Hope and Your Calling - David Mitts

But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, (Gal 1:15-16)

Click here to listen to "Hope and Your Calling"

The calling of God on our lives is from our mother’s womb. Therefore, no true Believer can ever sanction abortion because abortion is an act of violence against the call of God on that individual.

We are set apart from our mother’s womb.  This is a distinction called holiness.  Holiness isn’t just about purity but also specificity.  To be holy is to have a specific intent or purpose.  Another word for this is hope.  Hope is our destiny, the specific intent that we were purposed for from our mother’s womb.

Our calling is activated by grace.  Grace is a powerful word.  In Hebrew, the word is “Chen”, pronounced with a hard “h”. The literal word root meaning is of a tent or of a campsite.  The tent or the campsite is the place where the seed is protected. So, the composite word picture implies a seed that is enclosed by a protection. The womb would be a place of grace.

In our post womb life, our seed-form is nurtured and protected in the womb of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, Ruach HaKodesh is the womb or incubator of our destiny. Look at this primal picture in Genesis 1

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. (Gen 1:1-4)

The word hovering or incubating in some translations is the picture of a mother bird fluttering in her nest over her chicks. In this verse, the Spirit of God, is providing grace for the seed of the Father, which is in this case light. He speaks, the Spirit nurtures and the result comes forth.

Paul tells us that he was called through grace. The word translated as through or “by” in some translations is the Greek word “dia” which describes the channel that something comes through. For example, the word “dia-gnosis” means the channel through which gnosis or knowledge comes through.  When we diagnose a situation, we use tools of comprehension to gain access to the truth that is underlying what we are trying to understand and act on.  So, grace, the incubation of the Holy Spirit is the channel of our calling. Channels are specific, like a television channel or an internet address or a cell phone number. So, grace is the description of our unique destiny.

Paul continues to say that grace reveals Yeshua in us.  Yeshua is both the seed of the Father, His Son, and the seed of our destiny, what is called the hope of our glory.

to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Col 1:27)

Christ in us is a way to say the seed in us. Christ is both the Son and the Seed.  As the seed, He is also the Word of God encoded in our spirit.  The first Word of God spoken is “light” and so He is also the “Light” of the world.  In us, He becomes the “light” seed transforming us into the children of light and showing up as the light in the world.

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (Mat. 5:14-16).

In the natural, we are formed from the double-helix molecule known as DNA.  But DNA is a molecule that is designed for the light that activates and transforms it.  For years science thought that DNA was fixed, like a building blueprint.  But now, through the science of epigenetics, we know that DNA changes its expression based on thinking. Thinking is light. 

We call an improvement in our thinking, enlightenment. The Apostle Paul linked this to our calling:

For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, do not cease giving thanks for you, while making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what the hope of His calling is, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, (Eph 1:15-18)

He is light.

This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. (1Jn 1:5)

When He spoke let there be light, He released Himself into the creation.  Our heart is created to resonate with that light, which is the seed of His Word. His Word is light.

For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light; And reproofs for discipline are the way of life (Pro 6:23)

As His Light is implanted in our hearts, we begin to have true hope of who we are and what our calling is.

Light is made effective by shining in the darkness.

Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; (2Co 4:1-7)

Our hearts are the portals of hope. They are the crossways of kingdoms. This is called an altar. What is an altar? It is the place where death is exchanged for Life. This is called the place where we “lose our life”.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mat 16:24-26).

This is one of those scriptures that requires the perspective of heaven to unravel. Otherwise, we see images of people carrying crosses around.

The cross is the altar.  It is the place where death is exchanged for life. In the big picture, it is where Yeshua was sacrificed. But Yeshua wasn’t talking about His cross.  He was talking about our crosses. Our cross isn’t a literal cross but a place where death is turned into life.  It is the place where we lose our life and gain His life in and through us.

Now, here is the key to unlock what I just said:

But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, (Gal 1:15-16)

We have a call of God on our lives. It comes into manifestation as we live out our lives through the revealing of the Son of God in and through our lives.  We are created in His image and likeness, yet we are all unique and in that sense a part of the whole of who He is.  Each of us shows up in life according to His revelation of His will in our lives.  We do this by stopping the narcissistic pull to fix ourselves.  We lose our lives to find His life in and through us.  This is what taking up the cross means. It means to live a life that is unique and His.  He reveals Himself through us, yet He3 does so in a unique fashion through each of us.  We are a unique vessel of His glory.  As we live by the Spirit, we become free of the pull of conformity which is rooted in fear.

The opposite is to try to gain the world.  Gaining the world is the mindset of control of the world.  We want to generate a sense of security by the standards of the world which are rooted in fear and result in conformity.  Every totalitarian regime, trying to gain the world does so through the tools of conformity.  This is the root of the prophesied one-world system and anti-Christ.  This is how we lose our soul, our identity and destiny.

The enemy of our destiny is self-focus. Yeshua called this “saving our life” or if you like, trying to save ourselves through our own perfection based on some external standard that is really all about conformity. The key is to take the focus off ourselves and how perfect we are, and instead to look at how we show up in the world.  We don’t consult with flesh and blood but consult with the Counselor who manifests in and through us based on our unique identity and destiny. 

Paul called this being a living sacrifice:

Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. (Rom 12:1-5)

Activation: Ask how do you see me? What is God doing through me? I want to lose my preoccupation with myself and live fully in His perfect will.