Are You Qualified for What God Has Called You To Do?

We have resumes and CVs, degrees and certifications – things that we promote to others that tell them we are qualified to do the work that they need done.  Even if you are applying for a job that says “no experience required”, they want to know what skills or abilities you have to see if you are qualified to be hired.

But in God’s Kingdom, things that qualify us are different than what we would put on a resume.  The Lord regularly asks me to do things that I’m not qualified, in the earthly sense, to do.  

I do numbers

Dallas and I used to say that I do numbers and she does people.  I spent 20 years working in public accounting. With a master’s degree in Entrepreneurial Accounting, I was licensed as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). Numbers make sense in my head.  

When we were pastoring, Dallas was the one who took care of the people while I managed the church administration and logistics and preached.  It worked better that way. Shepherding people requires hearing what isn’t being said and an ability to listen without presenting a solution. I had a tendency to hear only what was said and to want to tell them how to fix things; analyze the problem, find the solution, and move on to the next problem.

Raising daughters

My patience for drama is limited.  So the Lord thought I needed some work in that area and gave me three daughters to raise; outnumbered, out-emotioned, out of my league.  

Females are incredible creations.  They are complex beyond imagination.  Emotional beings with great variety in feelings.  They are intelligent, beautiful, and insightful. Sometimes, they have irrational responses to seemingly simple solutions.  Other times, they can solve the unsolvable.  

There has been more than one occasion where I tried what works in accounting at home.  You can probably guess that it didn’t go so well. As they grew, I kept thinking that I would figure this father job out, but I’m still almost as uncertain about what to do as I was 26 years ago.

The Lord knew that I wasn’t qualified to raise these girls, and yet He entrusted them to my care.  Why would He do that?

Unqualified

We like to think about the great heroes of faith in Scripture as being qualified for what God asked them to do.  We get to read the end of the story and know how great things turned out. But when you look at the beginning, you will find that none of them were really qualified for the job.

Moses was called to lead the people out of Egypt and into the Promised Land.  He had a speech impediment, a temper, and a family that caused problems. Apparently he wasn’t a very good motivational speaker since the people chose not to take possession of the land when first given the opportunity.  He didn’t even get to go into the Promised Land. What a fiasco that assignment turned out to be. Yet, he walked with God, and we read his writing in the first five books of the Bible.

We like to think that David was qualified to be king of Israel.  He killed a giant when he was a teenager and the stories of his exploits are incredible.  But when you look back at what his family thought, you’ll realize that he wasn’t all that much other than good looking.  His father didn’t even consider having him come in from the fields when Samuel the prophet came to the house.

Gideon was asked by God to lead the nation into battle and defeat the Midianites.  But where do we first meet him? Hiding in a hole while threshing wheat. Not a very efficient way to accomplish what he was doing.  Besides that, he was the least of his family, which was the least of the tribe, which was the least of the nation. Yet, God called the least of the least of the least to lead His people into victory.

Dependance

The Lord doesn’t look at our qualifications.  Instead, He looks at His qualifications.  

I think the reason the Lord gives us things we can’t figure out is so that we realize our need for Him.  He wants to journey with us in everything. We need to be willing to go wherever He calls us to go. Even those places that we are not qualified to go.

The work that we do in Blue Fire Legacy is way beyond my qualifications.  I have the pleasure of coming alongside ministers.  Providing a listening ear, words of encouragement, help in finding unholy roots and digging them out, assisting them to be free of the past hurts and hindrances, so that they can go do what God has called them to do in a healthy and effective way.  

In short, I do people now.  How? Only by being completely dependant upon the Lord for the ability to listen and the right words to say.  Our dependence on Him is for everything in life, even the things that I used to think I had figured out.

To top it off, I get a front row seat to see God do incredible things in people’s lives.  Healings, both physical and emotional. Revelations of who God is and who they are. Freedom to be the leaders, ministers, and spouses that God has called them to be.

Are you qualified?

If you have life figured out and under control, then I don’t think you are doing what God is calling you to do.  Maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t see the pattern in Scripture that goes like that of the world’s – determine what you are going to do, go to school, get the training, go do it, get more experience and move up the ladder.  

What I see is Jesus calling fishermen, a tax collector, and other unqualified people to spread the Gospel to all of the world.  Ordinary men and women from all walks of life. When we are dependant upon Him, great things can, and will, happen.

If you are waiting to be qualified to do what God is calling you to do, then you are likely to miss out.  You need to start walking and depend on Him for each next step.