Each week I spend a portion of my days writing and preparing messages. I pray and seek the Lord’s voice as I strain my spiritual ear to hear the direction he is leading me. We know that thousands of men and women write and speak for audiences regularly and enjoy it. However, when it comes to the ministry and representing God, relaying what we believe is his truth is one of the most serious assignments I can think of and is rarely comfortable.
Some have been serving as a watchman on the wall for many years and sense the reverence and responsibility that comes with the assignment. I spend a lot of time looking closely at the words I write as I seek wisdom and discernment before I release them, and often after I have presented the message I will evaluate if I spoke what the Lord wanted me to say.
Many assume the office of the five-fold ministry is pursued by the individual because he or she is equipped and prepared with education or personality. This actually has very little to do with it. In reality, God does not always call the qualified. He qualifies the called, as we notice with his disciples. Delivering God’s message is not a natural demonstration but is one of the most supernatural tasks anyone can ever be called to. It requires an imperfect vessel to yield themselves in humility, brokenness, spiritual sensitivity and, most importantly, a reverential fear of his holiness.
Many preachers and prophets in the Bible were reluctant to accept God’s call. Moses made excuses about stuttering, Gideon tried to disqualify himself, and Jeremiah complained about the responsibility of carrying a prophetic burden. In the case of Jonah, he was called to relay a warning from the Almighty for the city of Nineveh to repent of their sins and turn back to the Lord. Jonah did not want to deliver what he considered an unpopular message and instead bought a one-way ticket to the other side of the Mediterranean Sea.
Often the man or woman who feels apprehensive and groans when called upon to share God’s Word, who does not want to be there, who feels awkward, uncomfortable and inadequate, is the very one that he chooses. If we attempt to serve him in our flesh, the results are miserable, but with obedience and trust, the power and prophetic anointing of the Holy Spirit is unleashed.