The Call of God

What is the call of God?

What does it mean for God to place his call on your life?

Such questions have been of interest to me for years. For many years I knew what it was, but not how it was bestowed. What it is, is recognition that God has destined your life to be a servant of his people, a minister. How did you get it? It’s God and only God, however it seemed to my mind that it could only be “handed out” by other ministers, and typically it was only “handed out” to kids of the Pastor, oftentimes by a visiting minister.

It wasn’t until adulthood that I started realizing what it really was.

Jeremiah speaks of it as a “fire, shut up in his bones”:

…But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. – Jeremiah 20:9, KJV

Why does Jeremiah say the word was in his heart in that manner? Because a fire in your bones cannot be silenced or quelled. It must take its course. God’s call is the same way; it’s the same thing… a mission from God that MUST BE ACCOMPLISHED. Jeremiah knew his duty was to speak to the people of their imminent doom.

Paul said, and this is among my favorite scriptures:

For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel! – 1 Corinthians 9:16. KJV

Why is necessity laid upon Paul? Because he chooses to obey God, he chooses not to ignore the “fire in his bones”, it is a yoke and a burden that he cannot give up, it is his goal and his mission, and what he’s put on earth for. He knows this and it is as impossible to ignore as the instinct for a worker bee to collect her pollen.

Even Jesus said, “not my will but thine be done”. It’s not what we want, it’s what God wants in our lives. And the call of God is such that it is inside you, it’s not something you merely want to do… NECESSITY is laid upon you, just like Paul, woe to you if you do NOT follow your call!

Yet how can you define the call of God? Is it an obsession, or an instinct? How about a weight or burden? A yoke or a passion? All of these?

Like I mentioned before, I thought that the call of God was reserved for the kids of the pastor, after all, they are constantly in the sight of the visiting preacher. When I begun to hear the call of God, I didn’t know it was the call of God, no one bothered to explain it. The Pastor didn’t tell me and the visiting ministers didn’t inform me. How was I to know unless I learned on my own?
Paul talks about his conversion and calling here:

For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. – Galatians 1:12

But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. – Galatians 1: 15-17

I think it’s interesting that Paul did not attempt to learn of his calling from his fellow man, but he went straight to God, the author and finisher of our faith, and learned of God what he was to do.

Likewise, when I had begun to understand the calling of God placed upon me, I did not learn it from my Pastor, or any minister, or any prophet. God gave me revelation to understand what was in me, and confirmation was given through prophets, ministers, and pastors. Willing vessels confirmed that what was in me was of the Holy Ghost, for although Paul learned from God, he certainly was not alone in his ministry at Damascus. He was confirmed by like-members of the Body of Christ there, he was affirmed to be a minister of God by the other ministers there.

Sometimes I look at people who have learned of their call only from others, and I may observe that their call has not improved their sinning lifestyle, and hypocrisy is still rampant in their lives. This is not to compare myself to them, by any means, however I entertain a certain amount of skepticism when a person needs someone else to tell them that they are called of God. In my opinion, God’s call is pure enough to know it is God, loud enough so that you feel it (not hear it), and powerful enough that you can’t ignore it without a lot of discomfort. If you need someone to tell you that you have God’s call on your life, then what kind of call is it, a silent call that doesn’t work on your life? I’m not sure.I don’t proclaim to know everything, indeed I know very little, but I’m learning.

What I do know is that there is a call on my life. It is a burden that cannot be lightened, a passion that I cannot ignore, and a fire that cannot be quenched.