Can you conceive of, or conceptualize, an actual geographical area with limits, boundaries, that a man may know is designated, appointed, assigned him by God, as the area within which he is to minister, serve, function, operate, or be of help or influence by God's grace, or exert any effect? That he is to know his "bounds" or "boundaries?" That he might actually know "where" he is supposed to minister, know the actual "borders" or "boundaries" of his "sphere" in the will of God?
Notice what the paragraph above does not ask. Notice what it does not actually say. It did not ask, and it does not say (assert) that that is an iron-clad spiritual truth. That is, it does not mean to say that anyone out there must believe in it exactly as that paragraph puts it. I do not claim that the spiritual principle is exactly like that. Rather the paragraph above really only asked if you are capable of grasping that sort of concept, even if only "for discussion's sake" as they say. The reason I put it that way is because I simply have a concept "along those lines" or which is "like" that in a couple of ways. But I do not say that it's a truth that others must accept, I do not suggest that others are "faulty" in any way if they lack this concept in their thinking. It may be one of those things which God uses in the life of some people and chooses NOT to, in the lives of others. The Bible actually speaks along the lines of "this isn't for everyone" in some things. On a particular matter in Matthew 19 Jesus said, "ALL men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is GIVEN." And again he said, "He that is able to receive it, let him receive it." God can work with one differently than He does with another. Paul put it, "each person has a special gift from God, of one kind or another" (1 Cor. 7:7). The RSV puts it, "each has his own special gift from God, one of one kind and one of another."
Read carefully and consider the following from the Christian book, Good News from a Far Country by Dr.William Kell, page 192. First I select from within his text the plain command or instruction, "Know your boundaries!" The exclamation point and emphasis are his. Kell dedicates a whole section to this topic, under the bold heading, "BOUNDARIES AND DOMAIN." Continuing, he writes, "Your place of authority is limited to THE PLACE OF YOUR ASSIGNMENT or domain. ... A domain is a TERRITORY over which authority is exercised. Boundaries define the extent of your domain. Know your boundaries! Paul knew his boundaries. The Greek word kanon means boundary or sphere of activity. 'We however will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere (kanon) which especially includes you ... and not to boast in another man's sphere (kanon) of accomplishment' (2 Corinthians 10:13, 16). ... the authority given to him was ONLY EFFECTIVE IN HIS ASSIGNED DOMAIN. Know your boundaries! Jude described a group of angels who did not keep their assigned domain and transgressed their God-Ordained boundaries. ... When you operate in your proper domain ... you will be IN THE ZONE. Know your boundaries! When I speak a word in the place of my assignment, within the boundaries prescribed by God, things happen. My home, where I exercise headship, is an obvious example of domain with prescribed boundaries. I have no authority in the home next door unless that authority is given to me. Know your boundaries!" And Kell states again as bluntly as can be, "The boundaries of Paul's domain were set by God." Just underscore that his "boundaries .. . were set." Set boundaries, as in the set, known borders of a territory.
Christians, and I think American Christians in particular, sometimes are "odd" and "inconsistent" in their thinking. Just now the principle springs to my mind, of "swallowing a camel but straining at a gnat." Some people find it easier to accept gigantic notions than much smaller and modest ones: I think a great many American Christians wouldn't bat an eyelash or even think to critique it, if some supposed apostle were to tell them, "My ministry is to Europe" (by which he's suggesting that it is not to East Asia or to the Islands or to the Americas. People would just say, "Oh." Or an apostle could tell them, "God told me I was called specifically to China." Again, they'll just go "Oh" and have no pains in their brains over it. But notice that those are GIGANTIC regions or territories! Even whole continents! They would not even NOTICE if in an apostle's story he told them, "While ministering in China there were opportunities to meddle with Russia, across the border, but we knew that we were sent to China and not to Russia, so we kept inside the borders." No one would think anything too strange had been said. But now suppose we "GO SMALLER" and on a less grand scale than whole countries or continents: What if some were to tell you that in their large American city, God had shown them they were only to minister to people north of 5th Street and east of Main Street? See what I mean about swallowing a camel but straining at a gnat? You didn't blink an eye when the apostle said he was sent to China but not to Russia, you noticed nothing strange when someone else said they were supposed to minister in Europe but not in the Americas. You allow the concept of borders and boundaried to drawn between GIGANTIC territories without blinking, but then "hang up" over someone saying they are called to minister to people north of 5th Street in a certain city, but not south of it. Very odd, if the same God who ostensibly can draw a line between countries or continents is held suspect if he draws the same kind of line between a city's neighborhoods, east or west, or north and south. I object to people finding it odd, and I would make the case that if anything is odd or strange, it is missionaries claiming they are sent to "the Chinese people" of China, when there are perfectly good Russian folk just across the border in Russia! I'm being silly on purpose. I have heard missionary stories of when and how God first gave them their call, their commission, and sent them to some specific place. In some accounts, they looked at an actual physical MAP with literally boundaried countries all over it, and the Spirit of God told them, "THERE! THAT COUNTRY!" referring to some "place." But more to my point just here, I'm pointing out that when such stories are told to audiences, nobody ever seems to find that strange! So why can't God just as easily show a person that he is called to work in a big city in the neighborhoods WEST of a certain freeway? We let people all the time tell us that God has sent them to the Latino community of Los Angeles (which will of course mean, NOT to the Irish or the Swiss living there), or, tell us God has sent them to the primitive pagan tribes of some specific jungle or island (which will of course mean NOT the Europeans nearby.
Then please tell me, Why can't God send someone to a city's "West Side" to the exclusion of the "East Side?" Take the City of Chicago: It has three recognized districts or parts, the "North Side," the "South Side" and the "West Side," sometimes given it's own placename designation of "West Side, Chicago." Although today the imaginary "boundaries" of Chicago are somewhat blurred, and one person will say a neighborhood actually begins "here" while another says "no, over there," originally, basically, Chicago's "sides" were identified by the Chicago River, which runs through the city. So, "way back," the "West Side" was the part of the city west of the river. But OBSERVE, nowadays they've taken to identifying the West Side by everything West of Chicago's MADISON STREET. I have a point: It is that you probably wouldn't bat an eyelash or blink if some street-witnessing evangelist told you that God "called him to minister in "West Side, Chicago" or Chicago's "West Side." But I'm pointing out that that's the area west of Madison Street. So why couldn't God have said "go minister in the area west of Madison Street," designating Madison Street as the boundary of his "sphere of ministry?" Funny how we'll swallow the camel if they tell us they are sent to West Side Chicago, but strain at a gnat and eye them askance if they say "I am sent to those west of Madison Street" although that's actually the very same thing! So what is this hangup? It's really that we like "poetry" and "stories" and the concept of exotic far away places. It seems to have a "ring" to it when someone says they are sent "to the islands," or to "the Indies" or they are sent to far off "Spain." We like that somewhat "exotic" ring of things sounding "way over there," or, as with gigantic regions, like "Asia," it sounds like a "great and lofty call" to change the world. Come back to my notion of someone being called to Chicago's West Side, and to the people there:
The truth is, God can and DOES in our day sometimes designate a particular modern American city to a Christian, and sometimes even a neighborhood or a district IN that city, which is to be one's "mission field": You know the story of David Wilkerson and The Cross and the Switchblade, Nicky Cruz, et al. Well, God directed David Wilkerson to go to specifically New York, and specifically to youth in gangs there, that he had hread about on the news. Wilkerson recounted his testimony, times without number, telling Christians the world over that God said to him, "Go to New York." Well, that's a specific city, isn't it? He obediently came to New York, and enquired as to the location of gang "turf" (territory) and found out that where God was leading him was to the borough of Brooklyn, and to the Fort Greene neighborhood within that, right down to the boundaried "turf" of the Mau Maus, the gang that Nicky Cruz was in. Today you could use "Google Maps" and find, right down to the specific streets that formed the gangs' boundary lines, the exact "turf" contained in Wilkerson's testimonies. I'm pointing out that a person who is sent by God to certain people, will often of necessity have to recognize GEOGRAPHICALLY JUST "WHERE" those people ARE; If God is sending you after a certain kind of "fish" you'll go to "WHERE" those fish ARE; and in a city like New York, and in the case of the Mau Maus, that specific "place" may actually be "turf" boundaried by STREETS or other landmarks, like perhaps bounded by Lafayette Avenue on the south, "the Projects" (housing projects) and Fort Greene Park on the north, and maybe bounded on the west by Fort Green Place, and on the east by Clermont Avenue (actual gang turf in Fort Green).
If God ever leads you this way, you will (as Kell kept insisting above) need to
KNOW YOUR BOUNDARIES!
All of my Christian life I have seemed to "sense this principle" on some level. I can't remember a time when I didn't. I know that I was thinking vaguely "along these lines" as far back as 1968 - 1970, but even as that goes, I can't remember when it started. What I do know is that it had its origins in my prayer life and seeking God, and nowhere else. It came with my "Christian spirituality" (such as that was). So I always attributed it to God and always thought of it as spiritual insight. I simply felt that I had these ways of thinking from God. I always felt there was something significant about "places" and "zones" and "areas."
And THEN God began to teach it to me FROM THE SCRIPTURES:
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