Dear Church,
As you pray God will call you to do small things.
In the Spring of 1970, I turned my life over to the lordship of Jesus. Within a month, God did one of the greatest things that has ever happened in my life.
It occurred on a Sunday. I was living with my parents. Church was over, and we were home. My mother had made one of her delicious, home-made-from-scratch, dinners. Afterwards, as was my custom, I went to our family room, slid into the large La-Z-Boy, and watched football, while falling in and out of sleep.
From this position, God spoke to me. He did not say, “John, gird up your loins. I am sending you to preach before tens of thousands.” Instead, he said, “Go back into the kitchen and do the dishes.”
I am embarrassed to say that I rarely did the dishes, while living in my parents’ house. My mother always did them. I rarely cleaned up after myself. My mother always made my bed. She washed my clothes. And she made sure the freezer always contained ice cream. I was the recipient of my mother’s servanthood.
On that Sunday, this all changed.
In my praying times I had been learning to discern the voice of God from other voices. I got out of the La-Z-Boy, went into the kitchen, and announced to my mother, “I am going to do the dishes.” “No, no, Johnny,” she protested. “I’ll do the dishes. You go watch football.” She would never have added, as I might have, “Wake up, get your posterior out of that chair, and do something to help, for heaven’s sake!”
My mom got a lot of her self-worth from serving and cleaning and washing and vacuuming and making beds and keeping the house beautiful. I did not want to take that away from her. But God was speaking to me. It was time to step up my game. My mother ended up watching, out of the corner of her eye, perhaps in awe and unbelief, as I washed the dishes.
That was the day her son became a servant.
When you pray, the Holy Spirit will often prompt you to do something. God may instruct you to call someone, or visit a friend, or go someplace, or help a needy person, or serve in your church. The Holy Spirit may lift you out of your somnambulant sluggishness, walk you into the kitchen, and position you before the dirty dishes in the sink.
As you pray, God will speak to you. He will call you to acts of service and ministry. You must remember that, from God's POV, there's no such thing as a small call. Those who begin with the dishes may inherit the nations. Remember what Jesus once said, in the parable of the bags of gold. ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ Matthew 25:23
I am a dishwasher in my house. When doing dishes, I often remember The Small Call that was gifted to me. As you pray, listen for the voice of God. He will guide your path.
What seems an insignificant thing, or a tiny calling, is never, in God’s mind, small or insignificant.
Love,
PJ
ATTEND
Take care of the small things God has called you to.
From my book 31 Letters to the Church on Praying.
