I heard the voice of the
Lord, saying: "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" Then I
said, "Here am I! Send me." —Isaiah 6:8
“God did not direct His call
to Isaiah— Isaiah overheard God saying, “…who will go for Us?” The call of God
is not just for a select few but for everyone. Whether I hear God’s call or not
depends on the condition of my ears, and exactly what I hear depends upon my
spiritual attitude. [..] However, God doesn’t single out someone and say, “Now,
you go.” He did not force His will on Isaiah. Isaiah was in the presence of
God, and he overheard the call. His response, performed in complete freedom,
could only be to say, “Here am I! Send me.”
Remove the thought from your mind of expecting God to come to force you
or to plead with you. When our Lord called His disciples, He did it without
irresistible pressure from the outside. The quiet, yet passionate, insistence
of His “Follow Me” was spoken to men whose every sense was receptive (Matthew
4:19). If we will allow the Holy Spirit to bring us face to face with God, we
too will hear what Isaiah heard— “the voice of the Lord.” In perfect freedom we
too will say, “Here am I! Send me.”” CHAMBERS
When you think of a spiritual
calling, what comes to your mind?
Pastors? Missionaries? I hear people speak of someone’s calling ..
or more often saying .. “That is NOT my calling!” as they explain why they are
not doing something. God’s call is
constant. Romans 12:1-2. Give your
life to God, no matter what that means. (Ephesians 4:7, 11-12) “But unto every
one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ…. And
he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some,
pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the
ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” Not everyone is gifted by God
to do the same thing. The Body of Christ
is like a body in that it has parts and each part has its purpose. It is a spiritual purpose that cannot be fulfilled
without the power of the Spirit, and us yielded to that power.
(1 Corinthians 12:4-7, 11-14) “There are diversities of gifts, but the same
Spirit. There are differences of ministries,
but the same Lord. And there are
diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given
to each one for the profit of all…. But
one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one
individually as He wills. For as the body is one and has many members, but all
the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into
one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made
to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many.”
So there is a general context
to God’s calling to serve Him and function in the Body of Christ and there is a
specific purpose for you to fulfill as part of the Body. The question is, will you live in that
purpose for the glory of God or live for yourself? ELGIN
Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless
You)
Charley Elgin
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