God’s Calling For Believers

God’s Calling for Believers

After last week’s Sunday night message and again this morning, I think it’s important to lay out how we’re to go about fulfilling the third dimension, the dimension of commission. And how we do this is to know and walk in God’s will and calling. For our lives

Further, what I’m going to share with you is not new. I’ve taught this many times and in many ways and have written about it in my book, “From Here to There: A Journey to Spiritual Transformation.” But like the Apostle Paul I’m not tired of sharing it because it goes to the heart of our calling as Christians.

Paul said, “For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe.” (Philippians 3:1 NKJV)

I believe that the Lord is crying out today the same as He cried out in the day of the prophet Isaiah saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” And Isaiah stepping up to the plate said,

“Here am I! Send me” (Isaiah 6:8 NKJV)

One of the main questions most people have is “What is God’s call upon my life.” “What has God called for me to do?” and “How will I know that it is God who is doing the calling?” In other words, how do we distinguish God’s voice over all the other voices that are vying for our attention?

Knowing God’s will is sometimes difficult. People want God to tell them specifically what to do, but God rarely gives people information that direct and specific.

Further, the will of God is not mysterious, nor is it found in some formula or set of rules that we follow.

There is only one indispensable thing when it comes to God’s calling, and that is to fulfill His purpose according to His will. It’s to be what God wants us to be so that we can reach our God given potential, and God given destiny.

Our problem is that when we’re unsure of God’s call we start making up our own.

For years a middle-aged farmer desired to be a preacher. One day while planting his crop he looked up in the clouds and they looked as if they formed the letters “P” and “C.”

Immediately he took this as a sign from God telling him to Preach Christ. Soon afterwards he sold his farm and started a small church. The only problem was that he was horrible at it. After one particularly bad sermon his neighbor whispered in his ear, “Are you sure God wasn’t telling you to Plant Corn.”

God wants us to know His will. God’s will is meant to be discovered and understood, because God wants to keep us in the center of His will.

But if God wants us to know His will, why isn’t it laid out plainly? Well, when it comes to His revealed will it’s the specifics that are somewhat sketchy.

So what is God’s will and calling and how can we know it? The answer is found in those things God has definitely called all of us to, and then finding out how we fit in with the specifics.

God’s calling always begins and ends with God, and so the first thing is to Love God.

1. To Love God

To Love God is actually at the heart of what it means to be a believer in Jesus Christ. It is the greatest of all God’s commandment, and therefore it’s the statement of faith for all Jews, known as the “Shema,” or hearing.

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5 NKJV)

It was with this very law that a Jewish lawyer tested Jesus asking which law was the greatest, to which Jesus replied,

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” (Matthew 22:37 NKJV)

Now if this is what God wants first and foremost, the question becomes, “How are we to go about doing it? How do we show it?” We can’t throw our arms around God and give him a great big hug and kiss on the cheek.

I think Jesus knew this, so He gave to us a second commandment as our way of showing God our love for Him. In other words, the Second Commandment is the First Commandment in action.

Jesus said,

“And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matthew 22:39 NKJV)

The way we show God how much we love Him is to love those that God has placed in our path, those that He has placed within our sphere of influence.