God Wants You!

In many ways that would not be according to our choice, we
need the ministry of our fellow creatures, and God often uses them to
wound us or correct us or disappoint us to serve a purpose in our lives.
And then again He will use others to encourage or comfort or instruct
us, so that could we see our life mission in the clear light of faith,
we would receive all things that come into our lives as designed for our
good and accept all things as from God to us. It is evident that our
life mission must be interwoven with those of our fellow creatures for
the benefit of all parties in ways unknown to us.

In the next place, we should seek to discover what our
life mission is. There are some who from childhood have a strong
intuition as to what their vocation is to be, and this applies to people
of the world, as well as to those who are Christians.

But I speak now with reference to the children of God, who
are living mainly for life in the future world. And those who live
mostly for the future life are the ones who live best in the present
life and who best fulfill their vocation in this world.

It is an inspiration to any soul when he has a clear view
of his special life-work and an ideal vision of what God wants to
accomplish in and by his life. There is a peculiar thrill when we even
suspect some special mission God has for us. But when it becomes a
settled conviction as to what our work is then our heart runs out in the
work, if we are willing and obedient, and everything in our lives from
that time on becomes tributary to that one supreme vocation.

In order to do our life-work in the best way, we must have
a clear apprehension of it, and then we must love it and put all our
heart in it and watch God’s dealings with us in relation to it. The most
significant things in our lives, such as our dreams, our meditations,
our inspirations, the peculiar leadings of God’s providence, will come
to us right along the line of our special vocation.

Oftentimes other people will be led to speak to us words
of special import or encouragement along the line of our life work. For
instance, when God designs a child to be a preacher of the gospel, that
child will have premonitions of it, and along in his life other persons
will speak to him on this matter. And as life goes on the various
providences and the various incidents, both in his mind and outer life,
will all seem to point in that direction.

This same truth will apply to any other vocation. People
who have no definite view as to their life-work are apt to beat the air.
They work at random; they run like the man in Scripture, without a
message; they waste a great deal of energy in doing nothing.

You may ask, “How shall I find my special vocation?” I
answer, “By a life of prayer.” Not by simply saying prayers, but by
living a life of continued talking with God, by a perfect surrender to
Him through Jesus, a perfect willingness to give up your own thoughts,
plans, and prejudices and being willing for God to possess you and lead
you in the way He chooses for you to go.

You are to believe that God loves you with an eternal
love, that God has a place for you and a mission for you to fill. Then,
on the basis of His Word, plead with Him to open up to your mind your
special mission, whether it be in the private or public forum, and feel
sure from the teachings of Scripture that it is God’s will to give you
such a sufficient insight into your vocation as will satisfy you. With
that insight there will come a loving ardor and a tireless zeal to
accomplish the task.

Sadly, there are many Christians who miss their true
mission in life. Although they may be saved in the end, yet because of
lack of perseverance or the influence of other people’s opinions, they
frustrate the special vocation to which they were called. They have been
gifted in many ways and evidently have been called of God for various
kinds of service or usefulness or holy character and have been
sidetracked, or have given up their work, and thereby frustrated the
plan of God.

To be faithful to our calling in life is the greatest
thing in all human character. It is not so much the size of our
abilities, or the conspicuousness of our life-work, but that hidden,
deep, settled obedience to God, that humble faithfulness to His calling
day by day, moment by moment, in the place where we are that will tell
in the ages to come and mark our rank in the kingdom of God when the
crowns are distributed.

George D.?Watson (1848-1923) was a holiness evangelist and the author of several books, including Bridehood Saints, from which this excerpt was taken.