The Cost of the Call: Why Walking in GOD’s Will Isn’t Easy | John Giftah | GOD's Will Sermon Series

0:01 Speaker 1: Do you ever look around and think, wow, the world is a crazy place, and it just seems to get crazier and crazier? Ease your mind and take a break. This is Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta. We're a hub for inspirational Christian sermons, practical keys for Christian living and Christian discussions and interviews. You'll be inspired to live the life that you were created for. Your host is a top ranking podcaster, bestselling author, world record holder, aerospace engineer, life coach, evangelist and founder of John Gifta International.

0:41 Speaker 1: Welcome to Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta.

0:45 Speaker 2: Hello everyone and welcome to this edition of the Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta podcast. All through this week we're looking at various lessons we can take away from the life of Abraham predominantly around the topic of the call of God. See, today you may be in a place where you're trying to understand the call of God or you may be trying to understand the implications of the call of God. And sometimes it's just fancy saying, oh, I'm following the call of God over my life. Or you feel like, oh, I'm doing the will of God.

1:09 Speaker 2: I'm doing the work of God. And sometimes people have this idea of regard to the call of God that, oh, it's going to be all great. It's going to be, you know, like a blessing. bit of roses. And I want you to understand that's not what it is, right? I've been doing ministry with this a month. I'm going to finish 14 years in ministry, which I started all the way from the university days. And I'm telling you, honestly, it feels like, wow, John, you're getting to do this. Oh, wow, John, you've got so many opportunities.

1:41 Speaker 2: The podcast is ranking up the charts on the audio platforms or the books have become bestsellers. All that is great. Yes, I understand. I'm grateful to God for it. But I want you to understand the call is never easy. The enemy is not going to give you a red carpet for you to fulfill the call of God over your life. The enemy is not going to allow you to just go and fulfill God's plan and purpose over your life. He's going to throw in troubles. He's going to throw in a lot of things that are going to come against you.

2:09 Speaker 2: It's not going to be easy as you think. I've seen this a lot of times when people talk about, especially with regard to my book, Unveil Your Purpose. I talk a lot about finding your purpose, finding your area of calling and all of these things. And I believe it's so important. I really challenge you to do that. But I want you to understand that I've seen in different settings, right, especially in people who have this misunderstanding about the calling they think that oh you know what if i do what i love if i do what i'm passionate about yes there's a place for connecting your calling with your area of passion the area of your your natural strength and all of that i talk about all of those things in my book or you can also check out my episodes on finding your purpose in life and all of that but here's the thing Right.

2:55 Speaker 2: This is so important that you need to understand that it's not a bed of roses. It's actually going to be difficult in its own way. And you should be willing to go through that. It's not going to be like, oh, wow, it's so good from the outside. Yes, it is good from the outside. But there's a lot of mess on the inside. There's a lot of things that you need to be willing to go through. Like when people talk about, oh, John, you've produced thousands of episodes on the podcast or on YouTube. Yes, it's true.

3:25 Speaker 2: But there were so many times I would, you know, with great difficulty release an episode.

3:31 Speaker 1: And there were moments.

3:32 Speaker 2: moments when not even a single person would have listened to the episode yes right now it's ranking up the charts but there were moments when not even a single soul would have listened i would have come back after a tiring day at work and released the episode for the day sometimes i remember there was there was one time i was sick i recorded episodes while i was in the hospital for the six days there was a time i remember i I was so committed to releasing the episodes that there was one time I had forgotten to click the publish button.

4:05 Speaker 2: I woke up in the middle of the night at 1.30 or something and then I opened my laptop, I published the episode and then I went back to sleep. See... After all of that commitment, after all of the efforts, even when I go on vacations, my laptop always goes with me. I'm making sure like, okay, this has to go, this has to happen, this has to go as planned. So the thing is, it's not easy as it looks. And you think about Abraham, we just read like a storybook. Oh, God called Abraham, Abraham left. But I want you to understand and picture how it would have been for him.

4:42 Speaker 2: It wouldn't have been easy. Because he had to leave his native family, native country, his relatives, his family, all of his possessions in the sense of like all of his circle, his connections and everything and go to this unknown place which God has not even told him which place. It's not easy. Can you imagine how they would have asked him questions like, hey, don't you care about us? His dad could have asked him, don't you care about us, me and your mom? Abraham, you're going to this unknown territory.

5:18 Speaker 2: You don't even know. Are you a fool, Abraham? Why do you want to leave? Who is this God who's calling you? What if you're being deceived? Because these people were actually moon worshipers. They didn't know the true living God. Do you know how hard it would have been for Abraham to try to convince his family? Do you know what people would have said? Because they were having a very similar experience. kind of a culture like how it is in the eastern Indian culture, like eastern culture, like how it is in countries like India and the eastern part of the world in general, not like the western.

5:58 Speaker 2: Whereas in the eastern, it's more like, well, what will the society think? What will the people think? What will I answer my relatives? So it was more about that, the perception, than about Abraham. It was more like that. What will they think? Why did your son leave? They'll think that, oh, you know, there's some problem. They're going to talk about me. They're going to talk about you. They're going to talk about our family. Can you imagine all the pressure? You know how many times I've heard, had to go through moments of like, oh, you know what?

6:29 Speaker 2: You're a disgrace to the family for running the ministry. I've heard stuff like that. I'm not kidding. You know, I've had to fight for the ministry. It was not easy. The call did not come easy. It had its own set of problems and opposition and struggles and the price that had to be paid. You know, I would go to bed crying and saying, God, the call is so heavy. The weight of the call is so heavy, guys. No, it's not about crying because of lack of faith, but crying because of the heaviness of your heart that comes in from the call.

7:10 Speaker 2: It's not easy. You know, when I hear people say things like, you know, especially about the calling, I've heard people say, oh, you know what? Imagine somebody says they have a feeling that their calling is in the area of podcast. I've met with people. They say, oh, you know what? My vision is very simple. I'm going to be completely focused in three months. I'm going to become a millionaire through my podcast. And I used to slap them like I feel I used to feel like slapping them. But the truth is this.

7:39 Speaker 2: Some people have those kind of mindsets. Oh, if I follow the calling, like I remember there was a, I was a part of a group of motivational speakers because I'm, I'm also a motivational speaker. I minister or speak in motivational programs like TEDx. I've spoken in TEDx. I've spoken in book festivals and all of these things. So, um, and, and, um, corporates colleges and all of that so uh i i remember being in this particular circle of motivational speakers and i'm i come across these people they were like you know what three months i'm going to be so intense because i want to become a millionaire an established speaker uh you know making this much of money and all of these things they have this kind of a false agenda with regard to working in their calling and purpose and uh can i tell you something many of them just quit and Because it's not easy.

8:33 Speaker 2: You can say, oh, I'm passionate about this. You can say, I am called to this. You know what is the real test of your calling? It's not how passionate you are. It's not about how... consistent you are when you start it's not about how committed you are when you are getting started it's not seen by how you do for the first three weeks or the first three months because i know people who start social media ministry and in three weeks they quit for the first three weeks they are there three times a day and in three weeks they quit saying oh it's not going to work for me But I'm telling you something.

9:15 Speaker 2: I've heard a renowned minister say this. One of the tests of a ministry's authenticity is its longevity.

9:27 Speaker 2: When I look at the fact that God has helped this ministry to continue after 14 years, that's proof of the calling. It was not easy. It is never easy, guys. The call of God is not easy. If you thought, oh, I'm just going to play the fool and the call is going to be like, no, it's not. I want you to be serious about this. I say things in a nice way or when I walk in my calling, you know, like I like to... you know, crack lame jokes or try to make the place lively and all of that. Yes, there's a place for all of that.

10:07 Speaker 2: But the work I do in walking in the calling is pretty serious. It's not easy. You have to be tough skinned. You have to be in that place. I don't care what they think. I don't care about the numbers. I don't care. If God is asking me to do something, I do it. You think about people like, not just Abraham, think about people like Jeremiah, right? He was not popular for walking in his calling. He was spending his time in the prison. There was a time he was literally thrown into a cistern where he was drowning.

10:47 Speaker 2: he was in a very bad place call of God is not easy guys so don't have this misunderstanding that oh if I walk in God's calling things will be easy or better for me yes there is a place where the yoke is easy Jesus said yes there is a place where when you walk in the calling you have the grace to live your life yes that's true but the price you pay is evident It's enormous. So don't take it lightly. And don't quit because it's not easy. Go for it. Because that is worth everything.

11:31 Speaker 1: You've been listening to Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta. We hope you were blessed and inspired to live the life that God has for you. Make sure to subscribe to the John Gifta YouTube channel for regular uploads of sermons, skits, interviews, and more. Follow John Gifta on Instagram for regular inspirational posts. And don't forget to check out the bestselling books written by John Gifta, Who Am I?, which will help you understand your identity. And the latest number one bestseller, Unveil Your Purpose, helping you discover your purpose and to start walking in it.

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