Working for God vs. Working with God

It needs to be established that every born-again believer has a divine calling on their life. God has called everyone of His children to ministry. No one who professes to be a Christian and to know Jesus Christ in the pardon of their sins should resort to being a "bench member" or a "sideline believer". All of us should be on the battlefield for the Lord.

This does not mean that every believer in Christ is a "preacher" per se; someone who proclaims the Word of God in a sermonic fashion behind a pulpit. Not every Christian is called to "preach," but every Christian is called to minister. There are specific gifts, and there is a specific calling and destiny that God has ordained for your life, that was established even before you were born (Jeremiah 1:5). Therefore, every Christian has a call to minister the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The question is not are you called to ministry. The question is what type of ministry will you have. In posing this question, I'm not referring to the "area" of ministry; I'm referring to the "quality". There are some believers who work "for" God, and then there are other believers who work "with" God. What's the difference?

In working for God you're in service for God, but not necessarily "partnership". You can work in the church, you can serve on an auxiliary, you can even preach the Word or pastor a church. But when it comes to working "with" God, you have to learn the character of God. You have to be positioned to shift with God as He shifts in the earth. This is a challenge for many believers, because if you are fixated on living a routine and predictable life, you won't be able to work "with" God. You can work for Him, because if you're an available vessel God will use you. But you won't be able to work "with" Him.

Examples of people in the Bible that were able to work with Jehovah were Noah, Abraham, Moses, Samuel, David, Elijah and of course most notably, Jesus. These men worked "with" God. This is why their ministries were characterized by supernatural acts of miracles, signs and wonders.

Saints, we don't need more preachers. We don't need more evangelists or prophets. We need some men and women, regardless of their office or calling, who have the maturity and commitment to work with God, not simply work for God.