Email: md@lifelineoutreach.com
(only use email for
contact-no lists please)
Web: www.womanofthelasthour.com
“Never do anything out of the need, but everything out of the
call.”
Recently, I heard the Holy Spirit whisper, “Never do
anything out of the need, but do everything out of the call”.
As I began to ponder
what the Holy Spirit had said, and the more I pondered it, the more I could see
what wisdom is in this statement. There
are many times we can spin and spin, our wheels trying to accomplish many
“good” things in life, yet they bring such little results. As a matter of fact the end result of
spinning our wheels is that it wears us out!
If what we are doing in life is not leading us to our call, or not a
part of our call, then its mostly just stuff keeping us busy, and done in
vain. When we do things out of the
“need” we are doing them out of our flesh, when we do things out of “the call”
we are doing them by the Spirit, and therefore our results are full of good
fruit.
Zechariah 4:6 “…Not by might nor by power, but by My
Spirit, says the Lord.”
For people raised in the generation that they
absolutely have to be doing something “all the time” or they
in their minds are labeled “lazy” and/or “unproductive”. This is bondage. We need to allow our ways to become like
God’s ways. We cannot earn or work our
way into the Kingdom. Everything He has
purchased for us is a gift. We can do
more for the
The Holy Spirit brought my attention a woman in the bible who at least twice, refused to do a work out of the need,
but instead out of the call: Mary who
sat at Jesus’ feet and when she anointed Jesus for His burial.
With Mary and her sister Martha, we find this
account in Luke 10:38-42. In short
Martha welcomes the Master into her home and gets totally caught up in “things
that need to be done” and upset that her sister Mary is sitting
at Jesus’ feet and not helping around the house:
Vs. 40
“But Martha was distracted with much serving.” (Revised Standard
Version)
We can get caught up in serving, even in ministry and miss
the call! Sometimes we get caught up in
meeting so many people’s different needs, especially if needy people surround
you. Nothing will suck the life out of
you faster than people who are needy. If
one isn’t careful, they can find themselves so stretched out in ministry needs
of people that they totally miss the high call of Christ. They can be feeding the hungry, doing everything
they can to help their local church, trying to fulfill those local church and
community needs, to helping every Tom, Dick and Harry (no
offense to anyone who might have those names, just a figure of speech J) that comes across their
path. Although these are all very good
and noble things, they are not the high call of the Believer. We can also get caught up in our own needs
and miss the high call of Christ.
Jesus commended Mary for sitting at His
feet. This is the true high call of
every Believer. Yes, the 5-fold ministry
is a great call, but the greatest call is the high call; to sit at the feet of
Jesus, having that relationship with Him, ministering unto Him. The call isn’t about us, it’s about Him, the
one who redeemed us and set us free. Sometimes
we get so wrapped up in our personal call, and what is my call? That we end up getting wrapped up on
ourselves, and we need to be wrapped up in Him.
Mary had found the true high call, and Jesus was not going to take that
call from her.
Vs. 42 “…and Mary hath chosen the most important thing,
and you must not tear her away from it.”
(The N.T. in Modern English)
Wrapping ourselves in Him,
sitting at His feet, ministering to the Lord, we fulfill our high call. As we fulfill this call our personal call
will come out of the high call and be birth by His Spirit, and it will be
fruitful. Nothing can tear us away from
the high call, except ourselves, such as getting caught up in needs so great,
that we no longer can find time at the Masters feet.
Mary chose to ignore the need of all the
“serving” and follow the call. When we
follow the call, especially the high call of Christ, sitting at His feet, it’s
then that when we are released to move from that position that everything is
and will be done by the anointing, or by His Spirit. That you will have more results in seeing
people saved, healed and delivered than ever before! The hungry will be fed, and needs will be met, but instead of wearing yourself out
trying to do them in the flesh you will be anointed to accomplish His will,
which is that none should perish. By
sitting at His feet you are going to know exactly what is on His heart and what
needs to be done, and it will be almost “effortless”, because all those things
will be done by His Spirit, by the anointing, through you and not by the
flesh. Think about it: when Jesus fed
the multitudes, how much “effort” was put into it? It didn’t cost Him a penny to feed thousands
of people. Jesus paid the price for the food by spending His time at His
Father’s feet in prayer, as Mary spent her time at Jesus’ feet. He fed them by the anointing and multiplied
the food. He didn’t have to do any
fundraisers or food drives to be able to feed those people. Jesus did everything by the anointing, and
out of the call. He was a man, anointed by the Holy Ghost. We, being anointed by the Holy Ghost are to
do everything by the anointing, and out of the call. As you sit at His feet, and lift up the name
of Jesus, He will draw all men unto Him.
That’s pretty simple. J
Martha, the sister who was caught up in serving, could only
see the need. She saw a messy house that
needed to be attended to, but Mary, who sat at Jesus’ feet, saw “the
call”. Martha could not see the
call. We need to be like Mary and see
the call, and follow the call. It’s the
high call that will lead us into our destiny in Him. Jesus said, “the
poor you will always have with you.” In
other words, there will ALWAYS be needs or a need.
Then we find Mary again with the alabaster box,
who gave a great offering to the Lord with the precious oil that was very
costly in John 12. She again saw the
call, followed the call and refused to follow the need. She poured out an ointment that was well
worth a year’s salary. I don’t doubt
that there were things in Mary’s life that were “needed” at the time, but she
overlooked those needs and saw the call.
The disciples didn’t see the call they saw the need. They immediately complained that this kind of
offering should go to the poor and needy instead of the man of God.
Mark 14:4 “But there were some who were
indignant among themselves, and said, Why was this fragrant oil wasted? For it might have been sold for more than
three hundred denarii’s and given to the poor.”
And they criticized her sharply.
This is a great example of sowing to the call,
sowing unto the Lord with our giving, and not sowing into a need, or a program,
or a building fund, but sowing where the Spirit says to sow. This woman sowed into the man of God, her
teacher. Jesus was a man, anointed
by the Holy Spirit on earth. She was
sowing into the call, and into the
Vs. 13 “Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this
gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be
told as a memorial to her.”
Verse 13 tells me, that her offering got the
attention of the Savior, and that ministering unto the Lord, following the high
call is very important to the Believer, as well as sowing into the Kingdom,
whether that sowing be financial or other means and not focusing on the
need. For Mary was sowing into the
resurrection power of Christ, and is partaking in the harvest of the billions of
souls that were and are coming to salvation by way of the cross. Can you imagine her reward in heaven??? For
one to sow a years worth of wages into the men and women of God today, one must
be sitting under the high call. That is
something that has to come from the heart and come out of obedience. For everyone is surrounded with needs
everyday, from utility bills, car payments, rent payment, to things that just
need to be taken care of. So for a
person to put first the
It’s obvious that Mary sat at Jesus’ feet quite
often and followed the call all the way to the cross. It’s no wonder that Jesus revealed Himself
after the resurrection to Mary first.
Let’s go into that high call of sitting at Jesus’ feet.
We are not called to focus on the need. For Jesus said for us not to worry about our
needs, not to worry about food, clothing and the basic things of life. For if He takes care of the birds of the air,
how much more will He take care of our needs?
The bottom line, when you do everything out of
the call, the needs will be met. When we
try to meet those needs out of the flesh, we always come short.
Maria travels, conducting Woman of the Last Hour
conferences, equipping the saints for the work of the ministry. Her passion is not only for the harvest, but
to see believers walking in the power of God and victory in their every day
life.
Interested
in having Maria Magruder come to your area?
Please email: wolh@womanofthelasthour.com