How do you know God is calling you? A few years ago a friend of mine played a prank on another friend of mine for a special birthday. My friend, who had the upcoming birthday, had done some time in the service and reserves, but was now retired from all active duty. My other friend went to elaborate ends to pull off this prank. He created an official looking letter from the military, complete with an embossed seal, and sent it to my birthday friend.
The letter stated that because of the shortage of volunteer troops, they were rescinding his inactive status and he was to report to a certain facility on a particular date to meet with a reinstatement officer. He received the letter several weeks in advance of the date. Ironically, he showed the letter in genuine concern to my friend who had concocted the scheme.
On the date, just as ordered, my retired military friend showed up at the military site. My prankster friend had rented a room at the facility and conned the military guard into directing my birthday friend to the proper room. When he arrived with letter in hand, he nervously opened the door. At that moment all his friends shouted, "Surprise! Happy Birthday."
Wouldn't it be great if God just sent you a letter in the mail with implicit instructions on what He wanted you to do and where He wanted you to go and when He want you to do it? Wouldn't you like to have the proverbial neon sign, handwriting on the wall, message in the sky? Detailed instructions, a text message, email, or phone call would be nice. But God doesn't generally use that kind of overt communication. Or does He?
God's basic plan and will for us is to reach people with the Good News of the saving grace of Jesus, encourage each other to grow in our faith, and to minister to others using the resources at our disposal. When we're simply and faithfully doing His will, He supplies all necessary means. He gifts His people with different abilities to accomplish what He wants done. But the key is us using our gifts, time, resources, abilities, and opportunities. The text message you got, the email, the phone call, the challenge, the need, the question, the hurting person are all calls from God. They are the neon lights, the message in the sky. So the real question isn't, "What is God calling me to do?" The real question is, "What are you going to do about the call?" Who knows, when you answer the call, open the door, you just might find an unexpected, pleasant surprise.
God, forgive me for being resistant to your call. I guess I'm always looking for the "big" thing, the "big" call and not paying attention to the things around me. Help me realize the little things make a difference and no task you call me to is insignificant. Thanks for teaching me that small things add up to big things. Thanks for supplying all the necessary means to accomplish your will.
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