Preparing For Your Calling
The preparation process rarely resembles the dream you initially received from God. Often feelings of being hidden and overlooked quickly follow our initial call from God. A huge obstacle to success is being unaware of what a season of Obscurity looks like and why God uses it to prepare us. The Webster’s dictionary definition says that Obscurity is the state of being in darkness, being unknown, overlooked, unimportant, hidden, covered, etc. Obscure seasons are when God applies the unique attributes of Obscurity to our lives for the purpose of preparation. God uses Obscurity to prepare us to carry the calling He put in us.
“Obscurity is a tool in the hand of God to
shape the heart of a leader.”
Around age thirteen I began to encounter the excitement of God speaking to me; over the next few years, the Holy Spirit would begin to clarify the call to ministry leadership he had for my life. But, from the time God originally called me into the ministry, it was a full ten years before I saw any of that realized. It’s been almost another twenty since then, and I’ve been blessed to be able to see some incredible dreams become a reality. I feel extremely fortunate to have traveled locally and around the world doing things I sensed in my heart at age thirteen.
Along the way, I found that once God calls us into influence, he simultaneously initiates the process of Obscurity. God has been using Obscurity to shape me for the past twenty-five-plus years. The more aware we are of this process and why this process is happening, the more likely we are to emerge successfully from it.
The truth is that God has called you to do something great; to have a great impact on your generation. I’m passionate about seeing you step up and into that full purpose. But the pathway towards that calling is most often the road less traveled. This process is common throughout The Bible and human history; God even chose that Jesus’ birth and beginning of his life would be surrounded by Obscurity. After the angel comes to Mary and lets her know what God is asking her to do, she then goes to visit Elizabeth and this is the song she sings:
“And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name.”
Luke 1:46-49
It’s revealing in her wording, this feeling of “finally” God sees me and is responding to me with favor as a result of my life. She obviously was a woman who sought after God and was dedicated in the unseen times. In that same chapter, we get a snapshot of the beginning years of John the Baptist from a verse that illustrates the process of obscurity.
“And the child [John] grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.”
Luke 1:80
God has also masterfully applied these hidden seasons in my life and I suspect this process is something you are familiar with as well.
“Stay faithful during the gap between your anointing and appointing.”
Matthew Barnett
*This is an excerpt from the book, The Process of Promotion by Samuel Deuth
