We each have different temperamental strengths, as we have seen in our teaching on temperaments. Some temperaments have greater strengths than others. But your temperamental strengths do not decide your calling.

So do not think that because you are temperamentally capable of communicating with others and persuading them, that God will use you to do that kind of thing. People often get confused and they think,

"I am really good at that."

For example a person who is good at listening should surely be a counselor. We assume that a person who has wisdom and is a good listener is obviously called to be a counselor. But these are natural abilities and strengths.

Don't ever confuse them with the call of God. You may also have had some tough times in life. You could have lived a life filled with poverty, sickness and disease or even rejection.

Do not assume that God will call you to minister to other people who have also been through that. If half of your family have died, that does not mean God has called you to minister to bereaved people.

Do not assume that what you experienced in life was God's way of preparing you for your calling. You could certainly do those as a ministry, but that is not your calling.

You do not need an anointing to carry out those ministries. You could use the anointing to help with them, but you do not need the anointing to do them.

Unbelievers often have the same desires burning in them. Many charitable organizations do wonderful things, but they are not called of God. They are in a World System that does not honor God at all.

So your calling then is not a burning desire within you that is based on your temperamental strengths, your experiences in life, or dreams and visions that you have had. Your calling is unique and you did not have it before you were born again.

It Is Unique

Now here is the part that makes it stand out the clearest. Most other people do not have the same desire as you.

If there is one quality that shows your calling, it is when you suddenly want to do something that others do not want to do. You do not know where that came from, and it doesn't even closely relate to your experiences in life.

You suddenly have a desire to get involved in something that you are unqualified to do. You are incapable of doing it, and you have never had experience with this before.

If that doesn't make sense then it is good. You are well on your way to identifying the call of God, because it is absolutely unique.

Ministry on the other hand is not unique at all. It comes from a burning desire. You may have thought that if you could find your burning core desire you could find what God has put in you.

If that is what burns in you, then surely it was the Lord who put it there? I used to teach this myself, but a burning inner desire does not denote a calling.

Does that mean you cannot fulfill that desire? Would it be wrong to do this as a ministry?

Not at all! In fact if you were to do it with faith, hope and love, God would even anoint you with His power and give you Divine ability to make you a blessing.

He will use you mightily in that ministry and you will prove the Scriptural principle that whatever you sow you will reap. As you give out you will get back and see results.

You may say, "I have found my ministry," but you have not yet found your calling.

So what do you do? Do you stand and wait for your calling before you do anything?

That is a common mistake we make. It could take you a long time to find your calling, because the unfolding of that calling is a progressive thing.

You should start where you are, with all the desires that burn in you, and begin to fulfill those as a ministry. Then as you continue to do ministry you will find yourself progressively coming to a place where your calling becomes clearer.

Where to Start

Where do you start? There is a simple Scripture that says,

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.

What is available to you right now that you can do for the Lord? Look around and see people with needs that you can help with and get involved in right now. Start doing whatever is there.

You may say to me,

"But what if that is not my calling?"

Does it matter? The Lord will still bless it, and you will have a tremendous sense of achievement and satisfaction by having poured out, helped and ministered to other people.

And who knows whether God will use that to lead you progressively into finally uncovering your calling.

I often use the picture of a moving ship. Many people are like a ship, sitting in harbor and asking the Lord which way to go.

They think that if God turns their rudder they will get moving. But even if He did turn the rudder you would not notice it. You would continue waiting.

The only way to steer a ship is to get it moving. Go in any direction. It does not matter. Find something to do and get doing it.

The Lord will step in and start to change your rudder. Suddenly you will find yourself veering off into a whole new direction.

You may wonder what is happening. You started doing one thing and ended up doing something else. Then suddenly a new opportunity opened up for you to do something totally unrelated to what you were doing.

You could try many things before you start coming to that place where you know that this is where you should be.

Chewing Rubber

I have often shared the story of the boy who chewed rubber, and I will share it again here.

I read a story once of a little boy who kept chewing on rubber. He chewed on pencil erasers and any kind or rubber he could find. His parents thought something was wrong and had him tested medically.

After doing some tests they discovered that his body was lacking in sulphur, and it seems that rubber has a lot of sulphur in it. So each time he chewed on rubber he was supplying what his body needed.

Now he did not know anything about sulphur. And nobody taught him to eat rubber, because rubber is not food. But before he tasted rubber he chewed on everything he could get his hands on.

If you have had a baby you will know that a baby puts everything into its mouth. He kept chewing on things until one day he chewed on rubber, and something inside of him said,

"That tastes good. Let's try it again."

He kept doing it again and again and chewed up all the rubber he could find.

Sometimes finding your calling also works this way. Get chewing on everything you can find.

Do what burns in you and what does not burn in you. Do what other people are doing and whatever you can find as an opportunity to do something as a ministry for the Lord.

Keep doing it, and one day you will find that suddenly something drops into place and you think to yourself,

"I seem to be moving in a very unique direction here that most other people are not moving in. I feel really good about it though. I feel comfortable doing it and I am getting results."

That could be the first sign that you are finding your calling.

Putting It Together

Realize that your calling is a supernatural thing that God will give you, and He will progressively unfold it to you. Then you can go beyond that and receive specific revelation.

God may decide to use someone to give you a prophetic word. He may give you a dream or a vision or a personal revelation to confirm to you exactly what that calling is.

Then when you find that calling, you can set sail, pull out all the stops and head in that direction. You can do this until God chooses to increase it or change it. Remember that the calling is progressive and can be increased.

The important thing then is to firstly recognize the differences between ministry and calling. Look deep inside and discover all the desires that burn in you.

Get moving with those until you find yourself becoming more focused and you get inner or outer revelation. Then you will eventually come to the place where you will find your Ministry Calling.

Only when these two come together are you ready to do real ministry. We will look in the next chapters at ways in which we can fulfill different kinds of ministry, and the tools that God gives us to do this.

We will consider some of the higher level ministries and how God promotes people up to different levels of calling.

By the time we are done. you should be able to find out exactly what your calling is and know what you should be doing.

You will know what main ministry you should be doing, and you will be able to come to a place where God can increase you and use you more and more. Then you can fulfill that 'spiritual career' that you desire.

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