Knowing Your Unique Calling and Purpose

Finding Your Place

The term calling can refer to vocation or profession, can be a sense of being summoned or invited, or indicate an area of passion or inclination. In the Bible, the word “call” and its variations is used over 700 times (754 in the New International Version). Knowing your unique calling and purpose can help you find your place inside and outside the church and see how your spiritual gifts fit and enable that calling.

 This knowledge can help you focus on meaningful, challenging-yet-fulfilling service, while giving you the freedom and permission to say “no” to too many scattered life-draining commitments. You can gain clarity on your calling and experience the pleasure of God as you live into your gifts and know you are making an impact for eternity.  Embracing your God-given interests and passions can re-energize you as you serve.

 Are you seeking to view your profession and service increasingly as a disciple of Christ being formed into His likeness?  Do you want to feel more connected to what God is doing in and through you?  Are you tired of trying to do everything, but feeling like you, in the end, aren’t really doing anything?

The Ultimate Call

For starters, the underpinning of any study of call is rooted in the ultimate call—TO Jesus.  In 1 Corinthians 1:9 Paul says: “God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Closely-related is that our overarching purpose—all of us, each of us—is to be becoming more and more like Christ, starting with holiness:  “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;  for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’” (1 Peter 1:15-16.)

 We see lots of additional universal call and purpose for believers:  to be free, to serve (Galatians 5:13); to hope (Ephesians 1:18); to peace (Colossians 3:15); to a ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:17-20), etc.

 And, we also see that each person is unique—intentionally and masterfully created by God who asks each one of us to live into that uniqueness—to His glory—which directs how we spend our days. 

Understanding your calling involves:

·       Listening to God—which means being in His Word on a regular basis—Old and New Testaments, with others and on your own, studying and digging deep.

·       Prayer—asking God to reveal Himself and His purposes to you.

·       Receptivity—being receptive to what God is and will do in and through and around you.

·       Responding—saying “yes” to what you know of God and what you know of yourself in the process and stepping out in faith and in the power of the Holy Spirit to do what God asks of you.

·       Seeking His leading in the context of community.  We are designed for interdependence.  We are made for relationship—with God and with others.  Others can help you identify and affirm your purpose.

·       Looking at the roles you play in life—worker, spouse, friend, child, parent, neighbor, etc. to see where God has placed you to be and to act.

Some examples of God’s call for further study:

·       Abraham and Sarah:  Genesis 12:1-9.

·       Samuel:  1 Samuel 3:1-11.

·       Moses:  Exodus 3-4.

·       Deborah:  Judges 4-5.

·       Esther:  the Book of Esther.

·       John the Baptist:  Luke 1:11-17; Mark 1:1-8.

·       Mary: Luke 1:26-38.

·       Barnabas and Paul:  Acts 13:1-3.                  

Questions for reflection as you think about your call and purpose:

       Do you sense God’s invitation to something?

       Do you feel summoned away from something?

       Is there a life pattern that points to the theme of your calling? If yes, what is it?

       Where are you hearing God, but your excuse for delaying sounds a lot like “Lord, I’m afraid”?

       Where might you need to confess your shortcomings, guilt, or sins—things that are separating you from God and from hearing Him or seeing Him more clearly?

       Where are you willing to say to God “Here I am!  Send me”?

       Where does it seem that God is at work in the roles you play?

       Where are you in a significant position of leadership or influence? How can you be God’s person in that situation?

       Where do you have a sense that you are where you are “for such a time as this”?

       Where are you facing opposition to pursuing or completing something God is calling you to do?

 For an in-depth study on calling, purpose, and gifts, see God. Gifts. You. Your Unique Calling and Design—a six-week study guide with accompanying video teaching lessons.

Check out the additional resources at GodGiftsYou.com.

 Shirley Giles Davis, author of the God. Gifts. You. Your Unique Calling and Design workbook, is a consultant, coach, facilitator who has worked with faith-based organizations, nonprofit agencies, and law enforcement leadership for over 30 years.  Shirley has been EquipConnectServe Director at First Pres Boulder since 1999.  She has worked with leaders and organizations in 47 of the United States as well as having clients outside the U.S.  Contact Shirley.