716 Trusting Gods Call - Philippians 3:12

Do you trust that God has a particular purpose for you? Let's talk about that today. Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast. I just decided a couple of days ago to start talking about trust, and all of a sudden I stumble across all these verses that prompt me to think more about trusting God and doing what He says. Today's passage, I wanna read Philippians 3:12, and I'm reading from the English Standard Version. "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me His own."   I don't believe this is a typical verse for trust, but so much of what's going on right now in my own life is this desire to trust God and to trust that He's called me, and He's aimed me in a particular direction, and I need to keep doing what He says instead of looking at my circumstances and judging my behavior by what appear to be the results. Maybe that's something that applies to you as well.   I believe God has called us in this passage, in the New American Standard, it says "so that I may lay hold of that for which I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus." It's a little bit of a complex twist in words that Paul's making here, but He's challenging us to step into the calling that God has given us.   God selected us. I was reading a devotional today that brought this all up, and that's how I remembered as I'm recording this. This devotional said God chose us. We didn't choose Him. Often, we get to believing that we chose to do a particular thing for God. And then it's up to us to do it. This is my major kind of challenge.   I think that I chose to do something that God has prompted me to do it. And then I believe I have to bring the resources and I have to make it successful. If God chose me for something, then even if I fail, that was part of His plan. It's really hard to grasp. And often we can be seen as passively kind of dumping everything off on God, but there's this counterbalance that's going on in Philippians 2:12-13. Paul talks about how we have to work out our salvation. He talks about salvation being from God, it's God's action. But then we have to work it out. We have to make it real because God is working in us. Our work goes along with God's work, and it's hard to do that work if we don't trust God if we don't trust His calling if we don't trust that He got us into this.   I often have to remind myself that the ministry is God's, my business is God's, the way that I do my job, that's God's. If He wanted somebody to do it differently, He should have got someone else, but He didn't, He chose me to do certain things and He's chosen you to do them as well.   In fact, today's challenge is a question. Do we trust God has put us where we are for his purpose? Are you in the job you're in because God has a purpose for you there? Are you doing the work that you do because God has a purpose for you there? We can punch in with God. We can say here I am and go to work for Him today again.   Simply trusting that God has a strategy for us today. He has something for us to do today that will bring Him glory. Thank you for being a marketplace minister. Thank you for considering that by trusting God to call you and to put you where He wants you to be, that there's work for you to do today.   There's a role for you today in the lives of the people that you interact with. Look for opportunities to make God known. And you will experience the joy of being a Christ follower regardless of your job, regardless of your financial situation, regardless of your status. Take the opportunity now to ask God to put you to work in your own workplace.   Thanks for being a marketplace minister. Thank you for listening to and sharing this podcast. This podcast is listener support. Please consider going to followerofone.org/podcast to listen to the episodes and in the upper right-hand corner there's a little donate button. Make a contribution to help cover the cost of this and keep it free for the next guy.   Thanks very much for being a marketplace minister and thank you for listening and sharing.