM with a right attitude. Refuse to be moved and you WILL see GOD's hand at work! AMEN! Here is Hillsong with "Who You Say I AM":
Shalom in Him!
