Your Time Has Come

Are you still waiting for the Lord to open the doors for you to move into the ministry He has called you to?

But perhaps you feel like you have been set aside and prevented from moving forward and you cannot understand why the Lord has not released you.

The truth may be that because the Lord has called you to a higher calling, you require greater preparation and training before you are released.

This is all explained in this blog, and I offer a prophetic word of hope for you: that perhaps the time has come now for you to be released.

Audio File

Test Transcript

Welcome to the Apostles Desk. I would like to share today something that may not apply to everybody, but it applies to every believer who has a desire to be used by the Lord. Perhaps you have felt the call of God to the ministry or you just have a strong desire to flow out in the anointing of God and to minister to other people, whether that be to preach or to pray with people, to minister in some way.

And probably there came a time when you became aware of that call and you got all excited about it and you thought, wow, this is it. I need to get out there and I need to prepare and go do. It’s almost like you found your new career and purpose in life.

My First Excitement About Ministry Calling

I know when I felt the call of God at a very young age, I started to look immediately where I should go and enroll in a Bible school where I could be trained for ministry. I went to see my pastor to find out if he could recommend me and where I should get going. And I wanted to start tomorrow, but it took many, many years.

I think something like seven years before the Lord finally opened the door for me to go into ministry. And then I thought I’d arrived, went there into my first church and flopped miserably, fell on my face. And I figured I needed to start again.

I wasn’t ready to do this thing, even though I thought I was. Now, we go through periods like this and sometimes we get frustrated and it’s tempting to think, well, that’s just the enemy who’s blocking me and preventing me from moving into what God has called me to do. But I’m afraid it’s actually part of God’s plan.

An Illustration From Sport

Now, I’ve never been much of a sportsman. I never had the kind of physical capabilities to excel in athletics and sports. But I remember when I was younger, we were obligated to do most of the regular sports at school.

And of course, one of the sports was cricket. Now, some of you folks in America and other countries who play baseball may not fully appreciate the value of cricket, but certainly on the British side, cricket is a very big thing. I’m sure everybody knows what cricket is.

You stand there with a bat in your hand and somebody bowls a ball at you. And the idea is to hit the ball far enough that you can run a certain distance down the pitch. And each time you do that, you add to your score a run.

The purpose of the bowler is to make sure, if possible, that the ball that they throw actually hits your wicket. They want to try and get you to miss the ball with the bat or to hit it in such a way or even to walk back and hit your own wickets. But if those wickets go down, you’re out of the game. Your turn is over.

It May Look Easy At First

Now, the first time you step in there, all of us seem to think it’s quite easy just to pick up a bat and hit a ball. That depends on what kind of ball is being thrown at you and what kind of bowler is throwing that ball at you.

And then perhaps you aspire to try and be a bowler and you thought, you know, what can be difficult about taking a ball and throwing it at those wickets? Oh, it’s not as easy as it looks. And when I first tried, I tell you what, we didn’t even need a batsman in front of the wickets. I couldn’t even hit them throwing straight at them.

It took a bit of practice. Now, you don’t put a person like that on the main cricket pitch in a full game against people who are more experienced and know what they’re doing. You have to train a person like that.

The Training Net

And they have to train by practicing both their bowling and their batting. Now, there’s usually a special area that is marked off for that. And it’s surrounded by a net so that when the ball is thrown, if it misses, it just hits the net.

You don’t have to have people running around picking up the ball when you missed the ball and went flying way back there. And if you should maybe hit the ball fairly hard, it’s not going to go way over the field for somebody to go and chase after and bring it back. It gets caught by the net.

So, you can make as many mistakes as you like. And you can play over and over again. You can bowl over and over again.

And you can receive balls as a batsman over and over again. And eventually, you start actually hitting the ball when it comes. Eventually, it’s virtually impossible for that ball to hit the wickets because you are such a batsman that you block the ball.

And if you get really good, you may be able to give it a good hard hit so that it would fly a great distance. And then when it does that, well, then that means you’re going to start having more runs and your team is going to win. Now, there’s nothing more frustrating than wanting to get out there and play.

And they put you in the nets. You’re not ready to play, mate. Sorry.

Your bowling, it stinks. Really. There’s no way you’re going to ever get anybody out bowling like that. And as for your batting, I wouldn’t have you on my team for anything. We don’t stand a chance against the opponents of the kind of batsmen that you are.

The Power Of The Net

But, you know, repetition and practice and facing difficult pressure does amazing things to us.

You get into those nets as an amateur batsman and get yourself a good professional bowler to start bowling those balls at you. And I tell you what, those things come so fast, you actually want to duck or avoid it in case it hits you. You’re almost afraid to hit it.

But you start by practicing and eventually you start to get it right. You start to get them back. You start to hit them in positive directions.

And the same with your bowling. Once you’ve done that many, many times until you don’t even need to think anymore, you step in there and when the ball comes, you almost instinctively react in the right way to make sure that you hit the ball correctly. Then perhaps you are ready to go out on the main pitch and to finally play the real game and face real opponents and perhaps be of some use playing in a team with others.

Doing Ministry Is Very Similar

But you know the ministry is no different. The ministry is like a game where you are the batsman and you are going to determine what’s going to happen to that ball. But you’re not playing alone.

There are others with you. What you do affects other people as well. Okay, so you need to learn how to do it right and you need to do it in a safe environment where if you do something wrong, you don’t damage anybody or yourself.

Some people have ruined others lives by thinking that they had the wisdom and the knowledge to get out there and preach and teach and counsel and minister to others and they were hardly ready for it, were they? And if you’ve been in this route, you will know yourself. At times you’ve stepped out and opened your mouth and totally messed it up and missed the opportunity that you were given to minister to somebody because you weren’t ready.

Now the higher your calling and the greater responsibility you’re going to carry, the greater amount of training you’re going to need, which may mean a longer time spent in the nets.

When You Need The Nets

Now I know I’m speaking to some very specific people here today. You’ve been wanting for so long to get out there and do what God’s called you to do and you probably feel that you are qualified. You maybe have studied and you have the knowledge and you’ve done a bit of preaching and teaching and counseling and you’ve prayed with people and seen results and you’re thinking, why has God not yet opened the doors for me to get out there and do the real thing that he’s called me to do? Well, it depends what your calling is.

It depends what you are aspiring to do because the higher your calling, the greater preparation and training you’re going to need. And there’s no Bible school or training facility that can actually prepare you quite the same as real practical experience in the field, but in a safe place where you’re not going to cause any harm to others while you’re learning these things. And so you may have been in this place for a long time and you’ve been complaining saying, oh Lord, Lord, when are you going to release me? Lord, when am I going to come out? Lord, I’m sure I’m qualified.

Sometimes You Get A Trial Run

Well, the Lord has probably done you this way as he did me. He lets you out and gives you a chance to go and play the big game. And maybe you go out there in full enthusiasm knowing you’re going to do it and you mess it up badly.

You know what happens? You say, why did I ever think that I could do the work of the ministry? Why was I so stupid to think that I could do this? Whatever possessed me with the idea that I was called. Oh, if you haven’t been there, trust me, you’re going to be, you’re going to be. And each of those is kind of another learning experience, but it should drive you back to the safety of the nets, to be in a place where you can practice.

And you know, you can practice starting with your family, with relatives and people who are close to you, people who know you and you can test their responses and make sure you’re getting it right. You can even practice some ministry on yourself. Where are you right now? Have you been in the nets? Have you been out on the main pitch playing and failed and perhaps lost your zeal and thought, okay, Lord, I can’t do this.

Your Time Will Come

It was all a big mistake. Wherever you are, there will come a time when God says, you’re ready. Your time has come.

And I believe, and I feel the anointing on me now, as I speak to, as I say this, that I’m speaking to some real person. And I believe you may be one of those. Well the Lord is saying, my child, do not be discouraged.

Do not give up hope. Do not think that it’s never going to happen or that you made a mistake in hearing my voice and following my call. For I do have a plan for you.

And I have a bigger plan than you actually even realize. And that is why you’ve spent so long in the nets. That is why you spend so long in preparation that you may perfect your calling, that you may be faultless in everything you do.

For unless you can do the smaller things, how can I trust you to do the bigger things, says the Lord. The Lord says, you have been through your preparation. You’ve been through the tests and many of them you failed.

And that was good. You learned to not depend on yourself and some of them you have passed. But the time has come, says the Lord.

Your time has come for me to open those gates for you now and to send you out into the world and into the place of your ministry and the place that I’ve been preparing for you over a long period of time. And now you will go with full skill, full ability, with full passion and desire. And you shall begin to succeed in the thing that I’ve called you to do.

And you will rise up. You will rise up even higher than what you ever anticipated. Because I don’t do things in a small way, says the Lord.

When You Are Ready The Temporary Training Falls Away

I want to leave this little scripture with you in closing. 1 Corinthians chapter 13 and reading verses 9 and 10. This is the GBM version.

It says, for our knowledge is limited and our prophecy is limited. But when maturity has come, then the limitations will be removed. The limitations like the nets surrounding you, preventing you from leaping out there and striking out and going full speed, they will be removed.

And now a highway will stand before you and you can get in there and move at top speed towards the goal that I’ve called you to. Be encouraged for your time has come, says the Lord.