Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, Ephesians 4:1
We, all who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, have calls on our lives. The first is the call to eternal life, realized through repentance of our sins and allowing Jesus Christ to be Lord of our lives. (Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:12) (“I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” Luke 5:32).
The second is the call that God has put on our lives, to accomplish His will and glorify Himself. It is a gifting that He provides us with, that is to be used to bring Him honor and glory and when used appropriately it also draws those who don’t know Jesus to a saving knowledge of Him.
How do we know God’s call on our lives? How do we know if what we are feeling is the call of God or just a desire of ours? First we must study His word, pray and test (by comparing the gifting/desire to what the scripture says), “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2
If our call has to do with a specific group of people, i.e. being a women’s ministry leader, missionary to China, those who don’t know Jesus, God will typically give us a heart for those people that lasts a life time. We will usually gravitate toward and have a desire to minister to that specific group, in what ever way God will allow.
Next we need to consider the spiritual gifting God has given us…(“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” 1 Peter 4:10). God will not call us to something He has not gifted and equipped us to do.
We must also look at the skills or talents that God has given us. If we have a beautiful singing voice, can play any instrument or song just by listening, draw, write, repair things, what ever your God given talent might be….combined with our spiritual gift, this is typically another level of equipping for the call on our lives.
We must also be plugged in to a local church. The leadership in our church will be able to help us discern that call and will have supernatural wisdom as to how to move forward with it.
Finally, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path – a proverbs 3:5-6. Submitting to His Lordship on our lives, allows us to take our hands off every situation and to trust Him to lead and guide.
Now, we also have to wait for God’s perfect time. Because He places a call on our life today doesn’t mean that we will begin that ministry today. It may take a while before we have matured enough to live out that call. While we wait, we get equipped. We spend time with the Father in prayer, we read and hide in our hearts His Holy Word, we stay connected to the body of Christ, we stay in the local church, we fellowship with brothers and sisters in Christ and we serve in what ever capacities God will allow, until He says it is time. Get equipped, hone your skills and practice your craft while you wait.
Some people go their whole lives without even knowing there is a call on their lives, let alone what that call is. They never know the excitement that a person feels when God begins to reveal what He wants to do through them or the desire to minister to that special group of people that He has given them a heart for. They miss this opportunity, usually, because they have not been discipled and don’t even know what a call from God is, but sometimes they miss it because they just don’t chase after what God has for them. They are content living life, knowing God and that is enough.
It isn’t enough. We were created with a purpose…to glorify God and to point those that don’t know our Precious Savior to Him. We were created to serve God and others (just like Jesus did). We were created with calls on our lives just like the one that John the Baptist had on his life and that he lived out (during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Luke 3:2-3).
So, Who’s calling? God is calling. He is calling you to action. He is calling you to serve. He is calling each and every one of us to love and minister in a sacrificial way. The question is will we take His call?
I pray that today, we would have a quiet time like never before. That we would not only lift our prayers to God, but that we would ask Him how we might serve Him today. And perhaps we might even ask Him what the call is that He has on our lives. What and who does He desire we focus on and how does He want us to accomplish His goal and glorify and honor Him. Then I pray that we would listen and submit. Do you understand that magnitude of what we have been discussing? The God of all creation, who could have hand crafted robot children who would do what ever He said, gave us free will. He offered us an opportunity to love Him and follow Him and to be used for His purposes and to win souls from the enemy for eternity, but we don’t have to say yes. We can ignore His call and miss out and risk that those whom we were called to minister to would not receive what God wanted to offer through us and might then spend eternity in hell. Doesn’t that sound like an important call to take?
If you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, I pray that you would go to our Life Preserver page (https://forgiven-n-loved.com/life-preserver/) and pray the prayer that is outlined there. God has been waiting to hear your voice and to forgive your sins. He is calling, please answer. It’s the most important call you will ever receive. Once you have prayed that prayer, please reach out to me at admin@Forgiven-N-Loved.com and let me know so that I can be in prayer for you.
Luv ya!
