The following is an excerpt from our daily devotional Fellowship With the Father, written by IFA contributing writer Remco Brommet.

Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him (1 Corinthians 7:17).

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Pastors, church-growth leaders, and trend watchers have talked for decades about the 20-80 reality in the life of most churches: 20% of the people doing 80% of the work, and vice versa. The implication is that 80% of the people that shuffle in and out of our church campuses are passive. Perhaps they prefer to put money in the plate and pay professionals to do the ministry for them, rather than to be equipped to do the work themselves. Or they feel in some other way fearful and alienated from being actively involved in ministry. Or their churches don’t really have a strong mechanism to engage them. Or there is an “in crowd” that won’t let them. Or perhaps it’s a little bit of all of that.

Connect with others in your state in prayer.

The 20-80 problem is an important prayer topic as we continue to pray for God’s people to humble themselves, pray, seek God’s face and turn from wicked ways, even as the country is opening up again and churches are planning a return to in-person worship services.

God has given each of us a unique kingdom assignment. That is implied by the text at the top of this page, and a few others:

• The text from 1 Corinthians implies that God has a life for us to which we are assigned and called. Jesus echoes that in John 15, where He says that any branch that does not bear fruit God takes away. He gets specific in Matthew 28:19, where He states before ascending to heaven that the disciples and the worldwide Church they’re about to birth are to go and make disciples of all nations. That is the overall assignment of His Church that still stands today, and in which each believer has a part.
• Paul speaks at length in 1 Corinthians 12 about the fact that when you receive the Holy Spirit (when you are born again), He gives you gifts — not at random, but gifts specifically formulated for you according to His master plan. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as He wills (1 Corinthians 12:11).
• Not just that, but He apportions faith and grace (which in this context means power) to go with it (see Romans 12:3–6). This enables you to use your gifts and carry out your assignment.

God has given us supernatural gifts, faith, and power with the clear expectation that we will bear fruit. We are the ones who must step out in obedience. He will guide and direct us, but not while we’re sitting down. A ship moored to the dock cannot be steered. Since our God is a missionary God, and we have all been born again and baptized into His mission, He is displeased when we shirk our responsibilities and fail to seek out our kingdom assignment and pour ourselves into it, especially since He has supplied all that we need, and we do not have to do it in our own strength. The parable of the talents in Matthew 25 is a dire warning.

Today’s Prayer Assignment

Pray about God’s kingdom assignment for you today. Here are some pointers:

1. Pray for God to reveal or clarify your unique kingdom assignment. If you don’t know what your spiritual gifts are, take an inventory to find out. You can find such things online, or your church may have one.
2. Pray for your own church, that the people will come to worship with a passion for serving and a hunger to discover their kingdom assignment and spiritual gifts.
3. Pray that your church’s pastoral and ministry staff will have a vision to equip the congregation for ministry, help people discover their spiritual gifts, and create ways for those gifts to be used.
4. Pray for the awakening to a kingdom assignment and discovery of spiritual gifting to be part of God’s reviving His people, and that this would translate into larger numbers of people becoming vessels for His glory and for impacting others for Christ.

There is no greater thrill than to know that God has given us supernatural gifts, faith, and power to participate in the advancing of His kingdom here on earth. And once you know that, there is no excuse for getting engrossed in the things of this world and letting the divine gifts and callings go to waste!

Download this entire series in a PDF format.

What is your kingdom assignment? Share in the comments!

Remco Brommet is a pastor, spiritual-growth teacher, and prayer leader with over 40 years of experience in Europe, Southeast Asia, Africa, and the U.S. He was born and raised in the Netherlands and pastored his first church in Amsterdam. He moved to the U.S. in 1986. He and his wife, Jennifer, live north of Atlanta. When not writing books, he blogs at www.deeperlifeblog.com and assists his wife as a content developer and prayer coordinator for True Identity Ministries. Jennifer and Remco are passionate about bringing people into a deeper relationship with Christ. Photo Credit: zbindere/Getty Images Signature via Canva Pro.