New Living Translation
10 God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. 11 Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.
I have experienced in my personal life, what I call God called, man denied. In this short blog, we'll talk about what to do about this calling that God has on your life. That calling is first of all personal and second, it has to be from God, not man. As I said in the first sentence I have experienced this personally. Without going into life details too deep, I will give you some highlights. I was called by God at the age of 17 to preach the word of God and spent the next few years preparing for this calling. Everyone was supportive and behind me. There came a point in my life in my early 30's when I found myself facing divorce. At the time I was pastoring a small church and according to the denomination that I was a part of a divorced man could only continue to pastor as long as he didn't remarry. I became very confused and frustrated. I didn't understand why God, being omniscient, would call me if He knew this was going to be a part of my life. Was I done with my calling? Did God not see this coming? Unfortunately, I listened to man instead of God and walked away from my calling.
Fast forward 11 years, God put a man by the name of Rev. Gary Berrier in my life. Pastor Gary (who had been divorced) counseled me and after hearing about my calling, simply said "let's get it done". I was excited and learned in the next few months that even though a man-made denomination rejected (denied) my calling, God still wanted to use me as a preacher and a pastor. Today because of Pastor Gary and the Church of the Nazarene I get to fulfill my calling. I love the fact that God's calling is a lifetime calling not a short-season calling.
Whatever your calling is ask God to put a Pastor Gary in your path, whoever you are (no matter male, female, divorced or whatever man is denying you because of), and pray that you hear "let's get it done". Remember we answer to God not man!!! God wants to use us no matter what our past is. He's a loving God and extends grace as He deems necessary. Man’s denial does not negate God’s calling.
