This year for my birthday, God decided to give me a unique present. It wasn’t anything material and it wasn’t anything people-oriented.
The gift He gave me was the knowledge of my life calling.
Three days before my birthday, my team and I went to a Bible study at our ministry site. A South African preacher from Australia brought the Gospel message that evening. After hearing his message, I was amazed at his passionate, intense, Spirit-filled preaching. As my team was leaving the building, we quickly introduced ourselves. All I said to him was, “Thank you for the sermon tonight. I really appreciated it!”
On Sunday, the day before my birthday, this same preacher delivered the message. Before he gave the sermon, our ministry contact called me up to the front to introduce my team to the church. Considering I’m still getting used to being a leader, it hadn’t even crossed my mind that I would have to say something in church. I introduced our team and spoke about our mission trip, which only took one or two minutes.
The sermon came next in the service. I listened intently to the preacher as he spoke about a passage from 2 Timothy. After the message, he invited all individuals to come forward who needed deliverance.
I watched as a handful of tearful people went forward to be prayed over. As I witnessed God’s love being lavished on His children, I suddenly heard God speak to me.
“I want you to be a preacher.”
I wrinkled my face in doubt, wondering if this was my voice or if it truly was God speaking. Why would God want me to be a preacher? My whole life has been a process of overcoming the fear of talking in front of people, and I hate being the center of attention in a crowd of people. In my mind, I was the least likely person to become a preacher.
I said to God, “Lord, did you intend for me to be a pastor, rather than a preacher? Someone who is more of a counselor, a shepherd to Your lost children.” As I continued listening for God’s voice, He continued to speak into me.
“I want you to be a preacher. A preacher. A preacher. A preacher.”
My stomach felt like a burning fire, a combination of excitement and unbelief and joy and anxiousness.
I felt the Lord nudging me to go talk to the preacher after the service, so I obeyed. I explained that God had used his gift of preaching to reveal my call to be a preacher. After I said this, he told me that God had brought my smile to his mind last night so he began praying for me. He told me that when I came and sat next to him at the beginning of the service (it was the only seat open since we arrived late), he began praying for me again.
He continued to shower me with words I needed to hear – that I had a strong presence when in front of a group of people, that God had blessed me with good communication skills, and that when I got up to introduce my team, he could sense that God had an anointing over me. People had been telling me similar things for the past year or so, but I refused to believe they were true.
He laid hands on my head and prayed for me, and then we stood up to say good-bye. He asked how my team raised our financial support so I explained our situation. I told him that even though it was a lot of money, God had been faithful in providing our needs thus far. As we shook hands good-bye, he placed a wad of cash in my palm. He said to use it for my team in whatever way we need. I never saw him reach in his pocket or wallet for the money, but somehow, some way, God blessed us with $130 that morning.
I could not stop thanking God for the call, the confirmation, and the financial blessing.
Just when I thought I had so much confirmation that I could never get any more, God spoke again.
The next evening on my birthday, I was finishing up a card game with some teammates when one of my squad members, JD, handed me a note card with a “birthday prophecy” on it. Keep in mind this note card was written by a guy who knew nothing of my past and nothing of my personality.
At the bottom of the card was a verse from 2 Timothy, the same book the preacher was teaching from. It read, “2 Timothy 4:2: Preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season.”
