Standing Strong in the Lord

God has blessed each one of us with different traits and has called us each accordingly. It is up to us to be happy in whatever our calling is!

    "Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called." 1 Corinthians 7:20

Abide means to dwell in or reside and a calling is like a profession or occupation. You will notice that everyone here on Earth is different. Some are handy with building things, others are intelligent with words and others with numbers. The key is to remember that each of us is special and we have all been blessed with gifts that the Lord intends us to use for the greater good, His greater good.

1 Corinthians 7:22 - Choose your master wisely... a servant of man is a slave while a servant of the Lord is free. When you serve the Lord you are treated justly and if you do well at your calling then you can grow within that. God loves to promote people in their ministry!

Isaiah 45:22 - Look to the Lord and his ways and come to him through Jesus.
Isaiah 55:3 - In this verse we are told to "Incline our ears" - what that phrase means is quite simple... LISTEN! God wants us to listen to the Word and not only hear but obey!

If those on Earth knew the exact date that Jesus was set to return what would a majority of them do? They would live their lives however they wanted to until right before Jesus' return... they would enjoy the sins of the earth until they knew it was almost too late. That is the nature of sin. When you follow the pleasures of this world you fall to sin - but if you act on the direction you find in God's Word then you shall prevail.

Above we learned that if you serve the Lord then you in turn earn your freedom in a sense. You can see in both Romans 10:13 and Matthew 11:28 that God promises to give us rest. How great is it that the all powerful God will come to our aid and give US rest? He is a kind master that rewards those that do His work and serve Him. It is definitely not a one sided relationship.

1 Corinthians 15:1-4 outlines that we were given instructions directly from God. They come in the form of the gospel found in the Holy Bible.  We are to abide (or live) in the Word and to share it with others. Be steadfast in our faith and let our lives and how we serve in our calling be an outward demonstration of his amazing grace. You may be the model that makes someone desire a Christian life - you may be confident in your salvation but what about your friends and family?

Acts 8:26
Romans 1:1-6
Psalms 37
1 Chronicles 29:1-9
As we look at the above scriptures and the stories behind them you find that the Lord decides our calling and asks us to offer ourselves willingly. We don't always know the outcome but we must trust in God and submit fully.