Date: June 15, 2016 (Training)
Bible Text: | Betty Swann
Series: Pillar One
God loves women and God is doing something with women today. If you have read Joel 2:28, there was a prophecy about the times that we are living in now. God said, “In the last days, I’m going to pour out my Spirit on all flesh, men and women alike. Your men and your women will prophesy”. People will dream dreams, they will have visions. We are living in that time. Have you ever thought about the fact that God picked this time for you to be born, not 1,500 years ago, not 700 years ago? He picked this time. You are not an accident. There is something for you to do in this time, the last days before Jesus comes back. We have a lot to do. We need to know what we are doing.
I heard a pastor say that when he went to churches, he used to ask, “How many of you know your call in life? How many of you know what you are supposed to be doing?” He said, “Easily half the congregation wouldn’t raise their hand.” And he said, “I finally quit asking because it was embarrassing.” Then he said, “Can you imagine a General in an Army, having an Army where half the people didn’t know what they are doing or what they were supposed to be doing?” Think about that, we are in God’s Army. You need to know what you are doing. You need to know why you are here. There is a reason. There is a reason why you were born in this time. There is also a reason you were born in the place you are in. A lot of you watching this show live in other countries. Well, hello from America! God has a plan for you right where you are.
Some of you live in countries where your government is oppressive. You think, “I have dreams. I have a call from God to preach. I feel I have a call from God to write a book, teach or something and yet my government would not let me do it.” I would like for you to know that I went eleven times over eight years to a former Soviet Union country. I started going right after communism fell and I saw what God did. He was ready to move and no governments could stop him. The women were released. They were released like they had never been released into working in orphanages, working in jails, working with people on the street, working in hospitals, teaching, singing, preaching. It was just amazing how God began to pour out His Spirit and release women in a country that was very oppressive toward women. Actually it was very oppressive toward everybody. You cannot stop God. There is only one thing that can stop God in your life. It is not the devil, it is not man. It is you. You are the only thing. If you say, “No, I am not gonna do it.” That stops it right there.
Look back in your life. If things are not happening and you wonder, “What’s going on with my life?” Was there a time you said no to God? Did you? If you did, say “I’m sorry. I was going down the wrong road, Lord. I repent. Tell me what you want me to do and I will do it. Give me the ability to do it.” Then listen and take the next step and then the next step. What is it? You have a destiny. You have something that when you die and you go to Heaven and stand before the Lord, He can say, “Well, done, good and faithful servant.” Not just a good servant, but a faithful one as well. Faithfulness is so important to God. He prizes it almost more than anything. I have seen a lot of people in my life and I bet you have, too, who have talent. They could do anything, but they just never did anything, nothing happened. Why? They did not do the little stuff you have to do to make it happen. Sometimes people are big dreamers. I am a big dreamer. You have to put feet, hard work and persistence to it or you will never reach your destiny. Sure, you are going to have discouragement. Look, how many times I have just said, “Oh, God, I don’t know if I can do it or not.” God says, “Yes, you can. Get up.” There is a time when God will pat you and say, “I love you, I love you and you can do it. It is okay and it is time for you to get up.” I am saying that to some of you today. Get up, get busy. You have wasted enough time. You use too many excuses
Think about the excuses people use today for why they do not reach their destiny. Often you hear, “I don’t have enough money.” Another one I hear a lot is, “I don’t have an education.” Some people say to me, “I barely got out of grade school.” God does not care about that. Maybe something happened to you to keep you from being able to go to school. Maybe your family needed you to work. Maybe your family moved around so much you did not have a chance to really do something in your schooling. It is okay. God is the one who equips you. I have discovered that God likes to take you and then give you something you do not think you would be very good. Then you just lean on him, pray and depend on him. The next thing you know, you are great at it.
There are a lot of things I do in my life that I have had to work very, very, very hard to do. Using the computer is one thing I had to work hard to learn how to use it. I love the computer, but I am telling you, I did not even know where you turned it on. Now I use it in my ministry. It goes all over the world to people just through a website. You can learn to do things that you do not think you can do right now. My mother died when I was 28, and I have a stepmother who is 92 years old. When she was 80, living in a retirement home, she was the first person to get a computer in the whole building, and she was one of the oldest ones. She learned how to use a computer. Never, ever let age stop you. You may say, “Oh, I’m old.” No, if you are still kicking and breathing, He still has something for you to do. It does not have to be big. It can be something little. It does not matter. God does not judge things by how big or small things seem to be. He judges it like, “I need this job done. Would you do it?” And, if you do it, it is wonderful. He is pleased. Never think, “I’m too old, I’m too this and too that.”
There is another lady who helps me in my ministry. She is 82 years old and legally blind. She began to say, “Lord, I’m bored. I don’t want to sit around and wait until I die. Give me a job, God.” And God put this thought in her head that was wonderful. She got into a ceramic class and was making all these little things that she really did not care for. However, she began to notice the leftover material and began to fashion those into Holy Spirit doves. She began to realize that there are people who do not really know the Holy Spirit. She decided she was going to make doves and give them. I am getting ready to go to Africa. I take teams of people to Africa and around the world. We train leaders and speak to people, civic and church leaders. She is making 300 doves in necklaces for us to give away. Would you say that her job is a very important job? Somebody who does not have much money and normally does not receive gifts is going to get a gift from God that has been prayed over. All of this at age 82, so keep going. It is not over until it is over. You do not want to be a person who wastes the last five years of your life. God has a destiny for you.
If every person has a destiny, how do you find it? That is what most people say. “What do I do? Do I just sit around and wait for God to tell me? Do I talk to somebody? Do I read a book? What do I do? I want to help you with that today. If you are a mother, the main thing you are called to do is be a good wife and a good mother. Think about this, if you do not give your children your best, who is going to love them like you love them? Nobody. Who is going to pour into their lives like you will? Nobody. Some women say, “I’m so frustrated, I have four kids, five kids, and pregnant again. I didn’t want to get pregnant. Here I am, pregnant,” and God says, “You are doing a wonderful thing.”
The woman named Jochebed in the Bible in Genesis and Exodus was the mother of three people who went into the ministry and had gigantic ministries. She was living part of that time under an oppressive regime where people were being killed constantly, but God’s Will was still done for her children. She helped it. She was the reason. Who were her children? One was named Aaron, one was named Miriam and the baby was named Moses. Look what happened to him. She helped her children reach their destiny by doing what a good mother would do, a Godly mother would do.
Everybody has some kind of a destiny. Your main destiny is to know God and to make Him known to others. God wants you to do things for Him. He is going to tell you things to do all along the way. He really wants you spending time with Him. Think about it. God is real. He has feelings. He can get his feelings hurt. He loves. He cares. He wants to spend time with you and first and foremost, your destiny is to know God. Then your destiny after that is to make Him known. God will give you things to do.
Who are some other people who had a destiny that turned out really big. Think about Billy Graham. Look what he has done. But think about the man whose destiny was to lead Billy Graham to the Lord. I heard my pastor say recently “The reason you don’t get your rewards on earth until you die is because your rewards keep coming in after you die. You touch people who touch people who touch people who touch people. You will not get your rewards until Judgment Day because they do not stop coming in until then. Think about that man. I think his name was Rev. Mordecai Ham. Billy Graham said, “All I remember is that man had that finger pointed at me. It was crooked and I thought he was pointing to me and I gave my heart to Jesus.” Mordecai Ham is responsible for millions of people coming in because of what Billy Graham did. You never know who you are going to touch with your destiny. Never minimize your call.
To go into all the world and make disciples does not mean you need to be going on mission trips all the time. You can pray and people can go on trips and tell people about Jesus. You can give money. This station, Gods Learning Channel, needs your donation. It is going around the world getting bigger and bigger, you are fulfilling the great commission. You are doing it.
One of the things the Lord taught me in the very beginning of my ministry to other countries was; “Betty, you may have Betty Swann Ministries and you may be doing that, but you can’t go if those people do not pray and till up that soil before you go.” I learned the hard way that is right. The first trip I went to Belarus, formerly Russia and the Soviet Union. I did not know that I needed to have a lot of people praying. I got over there and it was so hard and difficult. It felt so difficult. I realized that I needed a group of people praying for me. I have from 50-70 people I can send an e-mail and say “This is what I need prayer for.” They jump right into it and write me back, “I’m praying this, the Lord showed me that and be encouraged. Think about this, they are going around the world. It is just my feet that are going, but their prayers are going. I could tell you to go into a hard place that has been prayed over. It may be hard, but you see a lot of fruit.
How about the people who give? There are people who are called to be givers in this world. They give. My husband is one. They just give and give and give, but all of us are called to give. I love to give. Do you love to give? If you do not, you are missing out. You wonder why you are so broke. It is because you do not ever give any money away. You do not give things to help people. If you do not have any money, go give something. When we need money, we think, “Who do we need to give money to.” In Scripture it says to give and it will be given back to you. There are three main ways for people to be involved in the great commission, praying, giving and going. All three have a destiny, all of them. You have a destiny that is based on your gifting and your talent. It is very important that you take stock of yourself. Find out what are you good at. What are your talents? You would be really surprised.
I knew a lady who said, “I don’t have any talents. I don’t seem to.” Do you know what her talent was? She could write little cards. Whatever she put on that card, when you opened it up, you knew God was talking to you. That was part of her destiny. That was a gift. It did not look very big. Think about people who can do nails. Maybe you need to have pretty nails. Somebody had to have that gift.
How do you know what your gifts are? You know some of them. You can go to your family, especially your children if they are teenagers and your good friends and ask them what they think your gifts are. Go to your best friend and say to her, “What am I good at?” Write it down. Do not just listen, but believe them. They may say, “You are the best listener.” They may say, “When you go in a place, it just gets peaceful. You bring peace everywhere you go.” Somebody else might say, “Do you know what you’re good at? You can make everybody laugh. You’re fun to be with.” God uses everything. Never think you have to be like a preacher for God to use you. He is going to use you out in the world. If He can put you out in the world, and you will not be tempted by the world, you need to be out in the world. That is where all the lost people are. You need to learn how to move and be in God’s will.
You have to realize that some things you are good at do not come easy. Learning the computer did not come easy for me. I will tell you another one. I wanted to be able to speak five languages fluently. I write down goals every year. I put that down every year. I cannot do it yet. But I can speak a little bit of Russian, pretty much Spanish, a little bit of Swahili. I am just slowly never giving up on that. Just because it is hard does not mean it is not part of my destiny or one of my talents. Just because it is hard for you, keep at it. Do not let discouragement stop you. What does it take to stop you? You need to have the attitude “I will, until.” That is what you have to have. What does it take to stop you? Discouragement stops me. Lack of money stops me. People who are critical of me stop me. It might hurt you, it might slow you down but you need to say, “Nothing stops me, Lord, but you. When you tell me to stop, I stop, other than that, I go until I die.”
You will have a general destiny and a specific destiny. What do I mean by that? I know what I am good at. I am a teacher. I love people. I love to have fun. I love to laugh. I love to have a good time. I love to travel. That is my general destiny. All along, for years, I have said I want to live all over the world, meet all kinds of people and get to know what they are really like. What is my specific destiny? As I have gone along in life, I have taken tests, read books and listened to sermons. I listen to people who are trying to help me and I have prophetic words. I have had many of those, many. I have them all written down. I keep them on my computer so I can encourage myself. This morning I was listening to a tape of a prophetic word given to me while I was driving over here in my car. I needed to listen to that to remind this is what God has called me to do, to be on television like this. He told me about five years ago, “You’re going to be on television and go all over the world to tell all of these countries, “Hello from God.” He told me I was going to be doing it.”
What is my specific call? I am called to teach practical Christianity. A lot of people teach history, they teach different tenets of the Bible, but I am called to teach practical Christianity. I want to teach you how to live it every day, have it be real, have Jesus be real to you, have miracles and have it be real, not goofy but real. I am also called to raise up leaders. One of the things that I really enjoy doing is meeting someone, being able to see something in them that they cannot see in themselves, hanging in there with them until they take hold and take off. It is possible to be that way.
You do not have to start out just in a large way. You do not have to have my personality. You can be very person who stays in the background. God has a need for that, too. There is a need for all of us. Have you read in Romans 12:1, “Dear brothers, I plead with you to give your bodies to Christ. Let them be a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto him.” When you think of what He has done, is it too much to ask? Do not copy other people. Do not copy the world. Be a new and different person with a fresh movement in all you do and think. Then you will learn from your own experience how His ways satisfy you. Just as there are many parts to our bodies, so it is with Christ’s body. We are all parts of it. It takes every one of us to make it complete for we each have different work to do.
Never compare yourself to somebody else. Never do that. You will always compare their best quality to your worst quality, so you are going to come up short. Do not do that. Identify your own talent, identify your dreams. Do not quit dreaming. What are your dreams? But know that obstacles will come to stop you. Why does God allow obstacles? It is like going to the gym, maybe you are only to trying to lift ten pounds, maybe only 25 pounds. When I go to the gym, I may be lifting 25 pounds and I see somebody over there doing 250 pounds. Obstacles come to increase you, to strengthen you. They do not come to wipe you out. Maybe the devil tries to wipe you out, but God says, “Be strong, push, go past, go on! You do and you get strong. Obstacles are going to come. It is going to involve taking risks. You have to be willing to get out of the boat and walk on the water.
God blesses preparedness. Do not just sit around. If you need to know how to do something, get busy and learn. You never know when God might want to use it somewhere. Everything I have ever done seems to be coming together now. I am using all of the things that I have done in my life, even things like being a model for ten years and a make-up artist. People say to me, “Betty, that’s worldly. Why are you going out there in the world?” I thought, “I want to do it. I like it and God will use me out there. And He did.
Ask God to give you a Bible verse to hold onto; a rhema word from God, not a logos word, but a rhema word. That is when you read the Bible and you know, “That is God talking to me.” Mine is Jeremiah 1:5 “Before you were born, I called you to be my spokesman to the world.” I have known that for years. Get a Bible verse that is your call. Never be afraid of failures. I have had failures. I have really messed up. Some of them I think “stuck my foot in my mouth again,” “why did I say that” or “why did I do that?” Failure is just part of life. You are not going to be perfect. There is only one perfect person and it is not you, it is Jesus. Think of your mistakes and learn from them. Say, “Lord, how can I do it better next time?”
Be sure you have the character and the morals to back up your call. We have all seen people in ministry who did not have the character and the morals necessary. God can strengthen you and correct you. Let him do it. It is only to help you make you better. Do not get held back by your past. Everybody has things they have done in the past. You are not any different from everybody else. Everybody has stuff. Maybe there are some who do not, but most people I know do. Look in the Bible. Paul was chasing Christians and putting them in jail. God called Paul out and sent him to the gentiles. God can get you past anything like that. Do not get distracted. There will always be things that will distract you. It is the design to get you off course. Do not let that happen to you. If you are distracted and you know you were called to do something, just get with God and say, “Lord, help me to get back on track.” Maybe you have had a divorce and you think, “I can barely feed myself and these kids.” The Lord will help you. He will help you.
There is a difference in between the time you get the call and the time you get sent out. I have waited so long to be doing this, a long time. When I was 40, the Lord let me know my real ministry would not start until my mid-50s. That is exactly what happened. I got so frustrated. I saw all these people in their 20s going around the world and I could not even get there in my 40s. It did start in my 50s. It started when God was ready. He had a lot of preparation to do in my life. Sometimes when it is going to be a big ministry, you have to lay a really good foundation. It needs to be able to weather the storms. You have to watch being offended by people. Offenses are going to come to you. It is going to happen. You are going to offend people. You just have to live with it. You have to be able to sit down, talk it over with people, work it out and keep going. If God calls you, do not let that stop you. It is not worth it to have this frustration. God has a destiny for you.
Quiet Time Questions
1. What is everyone’s main destiny?
2. What is the difference between general and specific destiny?
3. How do you find your destiny?
4. Why does God allow obstacles along the way to fulfilling your destiny?
5. What are important points to consider in walking out your specific destiny?
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Topics: Basic Discipleship