CALLED

I believe someone needs to hear this today, so you’re getting the max 550 words!

Asleep in bed the other morning, I had a ‘first’. In my dream I was listening to a man I assumed to be Jesus. Standing there, he said something so gripping that I quickly woke up and reached for my notepad to write it down.

To the best of my memory, these were the words:

‘Those who are gripped by what they’ve heard, will never flee from what they see.’

I knew what my night-time teacher was talking about: the call of God.

And the power of that Call to see us through sometimes-impossible odds, pressing on beyond what would make ‘sensible’ folk give up, all the way to the finishing post.

The call of God – the hearing of His voice – is a ‘non-negotiable’ in the life of disciple and discipler alike.

It’s not enough to be gifted and talented.

It’s not enough to be strong-willed and determined.

It’s not enough to have good people around us.

All these things are good and necessary; but without hearing the call of God – His voice – we won’t see it through.

This is why, when it comes to ministry appointments, impressive qualifications, natural abilities, spiritual gifts, ‘APEST compatibility’ and so on – wonderfully ‘promising’ though these may be – these will never replace what is best simply called ‘conviction’ – an undeniable, spiritual certainty, birthed in revelation, rooted in the heart, nurtured in the Spirit.

When I meet and listen to people of calling, they seem so compelled from within. Despite the mountains and valleys that lie in wait, I know that inside them they are already ‘there’. The ‘what’ and the ‘where’ are already in them, guiding them, driving them, ensuring that, by hook or by crook, they find out the ‘how’.

‘Oh, I don’t know if we need to be that spiritual,’ I’ve heard some say. ‘You can’t know for sure what God’s called you to. You just keep doing your best and trust it’ll all add up to something in the end.’ A bit like the Clan Matheson motto, ‘Fac et spera!’ – ‘Do and hope!’ 

To the person who says, ‘You can never really know,’ the man I heard in my dream would say, ‘Well, you just won’t make it then.’

Those who are gripped by what they’ve heard, will never flee from what they see.

They’re going all the way. And if they don’t receive their reward in this life, it will be waiting for them in the life to come.

I can only say what this means for me: I am where I am because I know God called me to this place. I have no confidence other than that.

Jesus stood at my gate and called me out by name. I followed because I know His voice. I don’t follow ‘hirelings’, careerism turns me off. I follow the Shepherd.

I’m promised tough times, maybe even really tough times, but the knowledge that He’s called me personally, that will see me through.

He’s told me, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me …” And He’s personally guaranteed me, “No one shall pluck [the one who’s heard] out of My hand.”

Stay close, Child – I’m taking you all the way.