The Awareness of the Call

Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled [called] to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 1 Cor 9:16

Dear Friends,

We continue to journey through the tumultuous stories in the Book of Judges and Israel's rises and falls. We are learning that no matter how bad things get God always makes a way for his glory and our good. God calls and uses the willing heart more than the capable hand.

There lies a question: How do I know if I have been called? Firstly, your general calling is to follow Jesus this needs no great discernment. But secondly, there is a specific calling to which you are being called as YOU.

Do you know of that calling and are you living it out, or, do you feel like you are just ticking over very gently and comfortably? I found the following article by Oswald Chambers very helpful. I shall leave you with his ponderings.

Have a blessed and called week.

Fraser

The Awareness of the Call

By Oswald Chambers

Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled [called] to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 1 Cor 9:16

We are inclined to forget the deeply spiritual and supernatural touch of God. If you are able to tell exactly where you were when you received the call of God and can explain all about it, I question whether you have truly been called. The call of God does not come like that; it is much more supernatural. The realization of the call in a person’s life may come like a clap of thunder or it may dawn gradually. But however quickly or slowly this awareness comes, it is always accompanied with an undercurrent of the supernatural— something that is inexpressible and produces a “glow.” At any moment the sudden awareness of this incalculable, supernatural, surprising call that has taken hold of your life may break through— “I chose you…” (John 15:16). The call of God has nothing to do with salvation and sanctification. You are not called to preach the gospel because you are sanctified; the call to preach the gospel is infinitely different. Paul describes it as a compulsion that was placed upon him.

If you have ignored, and thereby removed, the great supernatural call of God in your life, take a review of your circumstances. See where you have put your own ideas of service or your particular abilities ahead of the call of God. Paul said, “…woe is me if I do not preach the gospel!” He had become aware of the call of God, and his compulsion to “preach the gospel” was so strong that nothing else was any longer even a competitor for his strength.

If a man or woman is called of God, it doesn’t matter how difficult the circumstances may be. God orchestrates every force at work for His purpose in the end. If you will agree with God’s purpose, He will bring not only your conscious level but also all the deeper levels of your life, which you yourself cannot reach, into perfect harmony.