John 15:16
"Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you." [KJV]
Many are called few are chosen (Matt 22:14); the truth is that everybody is called. Everybody that is here on earth, or has been here on earth was called to fulfill a certain mandate; to play a certain role. Then, out if the called, God chooses those to put on the display shelves.
I've ever gone shopping and what attracted me to enter the shop was what I saw through the windows; it's called "window shopping". Yet, the moment I decided I want to buy, what I was given was not what was displayed in the windows; instead, the seller bends down and gets something from under there, or goes to the store and comes back with the thing from behind there. I never went home angry that what I was given was not what called me to the shop! No! I actually went home happy that I got what I wanted.
The chosen are for display, they are not for sale, the moment they get sold, it means the shop has ran out of stock! The chosen are supposed to show you what the Kingdom has to offer!
The pastor of a church, tells you what kind of people that church is producing. I was once told by my mentor, that, a pastor does not lead the church they like or desire or want, a pastor will always lead a church like he is or like him. One of the mistakes that a preacher can do is start a church thinking it will look like another pastor's church whom they like or love or adore. It will never be! Because you are not that pastor! The first thing you need to do even before you become a pastor is become, then, understand that you will lead a church or a flock that looks exactly like you have become or are becoming.
This is the trouble with choosing yourself and branding yourself. A few days ago, I was talking with a friend who was telling me why many people will avoid me and not invite me even if they think and believe I am anointed. And this is when I started meditating upon this verse in John 15:16, "You did not choose me, it is me that chose you". As he was talking and telling me all the things I should change, I was thinking, "If this is my ticket out of being used by God or of God, I would actually change nothing! Infact, I would do even more than what I am doing".
Why? You ask. Because I did not choose this line of work! If I was to be asked, I would gladly request to be excused, to be left alone to serve in places and areas I so very much love and feel free and comfortable serving in. Believe it or not, I can easily and gladly trade in what I do in the Kingdom for other very easily doable chores. I'm not saying I would go back or out of the kingdom, no, I would still serve, but in other capacities which I flow in effortlessly!
But that is not how the Kingdom operates! In the Kingdom of God, you do not do what you love, you love what you do! You do not choose God, God chooses you! You do not choose a calling, the calling chooses you.
Stephen was just but a deacon, but in Acts 7:60, the deacon becomes a matyr before the pastor of the church who was Peter. I know Stephen would have gladly served tables as that was his designation in the church, but God had chosen him for another task.
God does not want to be chosen, God wants to chose. Those who chose God will always want God to do their bidding, threatening that the same way they chose Him, is the same way they can un-choose Him. God will never allow Himself to be held at a ransom or His Kingdom to be a captive of a few.
This is why in David's shepherd's bag (1 Sam 17:40), there are five stone, and all David needs is to choose one. Not because one is more special that the others, but just because it is an election of Grace. This makes the stone that is chosen serve diligently, knowing that there are four other stones, just as qualified as it it, just as capable as it is, but the reason they are in the sling is because of God's grace and it is a privilege, not because they are better.
Every time I see a man of God more exposed that I am, doing better than I am doing, what I see is a stone in the sling. I do not become jealous or belittle myself, I tell myself, "I am still in the shepherd's bag!" The one in the sling is showing the world what the bag is carrying! The bag is carrying four others that are able to bring down four other Goliaths.
When Elijah told God that he was the only one in Israel that had not bowed to Baal, God told him, "No! I have at least 7,000 others that have neither bowed, not worshipped Baal!" (1 Kings 19:18). This "I am the only one syndrome" is a very bad poison to take. I think one of the most bitter truths that I had to swallow, was the lesson that, "In the Kingdom, nobody is indispensable". Another one was that, God does not love me for what I do, He loves me for who I am.
There was a time I thought, "God wouldn't risk losing me, because what I do is too valuable in His Kingdome." But boy! Was I wrong?! Nobody is too valuable for God to lose and nobody is too worthless for God to lose. What we have is just a stone in the sling and a stone in the bag. That prophet, apostle, pastor, evangelist, teacher, you see on TV and think they are the special ones in the Kingdom are just but the stones in the sling. They are just but the products on display shelves. We who are back here, the backbenchers, we are the items on sale, we are the stones in the shepherd's bag. The ones on the shelves attract the customers in, but it is we who gets sold when the customer decides to buy.
The chosen are no different from the called, their only difference is where they currently are. The chosen is in the sling and in the air towards Goliath's face, while the called is in the bag waiting to fell Goliath's other four brothers when the time is right.
There is this believe that every human being knows everything there is to know, however, they only use what they need for their current state. So, all knowledge is at your disposal, but you only use and apply what you are in need of. The moment you want or need to start a business, you will be amazed at all the ideas of businesses you can come up with. But right now because what you need is a job or employment, all you can think of, is how best to please your employer or please the vetting panel that will give you that job. Even the dumbest of all of us, if they commit their mind to something, they will amaze the brightest of us all.
Lastly, if God cannot send you anywhere, then, He will never send you somewhere. There are people who have limitations of where God can send them, they have choices and places they term as cool enough for them to serve. They have wishes of where they'd want to operate from and other places they'd politely decline invitations to. I have men of God who if you invite them they will first want to know the number of people in the congregation, the kind of hotels around, whether it is urban or upcountry, etc. The reason they ask is not to prepare their itenary better, but to know if you meet their level of where they serve. If you don't they politely bring up one or another reason, whether valid or not, why they won't make it.
Soon, such people will not have even one invitation coming their way. Because, the more God realizes that you are not ready to go anywhere, the more He keeps your name aside and uses those ready for any terrain. People that are waiting for things to get better for them to start serving are people that are not ready for any terrain. People that are waiting for paid invites, people that are waiting for thousands in attendance to preach a certain best sermon, those ones! They will stay longer in the shepherd's bag. My mentor tells me, preach to five people the same way you'll preach to ten thousands when they finally come. It is when you are faithful with the little, that God will make you Lord over much.
May God bless you and keep you, may God lift you higher than I am. Shalom and keep the faith.
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