Know Your Calling Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it. - Colossians 4:17Your ministry, or calling, is the purpose of your life - the reason you exist. It is what God has in mind for you to do and be. It is the accumulation of what God has invested in you so far through gifts and abilities, heredity and circumstances, and through experience and the choices you have made. There are four important components to understand that help you to clarify your ministry vision and focus your calling: Message, Voice, Audience and Results. Understanding these pieces will help guide you in your vision, dreams, plans and objectives. It is well worth the time and investment to discover the truth for these. The Message Your message is the one thing you represent. It is the God-given truth that states what you stand for and live for. It is focused like a laser and fits you like a glove. It is the one thing that you want to pass on to your children. It is your purpose and your defining characteristic. Living your message is the “sweet spot” of your life. Your Voice This is how you communicate the message. When you have “found your voice” it means you know the most effective way to share your message with others. Often this is represented by a spiritual gift, such as teaching, leadership, administration, helps, encouragement, service or giving. Your voice might or might not be consistent with your current role or title; and it might be a method you have yet to develop. Consider things that you “do” and things that you “be”; but remember that just because you can do or be something does not mean you should. Test for consistency between your message and voice. You probably have more than one voice, but you do well to identify your primary voice. Your Audience These are the intended recipients of your message. They are able to hear your voice and understand your message. Sometimes it helps to narrow your target audience to get a clearer picture of your message. Clarity and focus offset dilution and diffusion. The Results These are the expected outcomes when your audience hears your message. Results can indicate how well you are delivering the message. Results also serve to encourage you in the pursuit ofyour calling. They are the fruit of your ministry. Test your actual results against your expected
Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it. -
Colossians 4:17
Your ministry, or calling, is the purpose of your life - the reason you exist. It is what God has inmind for you to do and be. It is the accumulation of what God has invested in you so far through
gifts and abilities, heredity and circumstances, and through experience and the choices you have
made.
There are four important components to understand that help you to clarify your ministry vision
and focus your calling: Message, Voice, Audience and Results. Understanding these pieces will
help guide you in your vision, dreams, plans and objectives. It is well worth the time and
investment to discover the truth for these.
The Message
Your message is the one thing you represent. It is the God-given truth that states what you stand
for and live for. It is focused like a laser and fits you like a glove. It is the one thing that you
want to pass on to your children. It is your purpose and your defining characteristic. Living your
message is the “sweet spot” of your life.
Your Voice
This is how you communicate the message. When you have “found your voice” it means you
know the most effective way to share your message with others. Often this is represented by a
spiritual gift, such as teaching, leadership, administration, helps, encouragement, service or
giving. Your voice might or might not be consistent with your current role or title; and it might
be a method you have yet to develop. Consider things that you “do” and things that you “be”; but
remember that just because you can do or be something does not mean you should. Test for
consistency between your message and voice. You probably have more than one voice, but you
do well to identify your primary voice.
Your Audience
These are the intended recipients of your message. They are able to hear your voice and
understand your message. Sometimes it helps to narrow your target audience to get a clearer
picture of your message. Clarity and focus offset dilution and diffusion.
The Results
These are the expected outcomes when your audience hears your message. Results can indicate
how well you are delivering the message. Results also serve to encourage you in the pursuit of
your calling. They are the fruit of your ministry. Test your actual results against your expected
results as one way to make sure your message is on point.
How to Know Your Calling
What is the ministry which you have received in the Lord? Using just the first chapter of
Colossians as a guide, answer the following questions in respect to the Apostle Paul. Then ask God to help you answer the same questions for yourself.
Download the exercise sheet from the Coaching Category in the Download Section of this
website.
Purpose: Who and Why
You Are
God created you on purpose, with a purpose and for a purpose. In fact,
He created everything with one common purpose: to glorify Himself.
Beyond that, He also created you with a specific and unique purpose.God intends for you to live according to that special purpose for which
you were created.
How can you know this purpose?
More Than a Statement
“Purpose Statement.” Toss these words around and watch people run for
cover. This often maligned term is the butt of jokes and snide comments.
Perhaps it is because people have recognized hypocrisy in it.
Organizations have spent massive resources to craft the perfect “purposestatement” that never gets used. It gets pulled out from time to time, but is treated as an object of
ridicule. What a colossal waste of time.
The true benefit of a purpose statement is that it articulates who you are and why you are. It is
true that “meanings have words”, just as it is true that “words have meanings”. Communicating
your purpose to yourself and others comes with the ability to find the right words to express the
truth. It is more important to know your purpose than your “purpose statement”.
Before getting lost in the word search, try to understand your purpose conceptually. It helps to
answer two questions:
Who are you? This is a “being” question that accurately identifies your character,personhood and capacity.
Why are you? This question accurately identifies your motives and reasons for
being who you are.
A Purpose Uniquely Yours
“…according to
the plan of Himwho works outeverything in
conformity withthe purpose of
His will, in orderthat we … mightbe for the praise
I have seen people live their life at cross purposes. Their
motivation gets disconnected from the passion God put in their
heart. They are encouraged to pragmatically believe that any
source of motivation is good, as long as it gets the job done.
Then they lose sight of their true passion, having accepted a
counterfeit in its place. It might be prestige, wealth or power – but it leads to glorifying something other than God. It results in
emptiness of purpose.
Not so with you.
God has a purpose for you. He gave you gifts, abilities, desires
and capacities that are specific to that purpose. He also called
you to serve, which is to be moved to action according to His
passion, which you share. Amazingly, He then orchestrates the
circumstances, provides the power, causes change to happen, and allows you to participate. This
brings glory to Him.
If anyone speaks, heshould do it as onespeaking the verywords of God. If
anyone serves, heshould do it with thestrength God provides,so that in all things Godmay be praised throughJesus Christ. To him bethe glory and the power
for ever and ever.Amen. - 1 Peter 4:11
November 27, 2011 Home Christian Coaching Personal Renewal Days
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Personal
Renewal Days
One of the most effective ways to develop your personal m
intentionally manage your current life. Every decision you make, large or small, eit
to discovery or takes you further away from your God-given purpose. Care must be
life is consistent with your values and passions.
A personal renewal day is a time dedicated to the purpose of sharpening your game
deliberate activity that brings you into greater awareness of God's call on your life.it, and the rewards are huge.
Effectively use personal renewal days and your life will change.
Preparation
Anticipate your personal renewal day and prepare properly for it. You should be w
fed and in a contemplative frame of mind. Manage your environment to control out
and increase your opportunity to hear from God. Practice will help you determine i
need to schedule a time away from the home or office. Experience will also help yo
need to schedule a full day or multiple days to get it done. It is important enough to
full attention and investment.
Print off a blank Personal Ministry Planner to work on. You can download as many
need from our website, or create your own form that fits your style. Gather your go
objectives, performance metrics, calendar and to do list, and any other detailed info
will need for decision making. If this is your first personal renewal day, don’t worrwith practice.
Set Your Heart
Begin with a time of prayer and meditation. Dedicate your thoughts to the Lord. Re
especially any scripture that confirms your calling. When you meditate, listen for H
leading and prompting. When you pray, ask Him for truth and help. Relax and allobecome fertile ground for the Lord. When distractions come, take care of them so y
Sometimes that distraction is the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Deal with it so you
forward.
Now you are ready to work on your personal calling sta
comes in two related parts, your mission and vision.
Mission
Your mission statement is a sentence or phrase that answers the question: “Why di
me?” It identifies your purpose for being and will take into consideration your coredeepest passions. Your mission statement becomes fine tuned as you live it out, so
refine it every time you have a personal renewal day.
The general purpose for all of God’s creation is to bring Him glory and the origina
mankind is to be in eternal relationship with Him. If you need a starting place, you
Westminster Shorter Catechism answer: “The chief end of man is to glorify God an
forever.” Personalize this statement with your core values and passions.
Vision
Spend some time imagining what it will look like to be living out God’s call on yo
your compelling vision statement in one or two sentences that describe this preferrethree to five year timeframe works for most people because it is far enough in the f
for big changes yet close enough to imagine clearly. Make adjustments to your visi
Your vision statement will be consistent with your spiritual gifts, strengths, values
is your dream. It will excite and motivate you. When you share it with another pers
recognize your enthusiasm.
Roles and Objectives
Make a list of the roles you have at this time. The more comprehensive this list, the
planning will be.
Start with your most significant and defining role. This is the one that tends to take
time and attention, such as your job. To the right of that role, make a list of objectiv
accomplish to be effective in this role. Objectives can be goals, obligations, respon
do’ items. For the sake of focus you may want to limit these to the important thingsduring the next year.
Do the same for each of your other roles. Remember such important roles as spouse
volunteer, mentor, or student. For each role there should be one or more objectives
carefully the roles and objectives you have listed in light of your Personal Calling S
there any roles that are inconsistent or in conflict with your mission and vision? Ho
objectives? By identifying potential or glaring conflicts you can make choices that impact on your life.
Time Management
The next step is to look ahead by entering the dates for the next seven weeks in the
Glance” table. This part of the planner allows you to visualize and prepare for yourwrite in any deadlines. Next block out time for special events, both for the time the
any preparation required. Schedule your next Personal Renewal Day. Then fill in y
appointments, such as small group meetings and other regular events. The purpose
is to help you prioritize your objectives; identify pockets of available time, and so y
tool is to help you arrange your disciplines and regular events for maximum benefi
weekly activities that are set and can not be changed. Then enter the meetings or ac
include the most people, since they are the hardest to change. Next allocate blocks high priority activities, especially during your most effective time of day. Finally, f
priority items and disciplines between the cracks. Leave some holes for emergencie
appointments.
Strategic Goal Management
The Personal Ministry Action Plan is an itemized list for accomplishing the most im
objectives from the first page. Prioritize your objectives according to their importan
seven week period. There is room to list the top seven, with the first three consider
detail.
Write down the role to which the objective is assigned. Use a descriptive name to i
State the core value that is expressed by completing it, the team that will help you a
and the due date. For each of the first three objectives include the steps you will tak
happen. This helps break down the goal into strategic and manageable parts. Increm
and task-specific teams can be identified when appropriate.
Review
Look over your Personal Ministry Planner to see how consistent your calendar and
with your personal calling statement. Seek guidance from God about how to adjust
obligations to conform to His ministry for you. Thank and praise Him for the oppogiven.
Keep your worksheets in a conspicuous place so you can refer to them regularly. Y
your life begins to look like your ministry and you will be conformed to the likenes
For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his
might be the firstborn among many brothers. – Romans 8:29
And we all, with unveiled faces, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transfor
same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who
2 Corinthians 3:18
Created in His image, God intends that we grow in His likeness. We model whatev
or our attention. When our eyes are fixed on Him, we become transformed into His
one degree of glory to another. This expresses the progressive nature of our change
into His fullness.
God is spirit: a continuous, everlasting identity. He is invisible, personal and active
is not constrained by the physical realm. He assigned us to act as vice regents in the
as His ambassadors. We are not to recreate God in our image because The Infinite
contained in the finite physical nature.
How then are we to worship Him?
Worship Him In Spirit
Jesus explained that since God is spirit, we are to worship Him in our spiritual natu
can’t separate our spiritual and physical natures, our worship will necessarily inclu
is something special about how we are to worship Him in spirit. Understanding our
will help put us on the right track.
Invisible – The spirit is distinct from the physical and not experienced through the
worship may give expression through our body, but the attention should not remain
we worship is in the unseen realm, and He invites us to join Him there.
The patriarchs offered worship to God through their personal relationship. Then the
days of the Tabernacle and Temple where the Israelites were taught about worship
organized rituals. Since the time of captivity, the Israelites began worshipping in gr
synagogues. The early church followed the pattern of meeting with groups of believ
pattern of worship coming full circle, back to personal relationship after being enri
physical reminders of the character of God and His relationship to man. Worship H
means to meet Him in the unseen realm.
Personal – The spirit is personal: able to think, feel, will and relate. We worship H
thinking His thoughts after Him. Paul declares: “we have the mind of Christ.” He dthat we have the same capacity, but that to the limited extent of our ability, we hav
mind to think like Him.
We worship when we feel the same emotions that He does. When God is moved to
the condition of our fellow man, we are moved to compassion as well. He wishes th
perish, and floods the age with His grace and mercy. These are our emotions to fee
We worship when we relinquish our will for His. “Thy will be done.” We worship we build relationship with God, communicating and responding with each other, an
desiring to know Him better and to be known by Him.
We worship when we relate to Him. Our Biblical example is found in 1 Samuel 18
became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself.” We have been invitspirit to spirit with the living Lord.
Active – The spirit is active: able to initiate action and be accountable for it. God in
from creation to redemption, and then to judgment. We worship Him in spirit by in
This happens when we present our bodies a living and holy sacrifice, which is our s
of worship. The action we take in worship is a step of faith, a response in obedienc
of self for His glory.
We are accountable for the action we initiate, or inaction we refuse to initiate. It is
accountability that leads us to being praised with a “Well done”. This brings pleasu
Creator. It is an act of worship.
Worship Him In Truth
We worship Him in truth by acknowledging His divine perfections. There are two
in the spiritual realm. First, by faith we know and believe that God is perfect in eve
by comparison we know that at every point in which we fail a perfect standard, Go
successful. In fact, He is the standard.
And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the s
is in them, saying, “To Him Who sits on the throne and to the Lam be blessing and
glory and might forever and ever/” And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” andown and worshiped. – Revelation 5:13-14
Our worship begins with adoration as an appropriate response to His spirit. Then w
character and it moves us to thanksgiving. Every action we take, as an act of worsh
service of worship. These actions require our physical nature to interact with our sp
operating as the vice-regents we were designed to be.
Transformational Worship
As humans we are not prisoners of our bodies. We are not prisoners of our past hab
conditioning. We are not prisoners of our past sins or curses. We have the ability tocriticize ourselves as we look at the Perfect Standard. “But if we judged ourselves,
come under judgment.” – 1 Cor. 11:31. We can initiate action, and we can change
come face to face with the truth.
Every time we worship we should worship in spirit and in truth. We will be change
likeness, from glory to glory. We will be changed in our spiritual nature and receiv
We are created spirits; continuous, everlasting identity. We are created to worship
