DAY THREE: YOUR PASSION AS IT RELATES TO YOUR ASSIGNMENT

Review:

• Knowing what your spiritual gift(s) is(are) will enable you to discover your
  assignment, understand your place in the body of Christ, and focus your energies
  in the days to come.
• Your personality is one of God’s good gifts to you, and He intends for you
  to use it for His purposes.

Matthew 28:16-20

We call this verse “The Great Commission” because it sums up what it is that
we as believers are to be about. Usually, the word that we seem to place the
most emphasis on is the word “go,” using it as a battle cry when promoting
mission opportunities or encouraging believers to be intentional in evangelism.
Both are appropriate; however, we must be careful not to ignore other words in
this passage that may be even more indicative of the approach believers should
take in ministry.

Grammatically speaking, the active verb in this verse is “make.” The phrase
“therefore go” in the original text, if literally translated, means “as you go”
or “going.” Go, baptizing, and teaching are all participles, meaning that they
tell where and how to make disciples. All this considered, the message of the
Great Commission is that we are to make disciples as we go by baptizing and
teaching those with whom we come in contact. We ought to take opportunities
to share the love of God with the whole world, but we should also be making
disciples everywhere we go each day.

A “nation” is not just a country, but a people group, whether that is a
cultural group, an industrial group, a language group, a socio-economic group,
etc. God wants to reconcile the world, “all nations,” to Himself. To do that,
God created an army of specialized believers to reach into each and every nook
and cranny of the world in which we live.

What does that mean for you? Answer this question. If you could spend the
rest of your life doing one thing and time and money were no object, what would
you do? (Remember to put aside any obligation that you may feel to fit into a
traditional ministerial role.) The answer to this question is your passion.

When you consider your call, is this passion something that you feel you must
give up? Why is that? If the passion is God-honoring, it may play a key role in
the assignment God has for you. In fact, it is very likely. God did not intend
for all of us to line up for the same job. There are as many specialized
ministry assignments as there are believers, and each of us has been carefully
created by God to fill one of those assignments. If we ignore the way God
created us, making our own modifications so that we fit into someone else’s
space, then we interfere with God’s plan.

You may be afraid that God is calling you to preach, when you don’t like to
stand in front of other people. God may be calling you to preach and teaching
you that God is sufficient to help you through your fear of people or God may be
calling you to a completely different type of ministry that will not be in front
of people. Most individuals called to ministry will not be serving on a church
staff. Most people called to ministry will be serving in “typical” jobs and then
also serving as a volunteer in a ministry or they will be working two jobs, one
for a ministry and another in a “secular” job. Some people are called to help
new churches start and their task is to continue to work in their job and spend
their time outside of their job helping the new church get started. No one can
tell you what your assignment will be, but you can be certain that it will
involve telling others about God’s love and helping Christians continue to
follow Christ.

Take a few moments and write your thoughts, concerns, and questions in your
journal. Allow the following thought suggestions to guide you.

What is(are) your passion(s)?

Have you ever considered that your assignment may have much to do with your
passion area? Why or why not?

How are some ways that God may be able to use your passion area to accomplish
His purpose of reconciling the world to Himself? How can your passion facilitate
ministry opportunities to make disciples?

What is God teaching you?