Called not Confined

I'm realising that when I've thought about my calling I've confined it to my understanding of the word or visions God has given me.

I've been narrow minded in my application of his promise because that’s what seems possible or realistic. Then when something comes up that outside those parameters we can often dismiss it.

We forget that we serve such a creative and limitless God. That our gifts aren't meant to just be used in isolation.

That actually God has designed us with the perfect combination of abilities that will enable us to fulfil our specific calling.

‘There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.’
1 Corinthians 12:4-6

I don’t know about you but I have a habit of being particularly focussed on one thing. I think we can all do this with our calling and we don’t even realise. 

As I was growing up I was constantly good at 'a bit of everything' which sounds great but honestly I struggled to figure out what I was called to do and how God was going to use my 'weird mix' of gifts.

So because of that I would always focus on one of my gifts like writing and work really hard at that. Based on my experience or how I had seen that gift used through others I fell into the trap of thinking God could only replicate that with me.

But then sooner or later I would realise 'wait someone else is better at me at that' and before you know it I had defined my calling based on my own ability.

We need to remind ourselves of God's capacity friends. Our calling is not based on our ability or understanding but the anointing that God has given us.

‘For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.’
Romans 12: 4-5

This anointing is enacted by our faith but limited by our perspective. Do you know that in our own strength none of us can use our gifts the way God intended?

We need to pray that God would show us his limitless perspective, that he would give us the ability to not let our calling confine us but enlarge us.

The only way that our calling is going to restrict us is if we let our past experiences tarnish it. If we put our limitations and fears on what God wants to do. If we refuse to allow God to use our gifts differently, creatively and innovatively.

‘Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms’
1 Peter 4: 10

Remember God often only gives us a small picture and glimpse into what he has for us. Yet so often we can think that this one piece of the puzzle can fit and blend in to someone else's puzzle.

BUT no friends God has a whole new template, a completely different picture he wants to create. He wants to use us to showcase his glory in an entirely different way.

So let's ask him to give us courage to believe that he can and will use us in ways we never could of dreamt of.