The Confirmation Of The Calling

“…Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee…I sanctified thee…and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5

Dear Ones:

We do not know how old Jeremiah was when the Lord spoke these words to him.  What is so very significant about this declaration is the fact that it is all-encompassing…from before the birth of Jeremiah, until his going to be with the Lord.  We are apt to look at this man and say, “I am not Jeremiah, so, what the Lord told him does not apply to me.”  It is a this moment that we need to look carefully at, and examine, the Lord’s words to His disciples:  “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in My name, He may give it you.” (John 15:16)  The working of God in the heart of an individual, to bring him or her, to a knowledge of their calling, is a sacred work, one that is from heaven, with eternal ramifications.  This work of God is individual, and can be summarized by the words:  “…the gifts and the calling of God are WITHOUT repentance.” (Romans 11:29)  In other words, God does not change His mind with regard to the calling and gifts, neither does He remove them.  The issue then becomes one of truly embracing that which God declares to be true, and dealing with anything in the heart that would obstruct, or impede the exercise of such a heavenly calling.

There is a basic principle which underlies this whole subject of God’s “calling.”  It is simply that when God calls, He equally equips or provides by His Spirit, and materially, for the exercise, and accomplishment of His purposes according to that calling.  In the book of Ephesians, just after the Apostle Paul writes that we”…are saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the GIFT of God,” (Eph. 2:8), we come face to face with the verse:  “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” (v. 10)  Here we have illustrated that, with the calling, there is true purpose, and gracious, certain provision.  God calls, and God provides.  Our highest calling is fellowship with Christ (1 Cor. 1:9).  Out of that calling is revealed to the heart, His specific calling to us all…with various gifts, capacities, and purpose.  He that spared not His Son to save us, will He not reveal to our hearts, that calling which pertains to us all, and individually?

Dear Father, as you made the “calling and election” so clear and sure for so many who have preceded us, grant us also that clarity and conviction.  Open our eyes to see Thee, Thy will, Thy way, for Thy glory.  Grant us the impressions, becoming the convictions, of Thy Spirit.  Then we shall KNOW the way in which we should go, in full assurance of faith.  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Love, Dad