One evidence that you’ve received a calling from God is that worry will come with it. Sometimes in overwhelming waves.
The worry isn’t from God (and it isn’t always from the devil), but it will come once you begin to take seriously what you have to do to achieve the goal.
When you surrender to God, he will begin to give you big visions for bigger missions. Missions that you never thought possible and missions you never considered yourself qualified to complete. You might not be qualified in terms of past experience, but you are qualified to succeed by virtue of God choosing you.
In Psalms 37:4 you’ll find ‘the premise and the promise’* to, “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” The logic runs, if you actively delight in God, then he will give you the desires of your heart. Or think of it this way: when you actively enjoy God (premise) he will grant you the desires of your heart (promise).
God is no genie in a bottle and you don’t have to worry if you’re desires are good or bad. The product is in the process. When you delight in God, your desires begin to take the shape of his desires. God loves Jesus, so you will begin to love Jesus more. God loves people, so you will increase in a love for others. God treats people with kindness and compassion, so will you. God thinks big with limitless faith in his power and ability, and so your faith in him will rise too. Your desires begin to match his own desires for your life – therefore he will grant you the desires of your heart because they begin to match his desires!
So, what about the worry? Worry or anxiety is produced when you put your faith in something other than God. When you trust in your own ability (without God’s help) or in the power or ability of someone else, then you should feel worried! The feeling is warranted because you have past experience with yourself and others. You know that other sources of strength will eventually fail. Yet, as you become more familiar with God, your perspective begins to change because you learn that “all things are possible” with God. God doesn’t fail. He never has and he never will.
So, what about the worry? You have the opportunity to release it. Jesus is compared to a Great Physician (Mark 2:17). Worry you haven’t yet experienced is like a broken part of your body that you haven’t yet discovered. Before the big mission idea comes, you’re feeling great and confident. Then the new idea comes and it reveals other deep seated anxiety. Like a doctor telling you to do more exercise and once you begin you discover that your back isn’t as strong as you thought. The new order from the doctor didn’t cause the back pain, it simply revealed the need for stronger muscles. If you stop the exercise, your back might stop hurting, but it certainly won’t get any stronger. Strengthening the muscle will eventually allow the pain to stop.
New anxiety will stop if you give up the mission. Stop following the call and you get to stay in the comfortable setting Jesus found you in. You could even achieve a more comfortable life by stopping, but you will never reveal the fuller life that Jesus has created for you.
Fear or feelings of inadequacy are not the problem! The problem comes once you surrender to them. Feelings of worry are meant to be indicators telling you that you need to move closer to God and lean on his power instead of your own. Like a built-in GPS navigator, God will use anxiety to remind you when you’ve let go of his yoke and are trying to carry forward on your own. Jesus was serious when he said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matt 11:29-30)
Whenever you catch a vision to follow Jesus, be ready to release the worry.
As you continue to follow Jesus, you’re faith will rise, your joy increases, and the desire to keep going grows.
If Jesus is saying to you “Follow me to Africa”, you can join our team today as a prayer supporter or even a monthly financial partner. Find out how under the “Partner with Us” link in the main menu.
~Evan
*the ‘premise/promise’ framework credited to Rick Warren
Faith, Joy, Go! 