Greetings from the manse in the name of God our Father, Jesus Christ our Passover lamb and the Holy Spirit our supporter. I hope the Lent reflections are nourishing our spirits.
God is in the business of calling people to work alongside Him to accomplish His mission on this earth. We see in Genesis 6, God working alongside Noah, Genesis 12, God calling Abram and later many prophets through to the New Testament. God can achieve His mission without us, but God graciously calls us to work alongside Him. When God calls us, the tendency may be to feel inadequate, yet we are called to “approach God with freedom and confidence” Ephesians 3:12. When God calls us, God knows our strengths and weaknesses and He still wants to work alongside us even when we feel “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?” Exodus 4:1. My encouragement is to be bold and say “yes” to God’s calling, knowing that you won’t be called to work on your own but with God alongside you and other people of God.
I believe each and every one of us at Plume Avenue has been called by God to a particular role, we each need to learn to know that God is not calling us to depend on our own strength but to know that “‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.” Zechariah 4:6. We need to learnt to “trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your understanding and in all your ways submit to Him and He will make your paths straight” Proverbs 3:5-6. When God calls us, He has confidence that we have confidence in Christ “the author and finisher” of our faith. He who calls us will make sure we are supported throughout our lives. God has provided the Holy Spirit to walk alongside us as we serve in the Kingdom.
We need to be bold and take baby steps of faith and trust and follow God’s prompting in obedience because of our love for God. Let us step out in faith and learn together as God takes us on a journey.
May we find grace to say “yes” when God calls us.
Andrew