Sensing a call
Gracious God, how I can serve you ?
Where does my vocation
lie ?
There are so many jobs
not done,
So many tasks that seem
too large,
Too difficult , too frightening for me
What are my gifts, God?
What tools have you
given me
That I might use to
serve you ?
Am I serving you now as
you would wish?
Or do I have a long way to go?
Show me a sign in the
midst of my confusion.
Put the writing on the
wall.
Which of my experiences
do you wish me to use ?
Who amongst my friends
should I ask for advice?
Do I make my up excuses
to avoid serving you ?
Do I ignore the doors
that you open?
Can I change anything?
I feel so weak, God.
Yet, I know that you give me the gifts I need
To do your work
Because you love me,
You will never ask to
much of me.
Help me to hold fast to
your promises
As I continue my journey
with you
Michaela
Youngson from Making the colours sing.
"The first thing that impresses us about the call of God is that it
comes to the whole man, not to one part of him. The majority of us are godly in
streaks, spiritual in sections; it takes a long time to locate us altogether to
the call of God. We have special days and religious moods, but when we get into
contact with God we are brought in touch with Reality and made all of a piece.
Our Lord's life was all one reality; you could never cut it into two--shallow
here and profound there. My conception of God must embrace the whole of my
life." –
Suppose God tells you to do something that is an enormous test of your
common sense, totally going against it. What will you do? Will you hold back?
If you get into the habit of doing something physically, you will do it every
time you are tested until you break the habit through sheer determination. And
the same is true spiritually. Again and again you will come right up to what
Jesus wants, but every time you will turn back at the true point of testing,
until you are determined to abandon yourself to God in total surrender. Yet we
tend to say, “Yes, but— suppose I do obey God in this matter, what about . . .
?” Or we say, “Yes, I will obey God if what He asks of me doesn’t go against my
common sense, but don’t ask me to take a step in the dark.”
Jesus Christ demands the same unrestrained, adventurous spirit in those
who have placed their trust in Him that the natural man exhibits. If a person
is ever going to do anything worthwhile, there will be times when he must risk
everything by his leap in the dark. In the spiritual realm, Jesus Christ
demands that you risk everything you hold on to or believe through common
sense, and leap by faith into what He says. Once you obey, you will immediately
find that what He says is as solidly consistent as common sense.
By the test of common sense, Jesus Christ’s statements may seem mad, but
when you test them by the trial of faith, your findings will fill your spirit
with the awesome fact that they are the very words of God. Trust completely in
God, and when He brings you to a new opportunity of adventure, offering it to
you, see that you take it. We act like pagans in a crisis— only one out of an
entire crowd is daring enough to invest his faith in the character of God.
Oswald Chambers
Too long have we been waiting for one another to begin! The time of
waiting is past! The hour of God has struck! War is declared! In God's Holy
Name let us arise and build! 'The God of Heaven, He will fight for us', as we
for Him. We will not build on the sand, but on the bedrock of the sayings of
Christ, and the gates and minions of hell shall not prevail against us. Should
such men as we fear? Before the world, aye, before the sleepy, lukewarm,
faithless, namby-pamby Christian world, we will dare to trust our God, we will
venture our all for Him, we will live and we will die for Him, and we will do
it with His joy unspeakable singing aloud in our hearts. We will a thousand
times sooner die trusting only our God, than live trusting in man. And when we
come to this position the battle is already won, and the end of the glorious
campaign in sight. We will have the real Holiness of God, not the sickly stuff
of talk and dainty words and pretty thoughts; we will have a Masculine
Holiness, one of daring faith and works for Jesus Christ.
If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too
great for me to make for Him.
Should such men as we fear? Before the world, aye,
before the sleepy, lukewarm, faithless, namby-pamby Christian world, we will
dare to trust our God, we will venture our all for Him, we will live and we
will die for Him, and we will do it with His joy unspeakable singing aloud in
our hearts. We will a thousand times sooner die trusting only our God, than
live trusting in man. CT Studd
Called
By God from The Oswald Chambers Daily Devotional
I
heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, and who will go
for Us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me." —Isaiah 6:8
God
did not direct His call to Isaiah— Isaiah overheard God saying, “…who will go
for Us?” The call of God is not just for a select few but for everyone. Whether
I hear God’s call or not depends on the condition of my ears, and exactly what
I hear depends upon my spiritual attitude. “Many are called, but few are
chosen” (Matthew 22:14). That is, few prove that they are the chosen ones. The
chosen ones are those who have come into a relationship with God through Jesus
Christ and have had their spiritual condition changed and their ears opened.
Then they hear “the voice of the Lord” continually asking, “…who will go for
Us?” However, God doesn't single out someone and say, “Now, you go.” He did not
force His will on Isaiah. Isaiah was in the presence of God, and he overheard
the call. His response, performed in complete freedom, could only be to say,
“Here am I! Send me.”
Remove
the thought from your mind of expecting God to come to force you or to plead
with you. When our Lord called His disciples, He did it without irresistible
pressure from the outside. The quiet, yet passionate, insistence of His “Follow
Me” was spoken to men whose every sense was receptive (Matthew 4:19). If we
will allow the Holy Spirit to bring us face to face with God, we too will hear
what Isaiah heard— “the voice of the Lord.” In perfect freedom we too will say,
“Here am I! Send me.”
Not often, but every once in a while, God brings us to a major turning point--a great crossroads in our life. From that point we either go more and more toward a slow, lazy, and useless Christian life, or we become more and more on fire, giving our utmost for His highest--our best for His glory." --Oswald Chambers, from the My Utmost for His Highest
SOVEREIGN GOD,
Thy cause, not my own, engages my heart,
and I appeal to thee with greatest freedom
to set up thy kingdom in every place
where Satan reigns;
Glorify thyself and I shall rejoice,
for to bring honour to thy name is my sole desire.
I adore thee that thou art God,
and long that others should know it, feel it,
and rejoice in it.
O that all men might love and praise thee,
that thou mightest have all glory
from the intelligent world!
Let sinners be brought to thee for thy dear name!
To the eye of reason everything respecting
the conversion of others is as dark as midnight,
But thou canst accomplish great things;
the cause is thine,
and it is to thy glory that men should be saved.
Lord, use me as thou wilt,
do with me what thou wilt;
but, O, promote thy cause,
let thy kingdom come,
let thy blessed interest be advanced
in this world!
O do thou bring in great numbers to Jesus!
let me see that glorious day,
and give me to grasp for multitudes of souls;
let me be willing to die to that end;
and while I live let me labour for thee
to the utmost of my strength,
spending time profitably in this work,
both in health and in weakness.
It is thy cause and kingdom I long for,
not my own.
Valley of Vision, Banner of Truth
Here am I, send me; send me to the
ends of the earth; send me to the rough, the savage lost of the wilderness;
send me from all that is called comfort on earth; send me even to death itself,
if it be but in your service, and to promote your kingdom
Not called!' did you say? 'Not heard the call,' I think you should say.
Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear him bid you go and pull sinners out of
the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity,
and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and
hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their
brothers and sisters, and servants and masters not to come there. And then look
Christ in the face, whose mercy you have professed to obey, and tell him
whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to
publish his mercy to the world." William Booth.
“While women weep, as they do now,
I'll fight
While little children go hungry, as they do now,
I'll fight
While men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now,
I'll fight
While there is a drunkard left,
While there is a poor lost girl upon the streets,
While there remains one dark soul without the light of God,
I'll fight-I'll fight to the very end!”
William Booth
Isaiah 6v8 New American Standard Bible.
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and
who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” 9 He said, “Go, and
tell this people:
Luke 9:57-62 New American Standard Bible.
57 As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will
follow You wherever You go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes
and the birds of the [ai]air have [aj]nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to
lay His head.” 59 And He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord,
permit me first to go and bury my father.” 60 But He said to him, “Allow the
dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the
kingdom of God.” 61 Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first
permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” 62 But Jesus said to him, “No one,
after putting his hand to the plough and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of
God.”
Luke 5:1-11 & 27-28 New American Standard Bible
5 Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing
around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake
of Gennesaret; 2 and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake;
but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. 3 And He got into one of the boats,
which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He
sat down and began teaching the [a]people from the boat. 4 When He had finished speaking, He said
to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 Simon answered and said, “Master, we
worked hard all night and caught nothing, but [b]I will do as You say and let
down the nets.” 6 When they had done this, they enclosed a great
quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; 7 so they signalled to their partners in
the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of
the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw that,
he fell down at Jesus’ [c]feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord,
for I am a sinful man!” 9 For amazement had seized him and all his companions
because of the catch of fish which they had taken;10 and so also were [d]James and John, sons of Zebedee, who
were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear, from now
on you will be catching men.” 11 When they had brought their boats to land, they
left everything and followed Him…..27 After that He went out and noticed a tax
collector named [m]Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, “Follow
Me.” 28 And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him.
Ephesians 4:1-16New International
Version - UK (NIVUK)
Unity and maturity in the body of Christ
4 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to
live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be
completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in
love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the
Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one
body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were
called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one
God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
‘When he ascended on high,
he took many captives
and gave gifts to his people.’[b]
he took many captives
and gave gifts to his people.’[b]
9 (What does ‘he ascended’ mean except that he also
descended to the lower, earthly regions[c]? 10 He who
descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to
fill the whole universe.) 11 So Christ himself
gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and
teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of
service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until
we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and
become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and
forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by
the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead,
speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature
body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From
him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament,
grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
It is Jesus that you seek when you dream of happiness; He is waiting for
you when nothing else you find satisfies you; He is the beauty to which you are
so attracted; it is He who provoked you with that thirst for fullness that will
not let you settle for compromise; it is He who urges you to shed the masks of
a false life; it is He who reads in your heart your most genuine choices, the
choices that others try to stifle. It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to
do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to
allow yourselves to be ground down by mediocrity, the courage to commit
yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the
world more human and more fraternal.”
Pope Paul John 11
Isaiah
61:1-3New International Version - UK (NIVUK)
The
year of the Lord’s favour
61
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He
has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,[a]
2
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to
comfort all who mourn,
3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion –
to
bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the
oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and
a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They
will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the Lord
for the display of his splendour.
Matthew
28 New International Version - UK (NIVUK)
The
great commission
16
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told
them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. 18
Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has
been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and
teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you
always, to the very end of the age.’
13 Now there
were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called
Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.2 While they
were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for
Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called
them.”3 Then, when
they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and from
there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 When they
reached Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews;
Acts 13:1-4 New American Standard Bible.
In
conclusion;
The
Voice of the Nature of God
I
heard the voice of the Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, and who will go
for Us?" —Isaiah 6:8
When
we talk about the call of God, we often forget the most important thing,
namely, the nature of Him who calls. There are many things calling each of us
today. Some of these calls will be answered, and others will not even be heard.
The call is the expression of the nature of the One who calls, and we can only
recognize the call if that same nature is in us. The call of God is the
expression of God’s nature, not ours. God providentially weaves the threads of
His call through our lives, and only we can distinguish them. It is the
threading of God’s voice directly to us over a certain concern, and it is
useless to seek another person’s opinion of it. Our dealings over the call of
God should be kept exclusively between ourselves and Him.
The
call of God is not a reflection of my nature; my personal desires and temperament
are of no consideration. As long as I dwell on my own qualities and traits and
think about what I am suited for, I will never hear the call of God. But when
God brings me into the right relationship with Himself, I will be in the same
condition Isaiah was. Isaiah was so attuned to God, because of the great crisis
he had just endured, that the call of God penetrated his soul. The majority of
us cannot hear anything but ourselves. And we cannot hear anything God says.
But to be brought to the place where we can hear the call of God is to be
profoundly changed.
