On God's Calling...

I've heard sermon's and read books that talk about God's Calling for Christians, but more specifically our individual callings to serve our God... I've heard it said so many times about how your natural God given talents and skills are a clue to what your calling might be and other things along similar lines. But they are simply assumptions, no matter how many times other people tell you "Hey, your good at this", you can only assume that that is your calling from God unless you have a proper unambiguous encounter with God that tells you that is his will for you.

Sure, I've been told I have a natural ability to teach, and I am keen on being a leader. But, how would I know that that is exactly what God wants me to do? I hear stuff about how your calling will involve the use of the talents and skills that God has given you. But there are alot of things that can involve leading/teaching... I mean, as a raw example, I could be a sunday school teacher, I could be a Youth worker, I could be a leader for fellowships, I could lead bible studies, I could take up full time ministry like being a pastor, and that's just stuff within the church, God's calling might not be within the church itself, I could be a primary or senior teacher and be evangelising or something like that in my environment, and the list goes on ad infinitum. And all of the above involved leading and teaching... and utilising God given skills and talents... So sure I can take a leap of faith and just pick one and run with it... But how open-ended is God's plan for me? Is there a specific one God wants me to do, or am I meant to have this choice and the one I choose (and God knowing which one I will choose) is meant to be my calling? I read a book which talked about how God in his sovereignty moves our hearts to his will, moving us to make choices in accordance to our free will that will have consequences inline with God's will... So is that meant to be the case with our callings? Is it simply what God has placed within our hearts to do for him? The book mentioned Proverbs 21:1 "The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases" as well as Ezra 1:1 "In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing:" and 2 Corinthians 8:16-17 "I thank God, who put into the heart of Titus the same concern I have for you. 17For Titus not only welcomed our appeal, but he is coming to you with much enthusiasm and on his own initiative". All of the above involve God moving the hearts of individual to make a freewilled act which was in accordance to God's plan. I guess I'd just preferred a more direct confirmation of a person's calling... But I guess, supposably, "Ignorance is Bliss" and "Knowledge is Power/Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely"... Which in a way if God reached down and told us our calling, sure we would know what to do... But then... would we do it or more so would we want to do it? I feel like I'm debating against myself here... and I probably am... So I guess taking a leap of faith and do what I think I should and can do to serve and IF it is what God intends then it will work out fine. And if full-time ministry comes knocking on my door... well... It's a scary thought shrouded by great uncertainty and is pretty much all or nothing, and if you find out later (ie. half way through theological degree or even after you have got the degree) that it's not your thing or it's not what God has called you to do, then I dunno what would happen... But probably a very joyous job... I dunno if I would be the right person for that kind of job anyways.

One time at UF, a pastor came in to talk to us about full-time ministry. People tend to want back-up plans before undertaking it because of uncertainty... even the pastor used to be a electrician before he went to study bible college and became a pastor... but hey... I'm running around in circles now...

neways... enough from me today