How do you know if you are called by God?
6 Question 1By this question, I am going to assume that you are referring to God’s calling into service. First of all, let me assure you that if you have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior, you are called into service. As we talked about a couple of weeks ago, every member of the body of Christ has been given a gift or gifts from the Lord to be used for the benefit of the church. Ephesians 4:7 says, “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” Ephesians 4:10-12 tells us that, “He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) 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.” Romans 12:6-8 and 1 Corinthians 12:4-11 tells us about other gifts or manifestations of the Spirit that the Lord has given us that we might minister to the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ.
What exactly is a calling? Let’s read Romans 11:29 – “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” We learn from this verse that we have a gift to be able to minister to the needs of others, and then a calling or particular work to use the gift the Lord has given us. The word calling in this verse is translated as ‘vocation’ in Ephesians 4:1, which says, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.” So a calling is the same as a vocation or work. The Lord calls us into a work for Himself.
As He wills, the Lord can call us to do a particular work, and when He is satisfied that work is done, He may call us to do another work. It is the leading and calling of the Lord and sometimes it may seem odd when the Lord calls us to a particular work He wants us to do for Him.
Let’s take the case of Philip as an example. Reading Acts 8:5-8, it says, “Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed. And there was great joy in that city.” Let’s also read Acts 8:12 – “But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.” So Philip was in Samaria and the Lord was using him greatly. People were being saved and great miracles were being done. Then the Lord has Philip do something that we might think is strange. Acts 8:26-29 says, “And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.”
The Lord has Philip leave this great work he is doing and go into the desert to talk to one man. We might think the Lord wants us to work among great numbers, but thankfully, the Lord knows all hearts and He may lead us to just one person. Someone who needs to hear the Gospel, or perhaps to one believer who needs to be ministered to. It takes prayer and dependence on the Lord to know what His calling is for us. Just realize that you are called, there is work for you to do in the body of Christ. Scriptures tells us in 1 Peter 3:15, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” The Lord wants us to be ready to be used. To be ready we need to be familiar with the scriptures, we need to be people of prayer, we need to be dependent on the Lord and we need to be willing to be used of the Lord, no matter what he has us to do. May our hearts be even as Isaiah’s heart was in Isaiah 6:8 where we read, “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.”