Whatever our gifts, education, vocation might be, our calling is to do God’s work on earth. If you want, you can call it living out your faith for others. You can call it ministry. You can call it every Christian’s day job. But whatever you call it, God is looking for people who want to do more of it, because sadly, most believers seem to shrink from living at this level of blessing and influence.

For most of us, our reluctance comes from getting our numbers right, but our arithmetic completely wrong. For example, when we’re deciding the size of the impact on the world God has in mind for us, we keep an equation in our heart that adds up something like this:

My abilities + experience + training + my personality and appearance + my past + the expectation of others = my impact on the world

No matter how many sermons we’ve heard about God’s power to work through us, we simply gloss over the meaning of that one little word through. Sure, the way we want God to work is through us, but what we really mean is by or in association with. Yet God’s reminder to us is the same one He gave the Jews when they returned from captivity to a decimated homeland: Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.” Zechariah 4:6 (ESV)

Our God specializes in working through normal people who believe in a supernormal God who will do His work through them. What He’s waiting for is the invitation. That means God’s math would look more like this:

My willingness and weakness + God’s will and supernatural power = my impact on the world.

When we start asking in earnest – begging – for more influence and responsibility with which to honor Him, God will bring opportunities and people into your path. You can trust Him that He will never send someone to you whom you cannot help by His leading and strength. You’ll nearly always feel fear when you begin to make new influence for Him, but you’ll also experience the tremendous thrill of God carrying you along as you’re doing it.

What do you think?

Thoughts from reading “Living Large for God” (The Prayer of Jabez) by Bruce Wilkinson. — via Ken Darnell