Looking At Life Through the Eyes of The Lord God
I just finished recording one of my TikTok messages about our call to ministry through our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus. It is a specific call from a specific source that compels a specific response. A call to ministry is often spoken about, but it becomes specific when it’s a call from Jesus, not just an urge to minister to people. Christ told us that His sheep, which are His followers, would hear His voice when He calls them and they harken unto Him. Therefore, the call is specific and from a specific source.
Since I follow Christ Jesus, I follow His lead. It’s also His voice that I hear inside of me that compels me to do the things I’m inspired to do. At one point I tried to conflate my call with what others were doing, but that wasn’t my call. I need not argue nor dispute the call of others for any reason. What they hear or follow is on them. If we follow the same Lord, however, we should be on the same pathway, and we would have the same goal, which is to lead people to the good news of the gospels of Christ Jesus. We need not be apologetic for our calling. Only obedient to the one who calls us.
Not all people follow the same deity, the same Lord, nor the same God. What they choose or whom they choose is their choice. I certainly hope they are satisfied with their choices. If they’re true to the source of all creation and believe in One God who created all life and being, then at one point we would connect because there is only one divine source of life and being. All roads lead to that ultimate source. Since it’s not my job to determine who is right or wrong, I need not worry about what others claim. If they belong to the God of the universe, they are indeed my brothers and sisters. In that I trust!
My calling has been unique to me. The Lord called me personally to Himself in His own particular manner that is unique to me alone. He made my soul/spirit and placed it in my mother’s womb to be born in human form on the earth. Each soul and spirit is unique to our Creator. He hand-places us where He planned us to be born in this world. His plan was perfectly matched to give you the optimum possibility to find your way back to Himself. For those who do not choose to follow His path, the consequences are on their soul. Every soul will bow to Him upon the day of judgment. It’s personal between the spirit and the Maker. We do not have access to what God knows, nor do we know why God makes the choices He does. We only know that God does all things for the good of those who choose to follow Him.
This message came to me as I was ministering to a young minister about our calling. He mentioned to me how difficult it was to try to do God’s work when, despite your best efforts, things do not always pan out the way you hoped they would. Hence the title, “look at things through the eyes of God.” In the book of Isaiah 55: 8-9, it says to us in the NIV translation.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
How presumptuous it would be of us to assume God would follow imperfect creatures. As long as we are in human flesh, we remain imperfect. God is the same perfection that He has always been. God is also eternal, while we are passing temporarily through what God created in bodies that are mortal and only last a very short while as you are passing through immortality in mortal flesh. These fragile vessels of clay.
We try to gauge things we think are right and good with very little information to make that decision. God has all knowledge and wisdom and makes His decisions perfectly for the good of all. Therefore, we should learn to humble ourselves to God’s thoughts and ways. In all things, we should put down our imperfect thoughts and ways, yielding to God.
Such things require a process of growing in spiritual maturity by allowing the Lord to teach us all along the pathway. When we choose to follow the Lord, we humble ourselves to His guidance and His lead. We make His divine will our choice and place our thoughts submissive to His will.
The thing that makes us human is our feelings, desires, thoughts, hopes, and dreams. They are attached to our flesh bodies and our minds. Such things are only temporary, while the spirit and soul that God placed in us is what is eternal. We are to allow mortality to give way to that which is eternal, placing our care in the trusting and loving arms of God through Christ Jesus.
As mentioned earlier, not all sheep belong to the same Shepherd. It was Jesus Himself who said in His own words, as recorded in the gospels. John 10:27-30.
Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. 26 But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. 27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. 30 I and My Father are one.”
For more clarification, read from the beginning of this chapter to receive His entire message regarding the sheep that belong to Him who is our good shepherd. John 10: 1-5.
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
If you are still in doubt of what Jesus was telling His disciples, continue reading the following passages that make it abundantly clear about who and what He was referencing.
7 Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who ever came [a]before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 12 But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. 13 The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. 15 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
During this entire chapter from the Book of John, you hear spiritually firsthand the spoken words of Jesus Himself speaking directly into the hearts and minds of His disciples today. Those of us who follow His distinct voice that rings from deep within our hearts and minds. He beckons us to follow Him because He is the way, the truth, and the life that is in mankind. We are His children.
Just as we are to become new creations, new creatures reborn in the likeness of Christ by the Spirit of Christ Himself, we are to gaze upon things anew using our newly minted eyes of the spirit that see things as God sees them. You are no longer the same as that old sinful self that yields to the desires of the flesh. The old self gives way to the new Spirit as He lives in you and guides you the rest of the way into the kingdom of God. It does not mean the road will be easier, but that it will be easier to bear, knowing that the Lord is with you, step by step and breath by breath all along the way. It is to the glory of God I bid you His peace, as only He can give it. Shalom – Shalom. Peace unto you… Selah!