Today can be the day you hear God’s voice calling you. If you haven’t heard that voice till now, but you hear it today, then the time has come for your transformation – the most life-changing, attitude-altering event a man or a woman can go through in this life.
This voice I am talking about is the sudden awakening that comes upon you when you are reading the Bible, or when you are listening to a message about God from a preacher, or when you are praying or meditating. A profound conviction overflowing in the heart – sometimes accompanied by a supernatural sign, visual (some amazing sight) and-or auditory (spoken words) – is how God calls someone whom he has chosen for a special purpose.
If you love God, even though many sins remain in your life, he looks upon you as one of his ‘called people’. Not everyone in the world is called. The difference between those who are called and those who are not called is in how the two feel in their heart about God.
The person who is not called does not have a keen desire to know more about God, he is not enthusiastic about wanting to please him, and he is not eager to follow him. He or she may claim to believe in God, and may even observe some religious practices, but e has no deep eagerness to obey God, e doesn’t resist sin but indulges in whatever es impulses lead em to.
The person who is called has an inborn desire to please God and obey him. He or she has the same weaknesses and natural inclinations as those who are not called, and e may be committing as many sins as the uncalled. But in es heart, e wishes e could stop sinning. E wants to obey God, even though e does not because of his or her natural weakness.
The fact that you are reading a message about God right now, and wanting to do something, is a sure indication you are a person in the ‘called’ category of human beings. Sooner or later a person called by God from birth will be called again – this time for es heavenly Father to take him or her to another dimension of relationship with him.
This second calling happens in many ways. A person may be going through a severe trouble, and e realizes that unless something miraculous happens, es life will go down in disaster, or es dreams will go up in flames. It may be es marriage, it may be es health, it may be es job, or it may be es reputation. He or she has reached the juncture in es life where e knows there is no way out except through the urgent intervention of God.
Are you at that juncture now? Then, a miracle is waiting to happen that will rescue you from your impending disaster.
Perhaps you are caught in some addiction – drugs, alcohol, pornography, gambling – and you know you have to do something urgently to get out of this slavery, or the addiction is going to destroy you – spiritually, financially, and physically.
Are you trapped in some addiction now? Then, a miraculous deliverance is waiting to happen that will save your life.
Perhaps, you are not going through any serious trouble in your life. It may be a general restlessness or some fears lurking deep within you. You may be worried about your future. You see the world getting worse day by day, and you need assurance everything is going to be alright for you and your children.
Are there repressed fears in you that are taking away your peace of mind, and causing you to live in a constant state of worry and tension? Then, a peace that surpasses all understanding is waiting to fill your mind and cast out your troubling fears.
Perhaps, there is nothing in particular troubling you. But you have a strong desire to know your Creator more intimately. You want to know his specific purpose for your life. You want to live a life that is fully pleasing to him. You want every blessing that God is ready is give you.
Are you in that category of people called by God, who earnestly desire to know God more and be blessed more by him? Then a relationship with your God is waiting for you that will astonish you beyond your expectations in the joy, thrill, understanding, and opportunities it will bring you.
If you are in any of the situations I mentioned, then God is calling you again. The first time he called you was when you were in your mother’s womb.
Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts. On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God. Ps 22:9-10
God has great plans for you not only for eternity but also for this life. The desire you have in your heart today to want to know him, to want his intervention in your life, is the evidence God is calling you the second time – this time to begin working his awesome works through you.
What you are feeling right now, as you listen to this message, is the most precious and important event in your life so far! Hold on to it! Do something. Right now, after you have listened to this message, get on your knees, and tell God you are ready to respond to his calling. That’s the first thing you have to do.
The second thing you have to do to respond to his calling is to know what God says in his Word, the Bible. Forget about everything your church, your pastors, and preachers taught you. Begin to learn directly from God like a little child learning a new subject. Just read the Bible daily, whichever book or chapter you choose first, or whatever topic you want to know what God says about. If you don’t understand much in the beginning, don’t worry. Just live by what little you do understand.
After you have made the decision to heed his calling, after you have made your declaration to God about your decision, and have started the first steps to knowing him by studying his teachings in the Bible, God’s working in your life will begin to be evident, both outwardly and inwardly. Outwardly in the change of circumstances in your life, and inwardly in the change happening in your feelings and attitudes.
Many people have heard this second calling, but they did not take it seriously, they did not consider it as the most transformational event in their life, or they slackened in their enthusiasm after a while, forgot about it, and returned to their old way of living.
Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled, when they tested me in the wilderness. There your ancestors tested and tried my patience even though they saw my miracles for forty years…
Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ. Remember what it says:
Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled. Heb 3:7-15
I will rejoice to know how God is working in your life after you have responded to his second calling. Let me know, so I can join you in praying for his miraculous interventions in your life.
Joseph Cherian
Photo by Chinmay Singh: – pexels.com
Prepare The Way Of The Lord! 