"The Cost of the Call"

I remember Fushia Pickett telling a story concerning the cost of the call. Someone came to her in a prayer line and asked her to pray for them that God would put a double portion of what was in her on them. She then replied " I am going to pray that God puts you through twice as much hell as I have been through, to which the person quickly ran away. Your call is realized through the process of time and preparation. Through much difficulty, testing and trials...

The greatest the preparation the greater the potential of the call. In fact when you start you must start with the end in mind. You must determine that you will finish before you start. Habakkuk says write the vision down and make it plain. Why?

1. If you don't make it plain then no one can run with you. If it is not clear to you... Resources and relationships that God has assigned to help you will not be released to you till it is written in your heart what you are to do and be.

2. If you have not written in your heart, the devil will try to erase it through testing and trials. Where purpose is not known abuse is inevitable. It would be like using a fork to brush your teeth, or using a hammer to comb your hair. When you don't know your identity, you will let those close to you define who you are and what you are to do. Labels and stereotypes are nothing more than false identity. Sin is the result of mistaken identity. If you don't define who you are, they will.

3. Resolve is necessary to becoming everything you are to be. If you don't start with a photograph of your potential then you will get sidetracked. You will waste your time, energy and resources. You will let people talk you out of what God said.

4. The attack against you is not because of what you are doing, it is the result of who you claim to be. When the religious leaders wanted to stone Jesus, He said, when I performed the miracles you didn't stone me, but now that I declare who I am...

The attack comes as a result of you knowing who you are and what you are to do.

Here is some of the cost of the call:

1. Betrayal of those close to you. The attack validates what God put in you. Wherever the enemy attacks, God has spoken greatness over you.

2. Loneliness as the result of isolation. The moment God speaks of your future potential, people will attack you and identify you by who you are presently. Don't share your dreams with people that can't help you.

3. Jealousy. People hate another persons success, even family members will hate your dream because they don't know who they are. They will become obsessed with your failure.

4. Ridicule and misunderstanding, people will laugh at you because of their own securities. I have found that if I surround myself with bigger people than me, they pull me up to their level. If people are ridiculing you, they are smaller than you.

5. Rejection, Jesus was rejected, Joseph was rejected, Gideon, Jepthath, Moses, David... Rejection from men is broken by the affirmation of your heavenly father. He will point you out of the crowd and separate you saying this is my son... Why? Because God's acceptance of you is not based on performance but identity as a son or daughter. If your call is genuine, you will be rejected.

6. Testing, Testing, Testing... God will first make a boast of you concerning greatness. He will give you a 24 by 24 word while you are still a 5 by 8 person. He calls you a prince while you are still a trick (Jacob), a rock (Peter) while you are still water (Simon). God will then put you through a series of test to validate the potential He put in you. If a company makes a 2009 car that they say goes from 0-60 in thirty seconds, they don't put it on the car lot with a price tag, they first put it through a series of test to validate the claims they make on it. The test is the very indicator that greatness is coming out, and the greater the test...

Blessings,
Craig Sloan