And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, (Eph 4:11-13)

One of the challenges faced by ministers from time to time is recognizing and standing in God's calling for their lives. This is indeed a challenge that I trust the Holy Spirit to help God's servants overcome in order for them to find fulfilment in their different callings. Paul told the Ephesians that when Jesus ascended on high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. According to Paul, Jesus gave the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher to the Church. The purpose for God giving these five-fold spiritual officers according to the scripture is to equip the saints, prepare men for the work of ministry and to edify the Body of Christ.

Apostle Paul says, 'he (Jesus) gave some to be apostles, some prophets etc. Jesus did not give all to be apostles or all to be prophets. By this we understand that He also gave some to be evangelists, pastors and teachers. Since this is so, we safely conclude that Jesus has different giftings for different people. It is therefore important for every individual minister not just to know that he is called, but to ask Jesus what He has given him or her to be to the Body of Christ.

If we do not know the calling and office that Jesus has ordained us to minister, it will be impossible for us to function in our fullest potential. During the call of Jeremiah, one of the greatest prophets that ever lived, God told him, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ORDAINED YOU A PROPHET to the nations." (Jer 1 :5) Jeremiah knew that God had called him not to be a pastor or a teacher, but a prophet.

We've got to recognize our calling otherwise, we would be doing other peoples' work and we would never find fulfilment. We are living in a time when many ministers are doing other things apart from what the Lord had called them to do. Without an iota of doubt, I knew before my ministry began that the Lord had called me to stand in the evangelistic office. However, in 1985, the Lord told me to start a local Church which was started a year after.

This local Church is to be a launching pad and mission base for the evangelistic ministry. As in many cases, I abandoned my evangelistic assignment and began to concentrate on building the local Church. I thought that that was in order until the Lord protested and told me to mind the evangelistic ministry while He would take care of the Church. Jesus told his disciples, '... I will build my Church'.

* Robert Kayanja

* Tony Rapu

* Evan. Mike Bamiloye

* Rev. Wale Aefarasin

In our evangelistic campaign around the world, I have met and counselled with hundreds of ministers complaining of failure in ministry resulting in frustration. Majority of them have told me that they are supposed to be doing what I have come to their countries to do. In other words, they are evangelists that have not been standing in their office.

When I ask them why they are not doing what they know they should be doing, they all say, 'you know Evangelist Abraham, it is not easy to do an evangelistic work. Others ask, how do you do this? Others would say, 'please, pray for me for the courage to obey God'.

We've got to recognize our calling and stand in it no matter what challenges we face at any time in our calling. There would always be challenges and these challenges are nothing but stepping stones to greater heights in the ministry.

There are many ministers today who get in and out of different assignments. Today they are prophets while the next day they are evangelists. They move around not only confused, but misleading many along the way through their inconsistence with what they claim the Lord had told them. They run with the visions of others in ministry who they perceive as being successful.

They think that such people are successful because of what they do, not realizing that it is not because of what they do, but because of their obedience to do what they've been called to do. It is time we all realize that success and good success for that matter is obedience and faithfulness to do what we've been called to do.

... when a man does the same thing for fifty years, he becomes a legend and also becomes an opinion leader. When such people speak, they do so with authority. You don't argue with them because the experience acquired over the time becomes their strength ..."

Despite the many challenges in their various callings and assignments, Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, Paul to mention but few, remained committed to their calling and became shining examples for us to follow. The sufferings of Jeremiah and Paul two ministers in different Testaments were particularly touching to me. However at the end of their ministries, they were proved to have done the will of God for their lives.

One of the advantages of division of labour according to economics is specialization. The people that manufacture different parts of a product become experts because they do it everyday. We become better doing one thing over a long period of time rather than doing many things over the same period. If a man identifies his calling and stands in it, he will certainly over time become an authority in it.

Dr. Lester Sumrall once said that when a man does the same thing for fifty years, he becomes a legend and also becomes an opinion leader. When such people speak, they do so with authority. You don't argue with them because the experience acquired over the time becomes their strength. On so many occasions, retired generals have been called to help their nations. Others are called for advice. This is also true of ministry. We've got to be consistent in our calling so that our reward may begin right from this side of eternity.