How Do I Know God’s Calling for My Life?

[Music] you [Music] we get so many questions from listeners who are wondering about God's calling for their lives who should I marry what field should I pursue in school what job should I take where should I live in a course where should I be serving in ministry Glen one such listener asks Pastor John how do I know if the Holy Spirit is calling me to international missions what would you say let me start by saying that's the right question the reason I say that is because a student just asked me two days ago whether I agreed with Hudson Taylor's comment that no one needs a call to go into missions but only a call to stay everyone should be planning to go to the unreached peoples and then God may stop you and call you to stay and I said to the student I don't agree with that I don't think that's the biblical pattern it may have some things to commend it in terms of compassion and proportion that we should listen to those things but biblically I can't support it regularly God called his prophets not the other way around and God does not say that men should all plan to be pastors unless they're called not to be pastors or elders rather he sets up patterns of assessment and assumes that relatively few just the needed number will be led into the the office of pastor teacher elder Shepherd and Paul writes to the to the Romans to solicit their support in his mission to Spain and he doesn't say a word about anyone in Rome going with him and all the epistles of the New Testament are written with the explicit or implicit assumption people stay right where they are salt and light in their present vocations like Paul said in first Corinthians 7 21 should remain in the condition in which he was called so that's the right question that's my boy Glen is asking the right question so let's start with Romans 12:2 do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is the will of God what is good and acceptable and perfect so discerning the will of God assumes a renewed mind I am assuming that the will of God here refers not to commandments of Scripture which you don't need a renewed mind to read and know like thou shalt not kill you don't need a renewed mind to know that's against the will of God I'm assuming that what Paul is talking about in Romans 12:2 is how do biblical teachings and all the other relevant factors conspire to produce a direction from my life that God approves and will bless which which leads now to a second thing that renewal comes mainly through the Word of God and prayer so when it says be renewed and in your mind I think you mean soak your mind marinate your mind saturate your mind with the word of God the Christian mind is shaped by the Word of God all the while praying praying praying Oh God shaped me Oh God make me O God bring me into conformity to this word at the depths of my being now out of that renewed mind and that rare 'fl experience what the mind does to discerning desert a call to missions is to take seriously about seven things number one the renewed mind takes seriously your spiritual gifts what are they God is not calling you to do something he has not gifted you to do what's the gifting and I think gifting that Paul and Peter have in mind is summed up in Peter 4:10 as each has received a gift use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace that's what gifts are varied grace incarnate in human personalities which we steward for the good of others do you know how God is gifting you in this way number two the renewed mind takes seriously the needs that you see in the world and the ones that move you most deeply I wonder if we have thought enough about the implications of what Paul says in Romans 12 6 to 8 when he's talking about gifts he says the one who exhorts let him do it with exhortation the one who contributes in generosity the one who leads with zeal the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness now every Christian is supposed to exhort every Christian is supposed to be generous every Christian is supposed to show mercy and yet Paul treats those three things as gifts and it seems to me that this would imply that that some people would study a cluster of needs in the world a people group a crisis situation and a very special god-given compassion or mercy or generosity or bent to give would be imparted to that person and it would constitute a very significant component of a person's calling so take seriously not just the objective real needs that you are looking at in the world in the lostness and the hurt of people but how does that affect you how does affect you and then study that in relation to Romans 12 8 where one who does acts of mercy is to do it with cheerfulness as though there is some special mercifulness that God gives to some people and some special compassion that he gives to some people for missions number three the renewed mind takes seriously its skills and by this I'm not thinking mainly of spiritual gifts but and they may overlap but practical skills that God may may put to use in a special way in some context like with finances or carpentry or organization or dozens of possible abilities that may flourish especially helpful way on the mission field number four the renewed mind takes seriously recurrent and growing interest and awareness of a place or a people when God is moving someone into missions he is ordinarily giving them a recurring not just a flash in the pan but a recurring and growing interest and awareness of a need he's leading them to so my question for people is what are you reading about what are you investigating what do you return to again and again what are you finding compelling as you ponder the needs of the world number five the renewed mind takes seriously the growing desire of the heart for the work of missions so desire first Timothy 3:1 says it elders are to aspire to and desire the work of the ministry and I take that as a principle that God uses to draw us into his work do you find this does this work desirable are you is your desire growing is it reaching the point of irresistibility that's what happened for me on october 14 1979 when I was struggling with whether to stay a professor at a college or whether to be a pastor at all I knew to say was that at about midnight that night it became irresistible after years of brewing number six the renewed mind takes seriously the affirmation and confirmation of the local church it's essential that you be part of a local church this is the normal way of being a Christian and it's the only way I know anybody who could go to the mission field and know what to do once he got there if you weren't experienced in a local church because it's churches that we want to come into being so that believers have a way to be discipled there and part of the experience of the local church is to confirm our gifts and confirm our desires and confirm our skills and confirm our compassion and without that confirmation we will tend to be loners who can very easily mistake God's leading and the last thing I would say is the renewed mind wants to glorify God above everything people that we want to see the glory of God celebrated in the world and so in all of these things are we pursuing the glory of God do we see what I'm being led to as what will glorify God most so immerse yourself in the word pray without ceasing take these seven factors seriously and the effect I think will be that you'll know eventually amen thank you Pastor John and if you are called to missions where should you start this was the focus of episode number 236 in the podcast it's titled I may be called the missions where do I start find that episode and keep up with the daily ask Pastor John podcasts online or through our apps for more go to our online home at desiring God org forward slash ask Pastor John well as Christians we all long for the day when we enter into God's city where we will dwell with him ever of course it will have no temple for the Lord God the Almighty and the lamb will shine like the noonday Sun so what does it mean to live in God's presence right now and how do I know if I'm living in God's presence right now it's a good question and we will address it I'm your host Tony ranking thanks for listening to the ass Pastor John podcast you

Channel: Desiring God

Views: 149,867

Rating: 4.9238462 out of 5

Keywords: Desiring God, John Piper, God, Jesus Christ, Christianity, Christian Hedonism, Ask Pastor John, APJ, missions, calling, ministry, vocation, go, send, international, unreached people, unengaged people, will, what’s next

Id: J9Mc5iyqTmU

Length: 11min 36sec (696 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 16 2016