9 Ways to Discern if God is Calling You to Full-Time Ministry

Lessons Learned the Hard Way—Viji Roberts’ Story, Part 2

Last week, Viji Roberts shared the story of God breaking long years of resistance to entering full-time ministry. It’s a remarkable story of the Lord’s persistence and kindness, and it’s one you shouldn’t miss—especially if you are sensing a similar call.

This week, Viji shares some guidance—learned the hard way—for discerning whether God is truly calling you:

1. Submit to God, not to your own worldview or bias.

We tend to reject anything that doesn’t fit our worldview, even when it is from the Word of God. We inadvertently confuse our opinions for truth.

“We are deceived to think we are obeying God, yet often it is the gods of our mindset – our ideas of truth,” Viji said. “We often submit to our own rationale, firmly believing it is to God we are committing. We reason our way out of obedience through convenient, private interpretations of the Word (1 Peter 1:20-21). We love our sin, for we like to hear the voice of our own wisdom.”

Viji’s worldview was that ministry should be bi-vocational, and his adamant bias kept him from hearing and obeying God’s call to full-time ministry.

Commit to discern your will from God’s will through sincere prayer and study of God’s Word and submit to His.

2. When God nudges you through his Word, write it down.

For more than 10 years, Viji wrote down the references he felt God was using to nudge him. Even though he ignored it for all those years, the written record helped him look back and see how persistently God had called him.

There will come a time by the grace of God that it will be too much to ignore. We can be thankful that his Words are convicting and that they lead to the converting of our souls and minds.

3. Surrender to God in prayer.

It wasn’t until Viji stopped bargaining with God and finally prayed, “Lord, I’m yours,” that he was truly able to discern God’s will. Pray earnestly, and commit to obey without alteration or hesitation the leading of the Spirit.

Commit to an attitude of obedience, which brings clarity to the mind and stillness to the soul.

4. Look for confirmation.

When Viji confessed to his wife, Joyce, what God had been laying on his heart, she revealed that she and many others had known it all along and were praying for him. He then shared his desire with the leadership at church, and as a church they took two months to pray for discernment. The combination of Viji’s inner desire, outward confirmation from others including his local church, and doors of opportunity opening soon after his surrender, were all affirmations of God’s call on Viji’s life.

Wondering what it is that God is calling you to do? “Sometimes the opening of the door often happens after obedience,” Viji said. “You have to take the step of faith before God shows you what he has for you.”

5. Trust God, not your own resources.

God continually brought Viji back to Luke 5, where Jesus got into Peter’s boat, asked him to put out away from the land, and told him to cast his net into deeper water. “That was my biggest struggle,” Viji said. “I wanted the comfort of the shore, and God wanted me to let go of the shore. The shore is not my anchor; Christ is.” For so many years, Viji insisted he would not be dependent on others. His career success had given him a false sense of security, and he had to step out in faith.

Commit never to make your past successes your Savior, but Christ alone.

6. Try to ignore God’s call and see what happens.

If God is calling you, he will burden you with a deep inner conviction you can’t walk away from except in disobedience. If you are unsure whether God is really calling you, delay taking action—and see how miserable you are. “I’ve experienced the crushing burden of disobedience,” Viji said. “God calls and gives the desire (1 Tim. 3), and you can’t cast away the call except to the misery of your soul.”

Commit never to live in disregard or ease into disobedience, but to offer the sacrifice of obedience. Obedience to God triumphs always.

7. Weed out wrong motivations.

Just as some people receive a call and don’t step out in faith—Viji was in this category for many years—there are some who, driven by emotion, step into the Lord’s work. It’s possible to make wrong assumptions about God’s will for you, but if your motivation is to honor God, God honors you and will use you to bring glory to himself. “No act of faith is wasted,” Viji said.

However, Viji added, if you get into the ministry because you think it’s an easy life or a good way to make money—especially if you’re naturally gifted at public speaking—“you may fool people but not God.”

Commit to do and to live always, for God’s glory, not yours.

8. Be thankful and prayerful.

If you do enter full-time ministry, you’ll need to keep the right frame of mind: gratitude for the opportunity you’ve been given, rest in God’s faithfulness, and confidence that it’s his job to bring forth fruit.

“If your heart is filled with gratitude, it’s easy to say no to the temptations of fame and fortune or even slacking,” Viji said. “Gratitude also makes it easier to handle the weariness that comes when the people we are ministering to aren’t bearing fruit. If we recognize the privilege and opportunity we have, and we recognize that the work of convicting and transforming people belongs to the Holy Spirit, we can rest in the Lord and simply be faithful.

“We are not graded on people’s responses; we are graded on our faithfulness in whatever God has called us to do.”

9. Combine desire with discipline.

Viji has met many young people who want to serve God but haven’t disciplined themselves to pursue God through purity and diligent study. To paraphrase Henri Nouwen, desire without discipline is like running a marathon without practicing, but discipline without desire and obedience is like practicing for a marathon but without ever entering the race.

“When I ask some young people what they are doing to build on their desire to serve God,” Viji said, “they invariably say, ‘I want to read God’s Word and study, but I just don’t get time.’ Then when I ask them what they do when they come home from work, they say, ‘Play video games, relax.’ I tell them, ‘You’re double-paying yourself. You already got paid for the work you did, and you want to pay yourself again playing video games?

“’You want true relaxation and refreshment? Come to God through the study of His word and prayer. As you grow to enjoy reading his Word, you’ll begin to see the wasteful things in your life that add no value.’”

Commit to grow into a lean, mean machine for God.