Tag: call of God

To Be Known as Men and Women After God’s Heart

Psalm 63:1
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Most people who study the Bible find David to be one of the most intriguing characters in all of the Old Testament. It is likely that he is so interesting to most of us because he is a character of such contrast. We learn that He was passionately devoted to God as evidenced by today’s passage. But on the other hand, we find that he was guilty of some of the most grievous sins written of in the entire Bible. We learn that David was a mighty and courageous warrior that won many battles because of His favor with the Lord. But conversely, we find that he was at his weakest when he was fighting his own personal battles in the flesh. David’s emotional highs and lows are well chronicled by David himself in the Book of Psalms. His writings provide us with some of the most heart-warming and inspiring poetry written anywhere in the Bible.

As we struggle through the challenges of daily life, the way God views David offers hope for all of us. Of David, the Lord said, “I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.” We can be comforted in knowing that there is nothing that we can do to cause Our Heavenly Father to love us less. His love and forgiveness are perfectly paired and extended to us without end. Our Lord is particularly pleased when, like David, we come to Him with praise even in our darkest hours.

Let us go boldly to the Throne of God, particularly when we find ourselves in a dry or weary place. Let us sing our praises to our precious Lord. Let us be strengthened by knowing that Almighty God delights in seeing us come through our trials in loving obedience to His calling on our lives.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your perfect love and forgiveness. We sing Your praises knowing that even when we have fallen that Your love for us never fails. We bless the name of Jesus through Whom we are separated from our sin. We ask that Your Holy Spirit will inspire us to thirst for You in the passionate, intimate way that David did. We pray that Your Holy Spirit will strengthen us to walk in obedience to all that You ask us to do. We long to be called men and women after Your own heart. We ask all these things in the name of the living testimony of the love of God, Jesus Christ.

Bringing Comfort, Hope and Joy to the World Around Us

Philemon 1:21
Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.

Paul wrote to Philemon asking him to forgive his slave, Onesimus, who had run away. Paul also asked Philemon to accept Onesimus as a brother in Christ. The law gave Philemon the right to deal with his runaway slave harshly. Paul was asking Philemon to go beyond the law and respond with an act of brotherly love.

God’s call on each of our lives is unique. While He gives all of us His Holy Word and the Ten Commandments to follow, He sets aside specific directives for each of us to follow. He places these callings on our heart. He wants to see our obedience to Him. It is for His glory. It is for the gain of His kingdom here on earth and in heaven. When we follow God’s calling, it is certain that our obedience will provide favor in our lives beyond anything that we see or imagine.

But we should strive to go beyond the things that we are called to. We should open our hearts and our minds to find ways to give joy to one another. We should look around to see who among us is hurting, struggling or simply in need of a kind gesture. Let us find ways to comfort one another and bring joy to one another. We should exhaust every measure to bring hope to others. But if in no other way, we should abound in prayer for everyone.

If obedience to the law brings us unimagined favor, what will we receive for going beyond the law? Just as Paul was confident in Philemon, Jesus is confident that His disciples will do even more than He asks. He is waiting to richly reward those that love and serve the world.

Let us take up the Cross of Jesus Christ, who gave His all for all of mankind. Let us model the servant King. Let us show the world the love of the One who dwells within us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for calling us to serve You. We know that You will provide Your favor and protection when we follow your Holy Word and your Commandments and the callings that You place on our lives. We rejoice in knowing that we will serve You for all eternity. Gracious Father, we pray that Your Holy Spirit reveal to us the areas where You are calling us in obedience to serve you. We ask for an overflowing of the love of Our Savior in our lives so that we will be founts of comfort, joy and hope to those that are in our lives. We ask all these things in the name of the Worthy Lamb, Jesus Christ.

We Are Given the Call to Serve and the Power to Serve Others

John 15:13
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

The life of Jesus Christ was not the life of a mere man, but the life of a divine man who gave up His deity and His royalty in order to accept the calling of Almighty God to be the blood sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. Jesus took on this calling freely and voluntarily that He might secure our legal standing in the kingdom of God.

The moment that we accepted the salvation that Jesus made possible when He laid down His life for us, we were given the power and the calling to lay down our lives day after day for the people around us. This sacrificial calling is contrary to our human nature. Our flesh will fight us on every occasion, be it large or small, when we seek to emulate Jesus’ love for us in our service to others. And certainly, Satan will do his part to discourage us too.

Yet we can and will overcome the urges of Satan and our flesh, if we learn to rely on the urgings of the Holy Spirit. For we were not only given the calling to serve, we were also given the power to serve. We were given the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ to dwell within us. All we have to do is let the Spirit within us flow out of us.

Let us learn to love others as we love ourselves. Let us give up our lives in service to others. Let us reveal to the world the greater love that dwells within us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Son Jesus to die for us so that we would not remain separated from You for all eternity because of our sins. We praise Your Name for extending Your mercy so that we could accept the salvation that we did not earn and do not deserve. We pray, Father God, that the fullness of Your Holy Spirit will flow from us each day. May we learn to lay down our lives each day so that others may see the way, the truth and the life that is in Your Son, Jesus. We ask all these things in the name of the Slain Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

When What Seems Good is Less Than What God Planned for Us

Genesis 11:31
Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there.

In this passage we find Abraham traveling with his father and their extended family. Most writers seem to believe that Terah was moving his family based on the calling on Abraham’s life. In obedience to the calling of Almighty God, they have left Ur of the Chaldeans and are traveling to the land of Canaan. But for some unexplained reason, they do not complete the journey to Canaan. They end their journey half way to Canaan. They remain in Haran until Terah’s death.

There are two lessons that can be taken away from this passage. The first has to do with falling short of Canaan. How often do we miss out on what God has set aside for us because we quit before we reached His intended favor for us? We must be careful not to rely on our own thoughts and ways and settle for less than what God has planned for us because what we have achieved is pleasing to us and seems good in our own eyes.

The second lesson from this passage teaches us that we can get up and go again even if we have given up or quit on something that God has set aside for us. Just as Abraham continued on to Canaan after the death of His father, we can continue on to the calling that God has given us after we have settled for something less. Our Father in Heaven will provide a reward for us that will be much greater than what we may have settled for.

Let us set our sights on the calling that Our Father has set aside for us. Let us settle for nothing less. Let us call on His promise to perfect His strength in our weakness when we are faltering. Let us collect the full rewards of the victor.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for creating each of us to fulfill a special calling. We rejoice in knowing that You will stand by us even when we falter on our journey. We exalt Your name for providing Your Holy Spirit to lift us back up when we weaken, to redirect us when we go off course and to inspire us to go further when we settle for less than Your plan for us. We pray that we will settle for nothing less than our own Canaan. We ask all these things in the name of the One who provides our future and our hope, Jesus Christ.

Properly Handling Our Success When Serving God

Luke 10:20
Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

When Jesus sent the disciples out two by two, they all came back with stories of victory against the enemy. Jesus had to forewarn them not to be overcome by their success.

When following the Lord’s calling on our lives, the blessing and power of Jesus Christ will be ours to use to overcome the enemy in our lives and the lives of those that we serve. We must be alert to the fact that victory over the enemy and any type of fruitful service for the kingdom of God can be quite intoxicating. We must be careful not to call our victories our own for all the glory is for Our Savior. If our pride allows us to claim the glory, our fall is certain.

Further, we must not let ourselves take a commercial view of the things that we do for Jesus. That is, we cannot measure ourselves by the results of our work. Our work for the Lord is not about success. It is about the deepening relationship that we are forming with Him as His disciples. It is about the deepening relationship that we are forming with the Father. It is about our preparation to join Our Savior in His heavenly kingdom. As we rightly relate to our success in serving God, we shall become more useful in our service for Him.

Let us grab hold of the power given to us by Our Savior to overcome the enemy who attacks us and our loved ones. Let us give all the glory to the One who made the power available to us, Jesus Christ. Let us rejoice in knowing that our eternal resting places in heaven have been secured for us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the power and blessings that You release in our lives through our relationship with Your Son, Jesus. We ask You, Lord Jesus, to show us how to become Your true disciples. We ask You to give us the power to overcome the enemy in our lives and in the lives of those to whom we bring the salvation message. We ask that You open the eyes of those around us that they may see and seek Your Spirit that lives within us. May we all be prepared for the time that we stand before You to hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” We ask all these things in the name of the One whose kingdom and power and glory are forever, Jesus Christ.

Securing the Promises of God Through Obedience to His Call Upon Our Lives

Matthew 16:21
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

Jesus fulfilled everything that He was called to do. Even though He was tested beyond human imagination, He never faltered once in His obedience to the plans of God for His life. Through the process, it was a blessing to us all that Jesus did not listen to the voice of others around Him. Peter specifically rebuked Jesus for proclaiming such a tragic ending to His life. Jesus let Peter know that he spoke Satan’s language when he suggested that Jesus step away from His mission.

It is very easy to say, “I give up. I cannot do it.” This is especially true when we allow others in our lives to suggest that the values of man should be given more weight than the callings of God upon our lives. In essence, if what we are pursuing is of God, then giving up is denying the promises of God Himself.

Jesus overcame all of His trials because He was one with the Father and He trusted in the promises of the Father. And indeed, He did rise on the third day, fulfilling all of God’s promises for mankind. In the same way, we are to be anxious in nothing for God promises to take care of our every need and He promises to finish anything that He has called us to do. Our victories are in fact complete before we are even aware of our calling to their pursuit.

Let us stand firmly on the promises of God Almighty. Just as Jesus did, let us surrender in complete obedience to God’s calling on our lives.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for providing Your Son to be the guarantor of Your promise of eternal life available to each of us. We exalt the name of Jesus for His complete obedience to His calling as Our Savior. We pray for the strength and guidance of the Holy Spirit so that we may be obedient to the completed purpose and plans that You have set aside for our lives. May we stand firmly on Your promises. We ask these things in the name of the One who secured our victories on the Cross, Jesus Christ.

Looking for God in Our Daily Lives

Exodus 3:4
When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

Moses was going about his normal business of shepherding the flock when he came upon the burning bush. He could not see anyone who might have started the fire. Moses could have run away in fear or he could have simply walked away thinking that this is no concern of mine. Instead, Moses approached the bush to discover more of this mystery unfolding before him. He heard a voice but there was no human there speaking it. But it was unmistakeable to Moses, He was being addressed by someone who knew him and knew His name. When the Lord saw that He had Moses’ attention, He called out to him and Moses responded, “Here I am.”

As noted, the first appearance of God to Moses was while he was tending his sheep. This seems poor employment for someone who was raised as a prince in the Pharaoh’s court. Yet Moses was well satisfied and God was pleased with him. God was pleased with Moses because he was learning the meekness and contentment that he would need in the calling that was awaiting him. He was also pleased with Moses because Moses was seeking God in his life.

Moses is a great model for each of us. He looked for God in his daily life and, more importantly, Moses was ready to hear and act upon whatever the Lord asked him to do. So it should be with us.

Let us look for God at all times. Let us expect to be surprised by Him showing up in the smallest details of our everyday lives. Let us be ready to respond to His calling.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for always being present with us. We exalt Your Name for being our ever present God. We pray that You will open our eyes so that we can see You in every detail of our lives, from the grandest places and moments to the lowliest of places and moments. May Your Holy Spirit prepare us to be alert to see Your presence and to hear Your calling. May we always be eager to be instruments of Your good work and vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness. We ask all these things in the name of our ever present Lord, Jesus Christ.

Our Cupboard Will Overflow When We Answer God’s Call

1 Kings 17:16
The bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke through Elijah.

Elijah, in accordance with God’s directive, went to the widow in Zarephath and requested that she make him some bread to eat. She told Elijah that she could not feed him because she only had enough flour and oil to feed her and her son one more meal. She then told Elijah if she fed him that her and her son would die because their food supply would be exhausted. Elijah told the woman if she made his meal first that her supply would never be exhausted. And so it was by the word of the Lord.

When we feel the call of the Lord to fulfill a service or a charity, we should never concern ourselves with what is in our cupboard. The Lord will always supply what we need to fulfill His work. And when the work is done, our cupboard will overflow just as the widow’s did.

It is God’s way and it is to His glory to make use of and put honor upon the weak and foolish things of the world. It makes perfect sense that He would want to use us to do His good work. We certainly fit the bill of the weak and foolish. May we stand ready to proclaim His glory through the work that we do for Him.

Like the poor widow, let us put all of our faith in God. Let us learn to ignore the carnal counsel that comes from the world around us. Let us rejoice as we see our cupboards overflow.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for calling us to be of service to Your kingdom. We rejoice in knowing that You will equip us to do whatever You call us to do. We exalt You as You bless us, knowing we will be a blessing to others. We pray that we will never question our ability or our resources as You raise us up as instruments of Your good work. We pray that all that we do will be praise and glory to You, to Your Son Jesus, and to the Holy Spirit. We ask all these things in the name of the One who calls us to Himself, Jesus Christ.

Accepting Our Calling as Disciples of Jesus Christ

Acts 9:4
He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”

Saul thought he was doing everything right. He was on fire for his spiritual cause. Unfortunately for Saul, his cause was grounded in his own reasoning without a foundation of faith in Jesus and without the direction of the Holy Spirit. Saul rightfully could claim an “A” for effort. But he was not being accused by Jesus Christ for his efforts, he was being challenged for the self-driven misdirection of his efforts.

Just like Saul, all of us will face a day when the Lord challenges us. As with Saul, Our Lord has grounds to accuse us. While Jesus may not have grounds to challenge us for persecuting His church, He probably will have a strong case for challenging us on the grounds of our obstinacy in following our own will and not fully surrendering to the call of Our Lord on our lives.

While Saul surrendered his old life and became Paul, the apostle, we may have hung closer to our old nature than the new one that Jesus has for us. While we may not have been strongly challenged yet, at some defining point, like Saul, we will all be strongly and directly challenged by Jesus to denounce our old lives and accept our calling as His disciples.

Let us set aside our own plans. Let us seek God’s plan for our lives. Let us submit to God’s plans for our lives with the same fervor that Paul did.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for drawing us to Your Son. We praise You for setting aside a perfect plan for our lives in Your kingdom here on earth and in heaven. We rejoice in knowing that we will serve You for all eternity. We pray, Lord, that we will not be directed by our own ambitions, but be led by Your Holy Spirit. We claim Your promise that through Your Holy Spirit, Your strength will be perfected in our weakness. We beseech You, Father, that You grant us a double portion of Paul’s fervor for proclaiming Your Good News to the world. We pray these things in the name of our Blessed Hope and Assurance, Jesus Christ.

Without a Known Destination Simple Steps of Faith Will Lead Us to Our Destiny

Hebrews 11: 8
It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.

What an amazing example of living in faith is provided by the story of Abraham. It was a great step of faith for Abraham to leave his family and his homeland in response to God’s calling on his life. He did not even know where God was leading him. Yet he faithfully followed the path that the Lord laid out for him. And for his simple act of faith, he became the father of all nations.

Abraham was called out of his own country. He was called away from his family. He was called away from his father’s house. He was called from the only culture that he knew. It is not likely that God will ask us to follow a similar plan as Abraham. He is not likely to call us away from relatives, friends and acquaintances. He is not likely to call us away from the neighbors and neighborhoods where we find our comfort. In fact, it is quite likely that these are the places that He will call us to serve. But just like Abraham, we can be assured that we will be challenged in some major way by our calling.

In challenging each of us, God will ask us to take simple steps of faith. As we respond obediently, He will put before us the next step which usually will require a little more faith in Him and a little more of letting go of faith in ourselves. We may not become a father of a nation by yielding to our calling, but we will surely gain more than we ever imagined.

Let us step out in faith when we sense the urging of the Holy Spirit. Let us follow God’s calling even when we are not sure where we are going. Let us reap the harvest of our journey.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for having a unique plan for each of us. We rejoice in knowing that the reward that You have prepared for us if we respond to Your calling is beyond our imagination. We pray, Father, that you will give us the strength and guidance to follow the path that you have laid out for each of us. Even though we may not know our destination, Lord, may your Holy Spirit keep us steadfast in our journey to stand before you in the image of Your Son. We pray these things in the precious name of the author of our faith, Jesus Christ.