God’s Call
The focus of Ordinary Time from June 1 to July 5, 2020.
Hi and welcome back to afaithtalk. As the church, we are now nearly two weeks into Ordinary Time and it was a delight for me to learn there are particular focuses for these weeks of life between Pentecost and Advent. The number of weeks each one of the focuses encompass changes from year to year as the dates between Pentecost and Advent change. Pentecost is always 50 days after Easter. It’s likely you’ve noticed Easter being at different times each year even if you hadn’t noticed Pentecost or the beginning of Advent.
The first five weeks of the Ordinary Time this year are focused on God’s Call.
I’m no expert on the call of God. But I am learning and have heard Him. So I can tell you how I perceive His voice. It’s not hard and hopefully you can put it into place in your life to realize He is speaking, a lot, to you.
The first thing I do is Pray and read Scripture. I read and ask Him to give me the words, give me the understanding I will need to share what I’m learning and write with me. And I try to keep my focus on Him even as I write. Because He is here, right here as close as the next breath I will take. It’s all faith.
Most of the time, I do not hear it audibly. I hear it though in impressions on my mind, in ideas in my head, in thoughts leaning one way over another.
Here’s an example. Say you want to read some Scripture but you don’t already know what you want to read. You sit there with your Bible in your hands and ask Him, “Old or New Testament?” Or which of two books or chapters. Ask. He will respond, most likely in an impression of which way to go. Then pay extra attention because whatever He told you to read, He had a reason for it. There’s something there for you.
Here’s another example. I was working on slides for Worship one week, yes I do that too, and one of the Scriptures we were going to read had a lot of God’s words in it, direct quotes. I had the distinct impression I was to ‘small caps’ God’s words ( I already make Jesus’ words italic). It was an act of obedience to make it so and the drop of joy He gave me in it was incredible. I can’t describe it other than to say it felt like a drop of liquid joy right into my heart and I could barely contain it. The point is not really to contain it, it’s to share it. So I did. Every step along the way is obedience.
So if you try asking him what to read, or ask him something else, and He gives you some kind of impression or direction, obey. Go that way. Read that chapter. Obedience is the way to joy.
I’ve heard Him tell me what to do. Granted, sometimes these are called “Callings” but not always, sometimes they’re temporary.
I know God doesn’t just call us to one thing very often. It’s been true in my life, that He’s made one call, waited a bit then made another, then another, and done it so often I expect He will continue. Obedience is the point. Do what He tells you.
Another act of obedience I’ve made is to lead our local church Bible Study class. It’s far outside my comfort zone but look here, He’s been expanding it too. Because the most recent act of obedience to His call was to start blogging and to post weekly Bible Study.
Do you know how I know it’s obedience? Because He’s very involved in every post, every lesson, every single call He’s ever made on my life. He will never leave you alone. And every instance of His involvement and my obedience to His direction, His call, always, always brings joy.
It’s like He calls you to join Him in doing something and like the Scriptures tell us, there is fullness of joy in His presence.
If He tells you what to read, He will be there in it. If He tells you to do something like ‘write this’ He will write it. If He tells you to go lead, He will not just provide the lesson, He will help you lead it too. Whatever He calls you to do, He will be involved in it. Faith, my friend, is all You really need. He really does have ahold of you.
For these days that extend all the way to July 5th, give it a chance. Expect Him. He is speaking.
Let’s pray:
Jesus, this day, we ask for ears that can hear your voice. We want to know what You call us to do. We want to hear whatever You call us to, Lord, we want to hear it and we want to join You in obedience, because we know that in Your presence is fullness of joy. Call us to join You and please, let us hear your call. In Your Precious and Holy name, we pray. Amen.