It was put on my heart to write about this, to correct certain impressions that people have about this and to bring about repentance (change of mind) in the hearts of many who, knowingly or unknowingly, had mistaken their vocation for a profession. I believe that these words will minister to your hearts and minds as you receive these words in your heart. Most of the time, as believers, we are caught up in the act of “professionalism” doing the very work that God has called us to do. We tend to bring professionalism in place of the Spirit and expect to see God’s kind of result in what we do. It doesn’t work that way.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a profession is defined as “a type of work that requires education, training, or special skill.” For example, the reason why an accountant is called an accountant, is not because he was born an accountant, but because he acquired the necessary skills to become one, which can be obtained by attending a tertiary institution or a professional course (ICAN ) in the case of Nigeria. He is an accountant by profession due to the means through which he acquired the necessary skill to become one. The profession led to specialization. Specialization makes you good at what you do because you do it every day.

The calling, as it relates to God’s eternal plan and purpose for man and His kingdom here on earth, is to equip believers to function in certain capacities here on earth in relation to God’s plan and purpose. for their lives. There are several instances in the Bible where God called men to do certain things in fulfillment of his plan and purpose for Man. Let’s see a few cases; Samuel’s call in 1 Samuel 3:4-11 “Then the Lord called Samuel…” We can also see Gideon’s call in Judges 6:11-14. There are other passages in the Scriptures that speak of God’s call to man.

There is something that I would like us to notice, there is a difference between vocation and profession. It is important that we know this. Vocation is not profession and profession is not vocation. If you study the scriptures, you will discover that everyone God called had a profession. In other words, they had a job. You will also notice that everyone left their profession to follow the call. The calling is related to the purpose, but the profession is not, it arises from the desire to work in a particular field. There is a difference between vocation and profession. Let’s establish a biblical basis for this.

Matthew 4:18-20 “As Jesus was walking by the Sea of ​​Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, called Peter, and his brother Andrew…they were fishermen. Come, follow me, Jesus said, and I will make you fishers of men… instantly they left their nets and followed him.” Virtually all of Jesus’ disciples had a “profession.” But they all left what they were doing to follow Jesus. Jesus Peter at one point told Jesus “we have left everything to follow you” (see Mark 10:28).

The mistakes many believers are making today is that they are now trying to bring “professionalism” into their calling. There is a danger in doing that. The works of the flesh can never produce the results of the Spirit. Let’s look at a vital ministry of God’s call here on earth: the ministry of songs. There are believers called by God to function in that ministry.

There are some who surrender to the Spirit of God to teach them how to do the work without anyone teaching them. You may ask “is this possible?” yes it is (see Exodus 35:30-33). While there are others who decide to go learn and “furnish” the gift. That is, they go to music school to learn to sing. This set of people become so good at what they do because of the knowledge of music that they have acquired. When you ask them what they do for a living, they say “I’m a music minister,” “gospel lyricist,” or whatever name they give it. Some stop seeing music as a vocation, start seeing it as a profession just because they went to music school. They get used to what they do because they do it often (specialization). The danger of this is the neglect of the work and direction of the Spirit in the life of that believer.

For the believer who ministers with song, going to music school will only teach him how to sing and play in harmony with various instruments and the foundation and depth of music, but it will never teach him how to minister in and with the anointing. The anointing in whatever position you are holding is what makes the difference. Sometimes I was in a meeting and a lady was ministering with songs and the power of God was mighty in that room. This lady has never been part of any team ministering with song but she ministered with power. Another lady came over and took over the ministry and the whole atmosphere was emptied of the Spirit! This lady is part of the team that ministers in songs! Well, it was obvious that she flopped, she blamed the drummer for not keeping up with her.

Probably this other lady feels like she’s been with the choir for a long time and knows how to do it and probably feels like she knows the kind of songs to sing that will move people. Your knowledge of music has become so puffed up that you are blind to the leading of the Spirit. You don’t sing songs that will move people, you minister to God to see the Spirit move. We are too caught up in this art of professionalism and it is hindering the move of God in our meetings.

Just because you’re a good speaker doesn’t necessarily mean that when it comes to teaching God’s word, you can maneuver with the knowledge you’ve gained about how to deliver a speech or 101 ways to speak effectively. He doesn’t work that way. It is the Spirit that makes the difference. For believers, we are trained by the Spirit to depend on the Spirit, but in a profession, you are trained to depend on the knowledge that you have gained in training. The problem is that we bring these principles into the kingdom of God to do his work and expect to get God’s kind of result.

My point is this, when it comes to doing God’s work, there are no rules, principles, or best way to do things. The Church is not a place where you learn 10 ways to make the Spirit move or 10 ways to move in the anointing, the Spirit is a mechanic. These are things that are being taught in the world and believers are bringing these ideas to do God’s work and you expect to see God’s kind of result.

You cannot use the systems of the world to carry out God’s plan and purpose and every believer should be aware of this, otherwise you may end up building with wood, hay and straw. Galatians 3:3 makes it clear “are you so foolish? After beginning through the Spirit, are you now trying to finish through the flesh?”

Some ministers of the word, because they want to become fluent in ministering the word of God to their people, they take an online course on how to give a speech as if they were giving a seminar or something. His motives may be correct, but his source is highly questionable. Who taught Moses, who had a stutter, to speak fluently? I am sure that if we had preachers who are stutterers, they would google to teach them how to teach effectively as a stutterer. Who taught the disciples of Jesus who never had the privilege of taking classes on how to deliver speeches, namely how to minister the word that for centuries we continue to refer to today?

Jesus said in Matthew 4:19 “I WILL MAKE YOU” (emphasis added). Have we neglected the work of the Spirit so much that we now try to provide for ourselves what only He can provide for us? The Book of Acts records something profound in chapter 4:13 “when they saw the courage of Peter and John, and realized that they were ordinary men, uneducated, they were amazed and saw that these men had been with Jesus” (emphasis added). ).

You can’t have an impact by learning principles, what to do and what not to do, but rather by spending time with Jesus and how do you spend time with Jesus? Spending time with the Word. When you spend time with the Word you allow the Word to renew your mind and transform your life. Your calling is not a profession, so stop trying to make it one. You don’t get used to the things of the Spirit because there is no one way to do things in the realm of the Spirit. You don’t get used to the things of the Spirit, you become sensitive to the leading of the Spirit to carry out His work.