When God calls you to perform His duty, it is not vague. You will certainly know what He wants from you and when. Indeed, we must all understand that at some point after saving us He wishes to use us in a specific way albeit providing us His gifts and preparing us for and in them. Hence, we too ought not to be haphazard in the way we walk before Him. We as well should not think that being saved is the end of our faith in Christ. It is only after He saves us can He use us in the way He wants. Our continual obedience to Him and trust allows Him to send us the news. The prophet said, “And the word of the LORD came to me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, saying” (Ezek. 24:1).
Does God even call us now for a specific duty? A certain proof to it is the sending of His word to us. There’s no other way. The prophet indicates he was very sure of it by speaking the specifics. It was because he was fully ready in the Spirit. He was fully transformed to become God’s mouthpiece. If you are not fully ready or if you lack the passion to be ready, you never get to see His word come to you. You may hear many things from His word and people, but not the words that explain your duty. This does not invalidate His salvation to you and if you never get to be ready until your last breath, you will not lose eternity. Yet, this does mean you miss a whole lot of glory and honor in eternity besides the many things you could see on earth for your sake and for Christ’s sake. The reason for such apathy is partial dependence on God or self-reliance. This further means you are not always obedient to Him; you filter certain parts of the Word for your comfort and convenience. When this is your state you will even question His calling for duty just as many who do not know Him or you avoid the matter as a whole. To not have His word come to you is like driving without a road map; you go all over the place. You may achieve the goals you set for yourselves, but they do not bring Him glory; you too will not have pure joy. You achieve much less than when your goals are handed to you by God and are empowered by Him for them. They stem from the Word He sends you indicating your duty.
It is when you are trained and appraised by God to fully commit to Him that He sends you His word. In some cases He sends it through someone speaking the Word. The major reason for many believers’ inactivity toward God is not having the Word that describes their duty. They have not been eager to have it. Such not only become a great obstacle to themselves, but also to those who indeed have the Word. When a person is saved the first thing God searches in him is the sense of passion for Him. He motivates him for it, but wishes he respond. It is for this reason that He chooses only a few from many. These few have no merit in themselves. They are not invincible to weaknesses and disobedience either. But the one thing they have is the character to ultimately obey God regardless of their state, emotions and thinking. This is the substance God sees in them when He chose to send them His word. They know His nature and His dealings with men. They never let loose their passion for Him. So, God is not worried to call them. God called Jonah, a man with such character. “The word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying,” (1:1).
We know Jonah as an unwilling prophet. But, God too knew it well beforehand. Yet, He chose him and sent him His word. Jonah did not have the same love as God toward all men alike. His attitude toward people was indifferent, but his passion for God never varied. We can conclude it when he told the people of the ship to toss him into the tumultuous sea that they may live. He confessed that he feared the Lord God of heaven who created the earth and the sea. You see, passion for God is not something that is inbuilt in us. It must come from knowing Him and must be developed by being intimate with Him. God must pour it on us. It is not the same as passion of the flesh. Many claim duties for Him from passion developed in the flesh guided by the mind. It does not stand the tests of time. Anything accomplished with it does not put God in the first place. Therefore, any duty performed with it has not come from God’s word. When you have the passion and the Word for performing His duty, He will even turn you into a willing person. Then the fruit of your duty will be powerful accomplishing God’s desire. Jesus said, “… to his slaves, ‘the wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy’” (Matt. 22:8).
God will call those who were not called through you. He weeds out all the unworthy people. He will call them through you and will reveal their nature through that which God produces through you. Whatever duty God calls you to do, it is to separate the believing from the unbelieving. Therefore, what you may expect will not take place. Yet, what God has known from the beginning to happen will take place. As long as you stick to the duty He placed on you, you will flourish well under His strong arm. Time, tide and all else will pave way for you to do your duty. God will bless many undeserving men through you. For see what He is capable of – “…They were fearful and amazed, saying to one another, ‘Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?’” (Luke 8:25).
So, it is of utmost necessity that you, no matter who you are, receive your most important work in life from God, i.e. His duty for you. If you worry as to how this happens, the answer lies here: “until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen” (Acts 1:2). The Lord speaks to you from the Word by the Holy Spirit. If you are ready, your readiness will enable you to realize that it is Him. For your readiness is not of yourselves but of God. The Holy Spirit plays the active and pivotal part in leading believers for all they should do for Him. Without Him we are clueless.
If you follow God’s desire for you, you will receive praise. Paul spoke the following to the church at Corinth. “Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you” (1 Cor. 11:2). Not only did they remember Paul as God’s messenger who suffered for them, but they held on to the traditions he delivered to them which were true before God in Christ. One such tradition is God’s call to a believer for a specific duty. God approved traditions made believers look to Christ rather than men and even the apostles. It was Paul’s mindset to hand over every believer to the authority of Christ. The traditions he taught proved true in the Spirit and allowed believers to receive that which is God’s desire for them.
Be sure of what is written to you today. It applies and works for all ages, male and female, servants and masters so that they prosper in all areas of life. It is only when God reveals your duty that His calling of you can be precious. And it is not for any less reason that Paul said the following. “To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power” (2 Thess. 1:11).