As a person who wants to say YES to God you know that saying yes starts with hearing God say something. YES is a response. We don't say it for no apparent reason! So what are we saying YES to? A calling? You might say, "Isn't that only for pastors and other spiritual leaders? God hasn't really called me, has He? And if He has called me, then what am I supposed to do?"
Let me affirm something. God IS calling YOU! He is, has and will continue to call you. As a person who wants to say YES to Him, you need to firmly fix that into your belief system. God IS calling YOU. Once you have that firmly fixed in place, then it's time to consider the other question: "If God HAS and IS calling me, then what am I supposed to do?"
That can be so intimidating! The truth is that every single one of us feels ill-equipped for a calling from God. If we are honest, we know that deep down inside of us there is no way that we can fulfill a task assigned by God Himself. Yikes! I'll talk more about that in another post, but right now I want to put you at ease. Whatever God may be asking you to DO is not His primary calling and His primary calling is one that anyone can answer.
First and foremost, God calls you and me to Himself. If you can think of saying YES to God as saying yes to a relationship rather than an assignment to be accomplished it becomes less intimidating. Not completely, but less.
Think back to when you first became aware of God's presence in your life. What caught your attention? Was it that God was asking you to go out and DO something? When I think back, even though I was always aware that God was present in the world, I was not aware of Him as a person who was present and active in my life. As I knelt by my bed and cried, overwhelmed by the circumstances in my life at the time, I was not aware of God asking me to DO anything. I was only aware that I could not handle life without Him and I needed Him to help me. I needed His active presence in my life. I didn't realize it at the time, but that was the real beginning of my awareness of God calling me to Himself, to a relationship with Him. Wasn't it similar for you?
Before you and I can become committed to any other calling of God we have to first become committed to making our relationship with Him the priority of our lives. What He wants from you and me, more than our activity FOR Him, is for us to simply live life WITH Him. Learning how to do that is the highest calling there is. Can you say YES to that?
Key thought: God is, has and will continue to call you to Himself.
A Scripture to Consider:
A YES Challenge: Think back to when you first became aware of God calling you to Himself. What are some ways that He might be continuing to call you into relationship with Him?
Prayer:
Dear Lord, thank You so much for calling me to Yourself. It really is an amazingly overwhelming thing to consider that You want me, not because of what I can do for You, but because You want to be with me, You simply want a relationship with me. Help me to hear You calling me even now, and help me to respond. I know that I need to unlearn thinking of calling as a task to accomplish and learn to think of calling as Your voice simply asking me to come and be with You. Help me to learn how to do that. Amen.
Let me affirm something. God IS calling YOU! He is, has and will continue to call you. As a person who wants to say YES to Him, you need to firmly fix that into your belief system. God IS calling YOU. Once you have that firmly fixed in place, then it's time to consider the other question: "If God HAS and IS calling me, then what am I supposed to do?"
That can be so intimidating! The truth is that every single one of us feels ill-equipped for a calling from God. If we are honest, we know that deep down inside of us there is no way that we can fulfill a task assigned by God Himself. Yikes! I'll talk more about that in another post, but right now I want to put you at ease. Whatever God may be asking you to DO is not His primary calling and His primary calling is one that anyone can answer.
First and foremost, God calls you and me to Himself. If you can think of saying YES to God as saying yes to a relationship rather than an assignment to be accomplished it becomes less intimidating. Not completely, but less.
Think back to when you first became aware of God's presence in your life. What caught your attention? Was it that God was asking you to go out and DO something? When I think back, even though I was always aware that God was present in the world, I was not aware of Him as a person who was present and active in my life. As I knelt by my bed and cried, overwhelmed by the circumstances in my life at the time, I was not aware of God asking me to DO anything. I was only aware that I could not handle life without Him and I needed Him to help me. I needed His active presence in my life. I didn't realize it at the time, but that was the real beginning of my awareness of God calling me to Himself, to a relationship with Him. Wasn't it similar for you?
Before you and I can become committed to any other calling of God we have to first become committed to making our relationship with Him the priority of our lives. What He wants from you and me, more than our activity FOR Him, is for us to simply live life WITH Him. Learning how to do that is the highest calling there is. Can you say YES to that?
Key thought: God is, has and will continue to call you to Himself.
A Scripture to Consider:
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 2 Peter 1:3 NLT
A YES Challenge: Think back to when you first became aware of God calling you to Himself. What are some ways that He might be continuing to call you into relationship with Him?
Prayer:
Dear Lord, thank You so much for calling me to Yourself. It really is an amazingly overwhelming thing to consider that You want me, not because of what I can do for You, but because You want to be with me, You simply want a relationship with me. Help me to hear You calling me even now, and help me to respond. I know that I need to unlearn thinking of calling as a task to accomplish and learn to think of calling as Your voice simply asking me to come and be with You. Help me to learn how to do that. Amen.