Don’t Stop Doing What God Has Called You To Do

I think it’s safe to say we all have “haters” in our lives. People that disagree with us, oppose us, question us, maybe even speak words or share actions against us. If you haven’t faced this yet, just wait, you will. How encouraging of me, right? 

However, I’m not wrong. Jesus warns us in this world we will face trials. He tells us we will have people who persecute us, people who hate us, people who mock us. He knows this because he was first hated. Jesus bled and died on the cross for us, and was tortured and betrayed by his own people. Yet, on the cross he cried out “forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” In the midst of judgement and hate, he had compassion and wept for his enemies as he was in the deepest pain.

As many of you may know I work as the Director of the Women and Children’s Shelter for the UGM. I sit in a leadership position where I have to make a lot of difficult decisions on a daily basis. Decisions that are extremely weighty. Due to this, I often face a lot of upset and angry people. Sometimes I have to make the hard decision of parting directions with staff, sometimes it is telling an individual they can no longer stay at the shelter, or denying someone access into the shelter. I work with a population of people that have been abandoned, marginalized, abused, and many times misunderstood. They are hurt people. And sometimes hurt people, hurt people. I’m going to say that again, hurt people, hurt people.

What I  have learned in my job, in this ministry, God has placed me in a position to challenge, call out, and redirect. Change in people’s lives is hard. It’s uncomfortable. I don’t get to be the “friend” – I have the responsibility of leading.

Let me tell you, leadership can be lonely, it can be hard. It’s really not that glamorous. I say this not to scare you or disappoint you, but to invite you into an honest conversation.

When you say yes to Jesus and you say you’re all in, it’s not the easy path you are picking. Obedience to God comes with challenges, sacrifice, and humility. Ultimately, we are not here to please man, but God. He has sent us to speak the truth. This means we are called to empower and not enable others in doing what is wrong; yet, the communication in that is with grace and love. 

The temptation you will face when dealing with people will sway between enablement and empowerment. Enabling others is easy and is partnered often with people liking you. However, empowering others is hard and is partnered often with people disliking you. This world encourages enablement, it teaches you to find comfort and pleasure in sin; yet, as Christians, we are called to be set apart. We are called to tell the truth in grace, knowing that we have been challenged to a higher, above reproach, lifestyle.

In the past three weeks of working at the UGM, I have been falsely accused, cursed at, told I was going to hell, and threatened. I have been reported to local newspapers, and have had nasty Facebook posts speaking about my character in comparison to the devil. 

You want to know how I responded to this? 

I balled. I mean ugly tears.

I went home and locked myself up in our spare bedroom and I wept before the Lord. I was broken. I was trying to love these women and I was being hated for it and misunderstood for it. I was being accused of things that weren’t true and everything was being completely taken out of context. My thoughts ran ramped. Maybe I need to quit? Maybe I am the wrong person for the job? Maybe I’m doing it all wrong?

I’m not going to lie. I was feeling my humanness. I’m a 99% feeler, so this was hard. I know the truth of what God says, but it takes discipline to choose to speak the truth over your life and walk in it even when you don’t feel it or see it. As a pastor, as someone who is all in for Jesus, I want you to know emotions are real and it’s important to feel and healthfully express what you’re going through. Yet, you have to make a decision to not stay there. 

Maybe you’ve been here, thinking you need to quit or back down due to everything feeling against you. 

How can we keep doing what is right and living the way God has called us to live when people are actively against us? How do you do the right thing in the face of opposition?

It’s hard to live for God when people treat us like an enemy, but I want to look at the life of Nehemiah is going to show us how to respond to the haters and keep our eyes fixed on God. 

Now when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left in it, 2 Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come and let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to do me harm. 3 And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” 4 And they sent to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same manner. 5 In the same way Sanballat for the fifth time sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand. 6 In it was written, “It is reported among the nations, and Geshem[a] also says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel; that is why you are building the wall. And according to these reports you wish to become their king. 7 And you have also set up prophets to proclaim concerning you in Jerusalem, ‘There is a king in Judah.’ And now the king will hear of these reports. So now come and let us take counsel together.” 8 Then I sent to him, saying, “No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind.” 9 For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will drop from the work, and it will not be done.” But now, O God,[b] strengthen my hands.

Nehemiah 6:1-9, ESV

These enemies of Israel were trying to get Nehemiah to come down off of the wall so they could harm him. They saw him doing a great work and they were threatened by it, so they were doing all they could to disrupt his work. 

The reality is the enemy is terrified of you and the plans God has for you. Friends, when you know your assignment in life, when you know your purpose, when you are committed and living for God fully, the enemy is afraid. This is why he sends trials and hardships sometimes in the form of enemies to oppose you and ultimately distract and derail you. 

Yet, in the face of his enemies, Nehemiah was focused on what God had called him to do. His response is powerful! “I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down.” Nehemiah was focused and committed to God’s assignment in his life that He refused to come down to the level of his enemies. 

When God has called you and given you work to do for His Kingdom — refuse to let the enemy distract you through other people. Use the words of Nehemiah as a declaration over your life: “I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down!”

We have to know our assignment. When we know our assignment, we won’t even entertain the lies and schemes of the enemy. We’ll know it has nothing to do with our assignment and a reminder to keep our eyes fixed on the one who has given the assignment. 

Bottom Line: Don’t stop doing what God has called you to do.

Here are 3 things I want to remind us to do when faced with opposition:

• Know your assignment

In Lamentations 3:21-23 it says, “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning, great is your faithfulness.”

When hard times come, when trials enter, when enemies oppose you, call to mind the faithfulness of the Lord. Remember to build yourself back up in the assignment God has given you.

For my own life, I had to remember my assignment. I was called to rebuild a better foundation for these women, a foundation that reflected Christ. I had to choose to not get distracted by the hurtful things people were saying. I had to remember who called me and what he had called me to do.

Now I realize some of you may be thinking I don’t know my assignment, well when you’re a follower of Christ our assignment is the same – it’s to live a life that glorifies God and points to others in all that we do. Don’t overthink your assignment and calling, simply follow God. If you don’t know how, start reading the Bible, start searching and ask questions to get to know who He is, because your life is to reflect him. 

• Know your people

Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”

I had to surround myself with the truth through the word of God, bold prayers, and reaching out to my people. When God gives you an assignment, when you know your purpose, you need to protect it and surround it. Because when God gives you an assignment, you have to know the enemy is coming against it. How you protect it and surround it is through a personal relationship with Christ and community that will always point you back to him. 

I had to pay attention to the voices I was listening to and choose the right voices to bring in. Sometimes that means taking a pause on social media or television shows and filling my time with mentors and close friends for prayer and support. To help me stay focused on the call on my life. 

Some of you may say you don’t have people like that, people you can call and be real with. Well let me be bold to say, you need new people,  you need to find them. Start praying for God to bring those people into your life and start placing yourself where people like that may be. They probably aren’t where you’ve been going. 

• Know it won’t be easy 

In Galatians 6:9 — And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

Doing the right thing is difficult at times! It doesn’t always feel good, but we are called to not grow weary. We will reap what we sow when we continue doing the right thing over a long period of time. It may not feel beneficial now, but at the right time — God will show you how impactful your obedience is in the long run! Doing the right thing the right way is investing in our future even though we cannot see it. It would be much easier to give up and give in to the wrong thing. God is honored and pleased when we do the right thing, even when it’s exhausting!

I have had to continually remind myself to surrender and remain obedient to God.

Instead of bending and yielding to the voice of others in our lives, let’s be intentional to do what God is asking of us and to keep doing it even when it’s hard!