Welcome to a new blog series ‘THE CALLING’, right from the very heart of God. I will be writing this series for quite some time as the spirit of God leads. I hope that the truth I am going to share with you through this series will help you get closer to God and help you realize who you are in Christ. So, without further delay let’s get to the blog.
‘CALLING’ is just another verb in the English language but has so much more meaning and has so much power when it relates to God. Each and every person on this earth is called by God with a special ‘calling’ over their lives.
Calling in simple terms is the will of God over a person’s life.
It is what God thinks and wants out of one’s life for His glory.
Calling is the identity that one finds in God.
If I am to combine all this and put it in one precise definition then, this is what calling is:
Calling is the will of God over one’s life that enables him/her to know who they are in Christ and the kingdom of God for the glory of God
§ ANOINTING MARKS YOUR CALLING
The calling over one’s life is given by God. If we see all of the great men of God after the law was given to Moses, they were anointed as ‘someone’ according to the will of God. Some examples are:
David being anointed by Samuel as the king of Israel
Jesus anointed before he went to do His ministry
Isaiah was anointed as a prophet
Aaron being anointed as a priest by Moses
In all these examples we see how the people of God were anointed as what they were called by God. Therefore, we can say that the anointing marks the calling over your life. Even today, we see ministers of God being anointed as prophets, pastors, evangelists, apostles and so on before they go into the world to do what God has called them to do.
§ CALLING ISN’T EARNED
Paul says like this about the calling of God:
Who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,2 timothy 1:9
Here Paul says that everyone is called by a holy calling because of God’s own purpose and grace and not because of our works. So, what we get to know about the calling of God from this text is that ‘calling’ cannot be earned or it isn’t something that we deserve. Rather, it is the evidence of God’s grace over our lives. It is essential that we realize and remember this fact, that we stay grateful and thankful for the calling of God over our lives.
§ CALLING BEFORE THE AGES
Calling is something that is over our life before we are even born on this earth which is why Paul says that it was given to us before the ages began. We can also see the same thing in Jeremiah’s life as he is called by God. Where God calls Jeremiah to be a prophet and says this profound statement to Jeremiah:
Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”Jeremiah 1:4-5
Here we see how God is calling Jeremiah and this instance from the word of God gives us clarity on the fact that the call of God is over our life before we are born.
§ CALLING IS WITHIN US
The calling that God has kept over everyone’s life is as said before is given before our birth. So, the calling is within us and is in our personality. It’s like we would already have the basic traits needed for doing what God has called us to do inside of us. The calling over our lives won’t be something that we hate to do or something that is completely unrelated to us and who we are. Rather it will very much be in line with who we are and it will bring out so much joy and passion when we do what God has called us to do. We will do it with all our heart and nothing else will matter. If you see any of the men of God and their lives and wonder how they are doing what they are doing. The answer is their obedience to the calling over their lives set by God. And when we are in obedience to the call of God then we can do all that God is asking us to do with ease and joy.
§ CALLING COMES WITH A COST
Doing what God has called us to do or to stand firm in God’s calling in our lives is one of the hardest things that we can do. Jesus says like this of the will of God:
Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.John 4:34
Jesus does not literally mean doing the will of God was His physical food, rather it was the food for His spirit because we know that God is spirit. What we get from this is that the will of God is something that can only be perceived and fully understood in our spirit. And the spirit and our flesh always oppose each other. Why I am saying this is because physically or naturally our flesh itself is one of the biggest hindrances that we have that stops us from doing the will of God. Therefore, we must embrace the fact that we need to have self-denial in our life and it is the cost we need to pay to do what God has called us to do.
Self-denial is to choose the will of God with our own free will.
Moreover, only if we do the will of God can we please God and in turn enter heaven. And the devil does not want us to enter heaven and enjoy the glory of God. So, he brings all kinds of hindrances and obstacles in our path that discourages and tries to prevent us from doing the will of God. Jesus says this very same thing,
“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.Matthew 7:21
If we need to do the will of God, we need to pay the price of denying our flesh and saying NO to our fleshly desires and saying YES to the will of God just as Jesus said:
And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.Mark 8:34
Therefore, it is only by looking unto God and with the help of the holy spirit can we really understand our true calling and stand firm in the calling God has kept over our lives no matter what comes our way. Looking at Jesus as our example and having embraced ‘self-denial’ in our lives is the way we can run our race, the race set before us, faithfully until we see Christ Jesus in His glory in heaven.
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.Hebrews 12:1-2