Wrestling With The Call To Ministry: Prayer & Discipleship
This past month we have been dealing with the call to ministry asking the question, “Am I called?” In our series of posts we have considered the pursuit of wrestling with the call to ministry in the context of a journey, finding direction and absolute surrender. Today, we complete this series considering the role of the power of prayer in discerning a call to ministry.
As one considers the call to pastor, lead and preach, it so easy to become entrenched in the hidden trap of pursuing everything about God without actually truly pursuing him. Our first and foremost goal is to have a relationship with Jesus. A call to ministry is the result of true devotion to earnestly to deepen a man’s intimacy with Christ, there is nothing which supersedes his longing for a deeper relationship. Henry Blackaby said it well, “When you lead a person… into a relationship where Christ is Lord, everything else follows. You don’t have to convince them they need to spend time in God’s Word or prayer or in the fellowship or on mission. That’s a spontaneous response to a relationship to the living Lord.”
The beginning, middle and end is all tied to a man’s relationship with Jesus. It is everything! It is so vitally important to separate the confusion of playing Christian with being a Christian. It is a longing for Christ to know you, and for you to know Jesus, walk with Jesus, love Jesus and share Jesus. It is about a true connection leading you to advance all your efforts to proclaim Jesus to the world. It is about chasing Jesus focusing on the gospel and clarifying your call. As Dave Harvey explains, “Getting a firm and tightening grip on the gospel clears the mental path to more helpfully ponder your call.” 1
The place to start is to begin through developing a vibrant prayer life. Through reading the Scriptures, Jesus provided an example of an exemplary prayer life. In fact, the Bible provides evidence he prayed before every event in his life. He prayed at his baptism, before choosing his disciples, before multiplying the bread and fish, for God to raise Lazarus, for those who would believe, while in the Garden of Gethsemane, and on the cross. In the same way, a man seeking the guidance for a call of ministry must also pray. Jesus’ message to his disciples on the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 6:5-6) is to pray in private. Praying alone is a form of private worship where a man can personally connect with God and in his meditation learn of God’s will for his life. It is also during this time, a man can fall on his face before God and in an inconsolable manner asking for God to provide him direction. . It was Leonard Ravenhill, who said, “God doesn’t answer prayer. He answers desperate prayer.” We witness Jesus’ example at the Garden (Luke 22:42-44) where he pleaded with Father. Jesus surrendered himself to God’s will. A man must surrender his will, and listen, observe and seek the answer provided through the leaning of the Holy Spirit. This is cultivated through a consistent prayer life. It is also for a man to be malleable in spirit realizing “surrendering to ministry includes a determination to follow God’s call wherever it may lead.”
A Personal Prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father,
I recommit my life to you today and praise you for the new life I have in Christ Jesus. I confess unto you that I am sinful and unclean, and I repent of my sin and ask for your forgiveness. Just as you raised Christ from the dead by your glory, I too may walk in the newness of life. I am thankful for the transforming work of the Holy Spirit in my life because of the blood of Jesus to make me a new creation. Father, please let your Holy Spirit work more deeply in my heart to draw me closer to Christ that I may experience his love more fully. I pray for your power in my life as your instrument to magnify your glory and majesty to the world. I surrender myself to you and pray for your will in my life so that I may walk worthy of you to be fully pleasing to you bearing fruit in every good work. I pray this day Lord for you to provide me with clear discernment and direction. I lay down my ambitions and surrender myself to you to use me as you desire. Father, please direct me as I acknowledge your will for my life is your best for my life. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen.
1. Dave Harvey, Am I Called?, (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2012), 19.
2. Jason K. Allen, Discerning Your Call to Ministry, (Chicago, Illinois: Moody Publishers, 2016), 125.
