I was asked these questions today in by author Oswald Chambers in the devotion for today. Here's what he wrote:
"once you receive a commission from Jesus Christ, the memory of what God asks of you will always be there to prod you on to do His will. You will no longer be able to work for Him on the basis of common sense."
When I first read that I had no idea what my so-called commission was. We all share some in common -- Jesus tells Believers to Go and Preach the Good News into the entire world. And we are love God and others with all of ourselves. We are to focus on Him. I could list a bunch of directives we all share.
But Chambers' devotional is talking about something the individual gets from God for that indivdual's life.
As I started writing and thinking about it God reminded me what mine is: to believe in Him no matter what. I am to believe in God's word no matter what circumstances look like.
Now, that might sound like something everyone is supposed to do (and you are right), but I was asked by God if I would do this and it changed my life. Whenever I falter in this I am reminded of this. There is no room for doubt, no room for fear, no room for anything but Believing in Him no matter what. What this takes is a real knowledge of the Word -- the more you know the Word the more you can apply it to specific circumstances. If you don't know the Word you can't apply it.
Here's one of my favorite verses:
"Jesus answered and said to them, 'This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.'" John 6:29
I know that I know that I know this is the call on my life. Is it a life work? According to the verse above it is. Believing is the work of God.
What is the life work God has called you to? As with my example a person's life work will take different forms in different seasons of life. It won't always look the same.
(If you want to learn more about believing no matter what you can check out the link to two lessons I wrote on the subject -- totally free. I never know who downloads it. The link is in the list of pages.)