B9) Serving Gods Purposes Needs To Be Our Overriding Priority, (S. Dobbs 2002).
[This links to Nos C27, A38, A40, A44, C45, A46, A48, A49, A50, B7]
In 2002 the Lord showed me that in order to fulfil ones calling in God a person must have “serving the purposes of God” as their major priority in life. This must be greater than all their other desires and priorities put together. If this wasn’t the case then all their other desires and priorities will eventually combine to outweigh serving Gods purposes. They will then be led astray or distracted by these other priorities and fail to fulfil their calling in God. Ones heart has to be dominated by “serving the purposes of God” in order to fulfil ones calling.
I was shown several things that were stopping myself and six other people from having “serving Gods purposes” as our major priority in life. These are just put as examples to help explain this. There will be many other distractions that aren’t referred to here. All the people in the following examples were already serving God more than most believers in the U.K. They were not backslidden Christians. They were all decent Christians who wanted to fulfil their callings. However all of us also had other things influencing our hearts that stopped us from having serving Gods purposes as our major overriding priority. We would all need to turn away from these other things if we were to fulfil our callings in the longer term.
In order to change we all needed to ask for Gods help because we cannot change ourselves, it has to be a work of Gods Spirit. It also involves a recognition of what Jesus has done for us on the cross, being cross centred in our lives and aware that all stems from this, by Gods grace.
The first person had been “wounded” whilst serving God in the past. They had a desire to withdraw from serving in order to protect themselves from more wounds in the future. If they continued with this attitude they would obviously not be able to fulfil their calling in the long run.
Another was seeking after God because they desired to be used in the spiritual gifts and in ministry. This motivated them to serve God with great dedication and enthusiasm up to a point but was not enough for them to endure in the long term. The costs of following God would increase in the future and would eventually outweigh their desire to be used in the gifts. They would then loose motivation because the cost would seem too great. They needed to turn to God so He could deal with this area of their hearts.
Another person had “avoiding unemployment and maintaining employment” as their major priority in life. This may seem reasonable when one is job insecure but too much of their heart was being pulled in this other direction, making it hard for them to prioritise serving Gods purposes. They could potentially find themselves being permanently distracted from fulfilling their calling if this wasn’t dealt with.
The fourth person had acquired a position of influence and authority in the body of Christ. They desired to serve but also had a great need for recognition and acceptance from the rest of the church. Unless they allowed God to change this they would not be flexible or responsive enough to God, to follow the leadings of His Spirit for the nation. Instead they would prioritise the work their position in fulltime ministry demanded of them and not find the time energy or emotion to respond enough to the Holy Spirit even though at times they will have wished to and intended to do this.
Another Christian was following God partly because they found ordinary Christianity and going to church quite dull and boring. They found being involved in serving Gods Spirit led purposes far more exiting and therefore fulfilling. Unless they turned away from this and asked God to replace it with His desires instead, this would combine with their other ordinary desires in life and outweigh the pure priority of simply serving Gods purposes. When serving God became tough and unfulfilling in the future they would not endure. Other priorities would then emerge which would block them from fulfilling Gods call on their life.
Someone else was doing great work for God and the nation and had already achieved far more for God than most of us have. They were motivated by a great desire to see changes and improvements in society. They were motivated by wanting to serve God but this was mixed with another humanistic source of motivation as well. Even before they were a Christian they had wanted to see changes/improvements in society. This humanistic part of their motivation was not coming from Gods kingdom. Only the motivation that came from Gods Spirit would be strong enough to endure in the long run. Unless this was sorted out in time even they would miss their calling in God for the nation.
Lastly another believer also sincerely wanted to serve Gods purposes for his nation. However he was also very concerned about maintaining a position of status within the church. He also wanted to make sure he continued receiving an income from being in fulltime ministry so he would remain financially secure. Other desires were combining with this and were occupying enough of his heart to prevent him from having serving God as his major overriding priority. I actually saw this person openly abandon his calling when it appeared to lead him into a place of financial insecurity and to a place that did not seem as though he would have the approval or acceptance of other Christians.
It is often possible to follow ones calling up to a certain point, for some considerable time, without really being committed enough to simply “serving Gods purposes”, whatever they may turn out to be. To completely fulfil ones calling for ones nation though you must have serving Gods purposes dominating your heart above all other things put together. This is what the Lord showed me. And for this to be possible we must rely on God to change us and have the work Jesus did at the cross as central to our lives.
In many ways this information is very abstract. In real life a person is likely to waver between different positions at different times. Sometimes serving God, at other times being distracted, depending on how their hearts are set. The above information is not definitive but should shed some more light on this subject and show how we must prioritise “serving Gods purposes”, and depend on God to sanctify us from the blocks to this in our flesh, if we are to succeed in fulfilling our callings overall.
S. Dobbs, 2002.