My Client’s Story
As I coached a client about God’s unclear vision for his Christian calling in the future, I asked him to describe who he is in his calling. After he did so, I sensed, through prayer and because I know him quite well, that God wanted to update that calling identity. So I told him, “That’s who you were in the past. But God has grown you beyond that. That is no longer who you are, and it is not who you will be in the future.”
My client’s voice and manner immediately perked up with hope and excitement as he began to realize the truth of what I said. I could tell he was chomping at the bit to bring that to God!
The very next time we coached, this client told me more about who God says he has become in his calling. That specific encouragement, directly from God Himself, fueled new clarity and confidence for the next, bigger stage of his calling. Furthermore, because he discovered more about who God has grown him to be for the future, his vision is contagious, so that he attracts others whom God has called for the same dream.
So also, if your own Christian calling role no longer fits or fulfills as it once did, you need God’s updated vision for Future Christian Calling Identity.
Biblical Examples
This idea of receiving God’s updated Christian Calling Identity for the next stage of your calling is a solidly biblical concept. Below are just a few examples:
- God gave Moses the new Calling Identity of leading the nation of Israel out of their 430-year enslavement in Egypt. No one recoiled with more shock and doubt than Moses himself! After all, he had just spent 40 years in exile after killing an Egyptian. Why would God now want him to return to the land of danger to lead a people who no longer knew him?
- God gave Abraham the new Calling Identity of becoming the father of a great nation, through which all of the nations of the earth would be blessed. What a seemingly preposterous calling for an old man whose equally gentrified wife was barren!
- Jesus gave Simon a new Calling Identity by changing his name to Peter, which means “rock.” Really?! Simon?! Jesus renamed the most impetuous disciple, who would later deny Him, as “The Rock”?!
- God gave the Pharisee, Saul, the new Calling Identity of a missionary who would take the Gospel of Jesus to the Gentiles (non-Jews). Surprise, surprise! Paul went from killing Christians to risking his own life to witness for Christ.
Modern Examples
Does your current Christian calling role no longer fit you? If so, don’t worry that you’ve made a mistake—that you’ve missed your true calling, and that it’s therefore too late to get back on track.
In fact, God is probably getting ready to update your Christian Calling Identity, not because you’ve gotten off track, but because you’ve successfully grown out of your current Christian Calling Role, and you’re getting ready for the next! So, in fact, God wants to give you vision and encouragement for the next exciting level of your calling journey!
Below are some modern examples of how God updates Christian Calling Identity as we grow in experience, skill, and wisdom.
Example 1:
Current Christian Calling Identity: I serve and witness for Jesus through my retail sales career, and I volunteer regularly at the local soup kitchen.
Future Christian Calling Identity: I believe God is calling me to start my own business, selling goods and services that mean the most to me, and making money to give to the local soup kitchen and other charities.
Example 2:
Current Christian Calling Identity: I am a project manager for a well-known tech company, and I’m nearing retirement. I also organize various church teams for mission trips and community events.
Future Christian Calling Identity: In retirement, I believe God is calling me to organize projects and events for Kingdom purposes. I need to do some self-discovery and community research to find out what the best fits would be.
Example 3:
Current Christian Calling Identity: Throughout my adult life, I have learned a lot about how to balance being a mother of four while excelling in my corporate career.
Future Christian Calling Identity: I believe I could write a good book that would help and encourage working moms of young children.
Example 4:
Current Christian Calling Identity: I serve God and others as a high school math teacher.
Future Christian Calling Identity: I feel God’s prompting to think and pray about applying for the newly available job of principal at my school.
How to Hear Your Future Christian Calling Identity from God
When God prepares us for the next level of our Christian calling, He works through life’s challenges and experiences to grow character, skills, and wisdom. That’s the way He worked through biblical characters. It’s also the way He works today.
Therefore, below are some questions to ask God about your Future Christian Calling Identity:
- God, what is my Current Christian Calling Identity? (See examples of “Current Christian Calling Identity” above. This will clarify where you are right now in your calling.)
- God, what parts of my Current Christian Calling Identity will you carry forward into my Updated Christian Calling Identity (i.e. skills, strengths, desires, passions, relationships, work environment, work culture, hopes, dreams)?
- God, how do you want to tweak, change, or grow different parts of my Future Christian Calling Identity (i.e. skills, strengths, desires, passions, relationships, work environment, work culture, hopes, dreams)?
- God, what dreams—recognized or not yet unrecognized—have you put in my heart for my Future Christian Calling Identity? (Pay attention especially to dreams you’ve had for decades. The older you are, and the longer you’ve been following Jesus, the more significant these long-term dreams can be.)
- God, what is my Future Christian Calling Identity? (You might hear from God something similar to the examples of “Future Christian Calling Identity” above. Sometimes God reveals this gradually, so don’t worry if it’s incomplete.)
What do you sense from God about your Future Christian Calling Identity?
Additional Resources
Questions and Answers About Christian Calling
5 Myths About Christian Calling and How to Break Through to Fulfillment
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