Does God, or anyone…REALLY need me? Seriously?

September 17th, 2012 by Agent Kevin Miller

question

If you watched me on the Ziglar 2.0 Show last Wednesday, you heard a bit of my story of near ruin as I pursued my own free agency early on. How the financial and lifestyle chaos nearly ended my marriage. Teri and I saw a marriage counselor for a good while. One day this guy hit me with a line that forever changed my perspective and paradigm regarding my marriage. He said, “Kevin, what if your marriage isn’t about making you happy, but it’s about conforming you into the image of Christ?”

That word spoken from that man changed my marriage and my life forever.

During that same time, one of my main pillars of support was my dear friend Ronnie Freeman. Many of you know his music from my use of his song ‘Breakaway‘ at the beginning and end of my podcasts. He was a self-employed music artist (and of course still is) and had the time to ‘be there’ for me at any time, encouraging me and supporting me. But nearly as beneficial to me was his music…the songs he felt led to write, sing and record. It as a huge source of God speaking to me through his music and me making necessary changes that profoundly impacted my family and…made way for me to be who and where I am now.

How I feel about those two men:

I’m dramatically grateful to both of those guys for making the sacrifices to do what they did, for me…and for so many others. I feel like they were tools God specifically used to alter my life, and therefore the lives of everyone I was later able to influence, from my family and beyond. I know they both felt compelled to do the work they did, and it wasn’t the easy road for either.

The question:

Were those guys really necessary? Was it necessary for them to make sacrifices and work harder to live out what they felt called to? Or was it an option, and if they had NOT made themselves available to pursue their purpose in life which included ministering to me, God would have simply used someone else to fill the need in my life? And it would have been OK for them to just get a ‘responsible’ job?

That’s a biggie, isn’t it?!

If God didn’t rely on them and could have used anyone, then is it really necessary for ANY of us to answer the desires, dreams, passions, burdens that we feel on our hearts?

The crux:

If we believe God specifically uses people and has a purpose for us in servitude to others, then we are admitting that someone may go lacking if we don’t take action. No, we aren’t God and sure, ‘His will be done.’ But for those who’ve read the Bible and know the story of Jonah, God had a task for him to do. Jonah said…”Um…I’ll pass.” God didn’t say, “Well, OK…I’ll go look for someone else, or I’ll empower a yak to do the work, or I’ll do it myself, or I’ll just wave my hand and it will be done.” Nope. He got irritated to the point of causing a storm at sea which endangered an entire boat full of men. They had to throw Jonah into the sea to calm the storm. God had a whale come swallow Jonah and Jonah spent 3 days and 3 nights inside the whale, prayed and repented, God had the whale ‘vomit him up on the beach’ and Jonah promptly did what God had asked in the first place.

That story is so ridiculous it’s hard to conceive as truth. Maybe it’s just me…

What about me:

If I accept responsibility in other’s lives…it drastically alters the trajectory of my life. Jonah might have been married with kids and a ‘job’, but God asked him to do this thing in addition to whatever his life already contained. Am I called to more than taking care of my own junk, and is it dire that I answer the call?

Our Calling & Purpose in our Work:

Should we ALL have a care, cause, passion, burden, belief, calling, purpose, dream, desire and be serving others through it? If not, then we’d be saying God made some of us to be mere filler here on the planet. Maybe we’re just to procreate and hope one of our kids has some use? I can’t say I believe that.

So if I’m created with a unique purpose, how urgent is it? Is it OK to put it off till…we have enough in our savings or emergency fund, the kids are in college and ‘safe’, we are debt free, we feel fully confident, and on and on and on… Is it OK to spend 9-5, five days a week working just for the money? Maybe if I give some of it away? Or should all that vocational time be spent at something that makes money AND us engaged in a greater purpose? [If you answer with a resounding yes...get started with us at Free Agent Academy today]

Can we hide and still be OK?

Can we side-step calling and purpose? Can we hide and still make it to heaven? God didn’t let Jonah. But what if he had? And what if Jonah still got into heaven? Is that the legacy Jonah wanted? Do you?

Don’t hide. Go seek. Go do. Someone may be in need of your help. Personally, I believe someone IS…in need of my specific help. And I might be in need of YOURS.

What do you think? Are you needed by anyone? Do you buy into the idea that someone may be left wanting without your aid? Or does God have it under control and it’s “all good”?

Photo by Bilal Kamoon
  • http://scottkantner.com Scott Kantner

    “…we’d be saying God made some of us to be mere filler here on the planet.”

    Brother, this may be the most convicting sentence you’ve ever crafted.

    • http://www.freeagentacademy.com Kevin Miller

      Wow, that means a lot coming from you Scott. One…cause you’re you. Two…cause you’ve heard a lot from me. That perspective convicts the heck out of me. Thank you.

  • Michelle

    You mentioned Jonah. What about King Saul? He didn’t kill Agag, king of the Amalekites. And what came of that? Centuries later, Esther is having to stand in defense of her entire nation, against Haman, a descendant of Agag. Saul’s decision affected people well into the future.
    We have no idea how much our calling affects the world. Or how it will affect generations beyond us. But when God leads us into a calling, we need to fulfill it with all our hearts, as best we can. None of us are “filler” in this world.
    And I think about what Mordecai said to Esther at her moment of decision:
    “For
    if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise
    for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will
    perish.”
    Saul was replaced because he didn’t follow God’s call. Esther could have been replaced if she hadn’t accepted God’s call. And in Jonah’s case, God wouldn’t allow him to be replaced. That’s how passionate God is about us finding and fulfilling our callings!
    As I’ve said before, we are all created to be the solution to someone’s problem, the answer to someone’s question.

    • http://www.freeagentacademy.com Kevin Miller

      Thanks for pulling those out Michelle. It’s daunting also…to wonder if someone else is to be used as a provision for you…and isn’t answering the call.

      • Michelle

        Well, you and Teri are a provision for me. :) You two, and Gary, Deb, Jonathan, James, Jimi, and now James Woosley, too. The whole lot of ya! And I’m so thankful you all decided to answer your call.
        I think God has our best in His mind all the time, and if someone isn’t stepping up to be there for us, He finds someone else. His Grace covers all. But boy, things sure would work better if everyone got a vision of their respective calls. Can you imagine a world where everyone knows their calling, and is actively walking in it?

        • http://www.freeagentacademy.com Kevin Miller

          Thank you so much for this encouragement Michelle! Can I imagine a world like that? No…I guess not. But I can see a world with a core group walking out their calling…banding together…doing miraculous things.

  • Maria

    I agree with the other comments; no one is merely “filler” unless they make up their minds to be. Some people probably have a calling on their life and refuse to surrender to it. I think this is a great post. I think often about some of the same questions you pose. I am a wife and a stay-at-home-mom of 2 (ages 4 and 1) and honestly just my “day job” kicks my butt. I have a direct sales business I run from home and I LOVE it, though there is a disconnect between my desires to build it into something amazing as I know I can, and building it at a pace that allows me to focus first and foremost on my husband/children/home. I do believe that these are my primary responsibilities, but I also believe that each of us are given specific interests, desires and calling and God will use us in the right moments and circumstances. I have to believe that even though I WANT to build a wildly successful business, I know in my heart that the time involved in building it would be costly to my family and main responsibilities. I have tried and have learned first hand that when I am so stressed I can hardly think, and I never sit down for even 5 minutes, not only is that not good for me, but I am teaching those same bad habits to those preschoolers watching me. So, I think God can and will use us and will bless us and others through our vocational calling, as long as we are putting our first things first with the priorities He has given us in his word. Some women are called only to their homes and families, other women are called to more. I think the challenge for women in particular is to not fill their plates with so much that they drown out God’s calling, and instead follow their own.

    • http://www.freeagentacademy.com Kevin Miller

      Hey Maria…this is a BIG comment here. A very worthy one. My wife has a lot to say on this issue. She is Mommy to 7 kids, and we’re looking toward adoption. Being Mommy…is that her calling? No. Her calling supercedes any role. But the role of Mommy is #1 now. And with this many kids, and someday grandkids…great grandkids, chances are it may always be her #1 role. And she longs to do other things…to speak to parenting and marriage issues. She does a little, but is hard pressed to put much time into it. We believe there will come a time when she can more. But even as her role of Mommy encompasses most of her life, it’s valuable to understand her ‘calling’ undergirds this role…and her role as a leader with our church, and her role in helping lead my business here…and her role as a friend and mentor to others. She talks about the reality that it may not be in the cards for her to be in the limelight in front of thousands of people. Maybe she is RAISING that person, the next Billy Graham! But, we don’t know yet. I’ll see if I can get her eyes on this and let her comment.

      I will say that as Daddy to 7, there are limits on how much I can grow my business. It’s the reason I don’t have a book out yet. I only have so much time I can give to the role of business owner, even though it fulfills much of my calling. My role as Daddy must be a priority too.

      Thank you Maria!

  • http://twitter.com/CeliaTriplett Celia Triplett

    I love the thrust of this post, my only niggling trouble is the point about putting things off because of debt or saving up. I don’t think there’s anywhere in the bible that suggests getting into debt, not preparing for the inevitabilities of life, etc is a good thing. At least, Dave Ramsey certainly quotes a lot of scripture to the contrary. I think he put it best “I want you to live your dream. I just don’t want to see it turn into a nightmare.”

    This hardly disqualifies what you’re saying, imho. I think your point is that we all make excuses, even very legitimate sounding excuses, about not living our dreams/purpose.

    Questioning if money is the real, or only, reason is something I would challenge many people who bring that up. Often there’s some other F.E.A.R. involved and money trouble is a bait-and-switch reason for things not happening.

    • http://www.freeagentacademy.com Kevin Miller

      Hey, I hear you Celia. My wife and I were possibly the first two people to ever work for Dave. He was a family friend. He and my Dad, Dan Miller, have been buddies for years. Same with my mom Joanne and Dave’s wife Sharon. I’m surely not advocating going in to debt or ‘counting the costs’ or being wise financially. But I will for sure argue against people pursuing LIFE and purpose and calling UNTIL they…get out of debt, or have an emergency fund or save up X amount, or…on and on. I see folks putting off a life or consequence, arrogantly assuming they’ll even be here in a year. I have 7 kids. I can’t assume I’ll live forever. So even as I try to be wise financially, I can’t afford to put off my legacy for them in the meantime. My wife and I sacrificed a lot to pursue our callings, even while trying to climb out of $100,000 of business debt. Last year, we became debt free. That’s great. But I’m sure grateful we didn’t put off pursuing what we felt God put on our hearts in the meantime. We’ve done some monumental things for our lives, our kids lives, and others…during these past years.

      So ultimately I’m pushing against the either/or and advocating a yes/and perspective!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=549113262 Jared Angaza

    Great thinking points brother. I believe God created us to be interconnect and to exemplify love. That’s the model Jesus left us. The more we deliberately connect with humanity and exemplify love in all we do, the more humanity benefits. And our struggle along the way to fulfillment and purpose is what brings us closer to God.

    When we’re utilizing the gifts God gave us to serve His people, we’re living the way He created us to live. When we’re not, we’re usually miserable or asleep at the wheel, or worse. But if we’re in tune with God, He has the ability to use us and we have the opportunity to experience more of his gifts to us, like Earth and humanity. Our choice.

    We each have specific gifts and specific missions. If we choose to neglect them, the world misses out, and so do we. That’s part of God’s great experiment called “humanity”. I’m with you brother.

    • http://www.freeagentacademy.com Kevin Miller

      Thanks Jared. ‘Specific missions’ is a big deal. I think we subconsciously just assume ‘God will do His will’ and it doesn’t REALLY rely on me answering the call…

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Teri-Miller/100000244322626 Teri Miller

    Kevin. I look at the little face of that precious girl in DRC, Africa…and my heart aches. I close my eyes at night, and see ‘Daria’ in the darkness. But what to do? Where is the time, the money, the space, the provision, the way??? Perhaps we ARE doing all we can right now; taking baby steps toward adoption, completing our home study, preparing our home & our children for another daughter/sister.

    “Are you needed by anyone? Do you buy into the idea that someone may be left wanting without your aid?”

    It is SO hard to carve out the time to prepare, do the work, figure out how we can afford trips across the globe. I won’t regret trying. But if I don’t TRY, if I don’t do everything I possibly can to search for our Daria Hope, and for the brown-skinned baby sister Caleb dreamt of (are they one & the same???), I will absolutely regret it, for the rest of my life. Perhaps all of the angels of heaven will weep for the loss…if I do nothing. And if I fly across the globe and search the world over, for the next decade, looking for our ‘missing’ children…it may cause our family alot of tears & work & heartache…but I don’t think any of us will regret it.

    • http://www.freeagentacademy.com Kevin Miller

      Maybe we’re doing what we should…but I think we just keep knocking and pushing forward. Not knocking doors down that God hasn’t opened, but…I doubt God will slap our hands and say “I didn’t mean for you to give so much.” I always think of what else we should cut out and say no to in order to have more room for areas like this where we feel called.

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