Investing in your future - What is your calling?

I want you to think to yourself all the things you enjoying doing or are gifted at doing

When I say the word investing, what comes to mind?

Investing is the "action of putting something in to somewhere else". Investing is commonly used in financial and economic terms.

You can invest in a lot of things. You can invest in the stock market, you can invest in a home, or you can invest in a mutual fund.

Over the course of the next few weeks, we are going to be talking about Investing in Your Future. We are going to go over things you can do now, characteristics you can start developing now so that your future can be bright.

This week, we are going to talk about following your calling in life. Each of us has a calling in life. Some people’s calling is to be a firefighter. Some is to be a teacher. Some is to be a Youth Pastor…isn’t that all of yours? :)

Each of you has a calling. But, how do you find it? Then, once you find it, what do you do with it? Let’s look now to find out.

Scripture

How do you find your calling?

What are you gifted at? Back to my initial question – what excites you? What drives you?

Your calling comes from God (1 Samuel 3:1-14; 19)
- Samuel didn’t know God at the time God spoke to him. However, God had a calling for his life.
- What was that calling? To be a prophet – who is a person who has directly encountered God, of whose intentions he can then speak
- So, the encounter Samuel had with God was his first, but as it is pointed out, God continue to speak to Samuel for many, many years.

God’s calling on Samuel’s life was to be a prophet. His calling for you is probably different. Regardless, he has a plan for you and wants to share it with you.

What happened when Samuel responded to his calling? He invested in it and became one of the great prophets.

So, how do you find your calling? Ask God. Matthew 7:7-8 – “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”

What do you do with your calling? – Read Matthew 25:14-30

1. Everyone is given a talent. You need to invest in it…start becoming great at it

How do you invest in it? How do you become great at it?
- Practice
- Become a student in it – know the hows and whys that make your talent so special
- Seek God’s desire for you and your gift. He gave you the gift, he probably knows how to best use that gift.

2. Use your gift for the Lord

After all, He gave you the gift. We should honor him by investing in it and give him the glory for blessing us with it.

How?
- The way is probably the most visible way – particularly in the past 5 years or so. But when you are honored for your particular gift (ie, win an award or get celebrated for hitting the game-winning shot), give thanks to God for the impact He has in your life and give him praise. By that, all who hear you will realize God’s impact in your life and, hopefully, be challenged in their life.
- Use it to serve others. There are so many ways, but some right off the top of my head is if you are good at basketball, try playing in those FCA camps that will help others. If you are gifted musically, try being apart of a worship band and use your gifts to help lead others in worship. If you become a doctor or nurse, try helping out various organizations that go and help people in other countries and share your faith with those you help.

There are countless ways for you to use your gift for God.

Challenge

So, as you invest in your future, know that:
We all have a calling from God. Each calling is different, but none-the-less, it is from God
We need to invest in our calling by practicing it, becoming a student of it, and seek God’s desire for the use of it.
Lastly, we need to use our gift for God

Who wants to wander through life aimlessly? No one. We can find out what our purpose, what our call in life is by asking God for it. God has gifted you with something great. Will you use it the way that God intends?

Right now, I want you to think of 1 thing you can do this week to start finding or developing your calling. What will you do?

Now, write it down and share it with another person. That way, you can remind yourself and someone else can start praying for you and helping you this week.