The Call of God On Our Lives

I have been thinking a lot lately about the call of God on our lives, and this verse in Ephesians tells us that our primary calling is to be holy and blameless.

When we hear of leaders who fail, it is so sad to think that all the gifting and anointing for the works of God are made completely ineffective sometimes by a moral failure. Our holiness is very important to God, and therefore should be very important to us. It should be in front of our gifting.

God calls us by name. The scripture in John 10:27 says that we as sheep recognise the voice of Jesus and we follow Him. After our salvation, I believe God’s call on our lives is the next most important thing. I love that scripture in Romans 11:29, ‘For God’s gift and his call are irrevocable’.

Whatever God called you to do - maybe right back there in your childhood, He has not changed His mind about it. When I was a little girl of 7, a neighbour took me to a slideshow in a small Methodist chapel. It was presented by a missionary who was home on furlough from Papua New Guinea. I was riveted to the pictures and felt deeply impacted. By the time he made the appeal for “Anyone here tonight who feel that God could be calling them to be a missionary to Papua New Guinea? Please come forward”, I was up and out of my seat and stood in the front. The missionary asked me to wait while the others came out, but finally there were no others! As he sat and looked at me, about a metre high, he said, ‘You have a lot of growing up to do before you can go as a missionary to Papua New Guinea.’

However, he sat and prayed that if this was God, that one day I would go to Papua New Guinea to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. I rushed home to tell my mother that, when I grew up, I was going to be a missionary to Papua New Guinea. Her reply was, “Of course you are dear. But for now go to bed!”

At the age of 14, I gave my heart to the Lord but everything to do with Papua New Guinea went straight out of my mind. A few years ago, some 60 years later, a pastor came on the NETS programme from Papua New Guinea and when he asked me to go and teach a conference in his church, suddenly the memory returned. When the wheels of the plane touched down in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, I sat and wept as I remembered the scripture – ‘God’s gift and his call are irrevocable’. If something really is of God, then be sure God will accomplish it.

So what is it that God has called you to do? Have you done it? Don’t let the enemy tell you that you have messed up so badly that God is no longer calling you to do it. The next lie of the enemy is that we are not good enough to do it.

God does not always call the qualified but he always qualifies the called. God does not always call the most likely or the most humanly gifted people. The anointing from God, which is needed to fulfil our call, will be there for us. A real call of God usually starts as a little seed, and it grows and will not go away. Be content with your call and make lifestyle choices that enable it. Remain faithful to God and to the call He has placed on your life and you will be fruitful. What He calls us to do He also enables us to do.

Prayer: Thank You, Father, that You have called me to enter into relationship with You and to be holy and blameless in Your sight. I thank You for calling me by name and leading me out. Help me to pay the cost of being obedient and thank You today that You never change Your mind about me or my call. Amen.