When God calls us, there is a responsibility that comes with that calling. In Matthew 13:10-11, 17, we read this: “And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given… For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.” It certainly excited the disciples to be informed that they were chosen of God to know His mysteries. However, of greater importance was to know that the calling of God comes with accountability.
The calling of God is like being contracted by someone to build him a house. The person would have given you the money for the building project and it will now be in your wise judgement and attitude to do the right thing with the resources you have been entrusted with. Here in Zambia there is a lot of building works going on in Lusaka and other cities; new residential places keep coming up and we see construction works everywhere. One thing you will notice is that there are some builders who are just as careless as careless can be in the way they build; they seem not to mind much about what makes up the fabric of the structure they are making. Others use blocks which really look nice but when you hold it up and let it drop, it all scatters in pieces. A house made of such poor quality material can get all plastered and everyone may see it as a good house. However, only time will reveal its state when cracks begin to form.
Dear friends, this is similar to what we have been admonished in the book of Corinthians: “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is” (3:11-13). How we need to sincerely ask ourselves, “What sort of material am I using for the building work of my ministry?” It certainly is better to build a small quality structure which will stand the test of time than an enormous structure which is frail and weak. This is an important matter to reflect on, especially by ministers. Just how many times have we seen foreign missionaries gallivant from one end of the globe to another in an effort to do the work of God, and report of so many a great testimonies of their outreach ministry on the World Wide Web and social media? Often, you and I who are closer to the people and know the reality on the ground knows that many times people may not even be interested in the teaching of the man but only his dollars (which they will receive and play royal to any other man of a contrary teaching) and the futility of such ministry work becomes very explicit. All this comes down to this fact: we should never do a work which the Lord hasn’t called us to do or we will suffer a great loss.
Now, on the other hand are people who have been called but are just as disorganized, having no direction or sense of purpose in their ministry – they have been called but yet not faithful in their ministries. This does not just apply to ministry work but the calling of being a believer in Christ. Listen to this admonishment: “for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful” (Rev.17:14). What we see in these words are that it is one thing to be “called”, and another to be “chosen” because you have been “faithful.”
A testimony of Three Dreams about Building
Permit me to share something personal about some three dreams that have remained vivid in my memory. I am not a fan of dreams or of hearing people talk about this and that dream they have had. A lot of what we dream often comes from the much business that occupies our minds (Ecc.5:3). However, there are moments when one should know that God has spoken through a dream.
- First Dream
Years back when I came across The Spoken Word, Prophetic Revelation books, and The Contender publications, for the first time I felt I had found something that was the right material for building my spiritual life on. Having been a devout Pentecostal for a number of years, I now could discern that in charismatacism there was so much great zeal but one which wasn’t seasoned with knowledge. One night I had this dream: We were helping our Pentecostal pastor with construction work of a church building. We finished the work and stepped back looking at the completed work. The reverend rubbed his hands with a gesture of satisfaction; we left and the dream ended. My immediate thoughts on waking up were on 1 Corinthians 3:11-13.
- Second Dream
After years of establishing Believers Assembly, I had another dream about building but which was very different from the first one: I saw myself building a house made of very strong bricks. But one thing was strange; the bricks were made of a strange material that doesn’t exist in this natural life: The material looked dark-greyish in colour. As I was building I was also taking some of this material and eating it. Inside my mouth it tasted so wonderful, than anything I have ever tasted in this natural life. The dream was easy for me to understand: I knew that the Word which I had believed and which I was also using to feed my fellowship is none other than the heaven-sent bread of life.
CONTINUED IN PART II OF “CALLED, CHOSEN, AND FAITHFUL”
