Fear and the Greatness of His Call

Have you ever reached the point where you know for sure that you are called by God to do something great for Him? Has the call's greatness scared you into paralysis? As you continue to grow in your faith and belief, does God reveal more of what His call is to you? Has He suddenly shown you how great and powerful His call is? Has the magnitude and power of that call brought you to your knees in humility, awe and disbelief? How could He pick you? Why? Is He really sure?

In our love and devotion to God, we want to be everything He has created us to be. There is a deep longing that continually nudges us to seek more of the life He has promised us. For some, it is a nudge that comes once in a while. For others, it is a constant knocking, a sense of urgency that won't leave no matter where you run to. The power of His call is something we cannot escape. It must be surrendered to and accepted.

For those of us who have agreed to pursue the call but are still waiting, debating and analyzing it into paralysis, we gotta go! We cannot turn back because there is no place to go. God has healed our broken places of retreat and like Paul, we have to forget the past and stretch towards the high call of Jesus Christ in all its power.

The hardest part about moving forward (at this point of the journey) is moving into the greatness of the call. It is bigger than we will ever be and we know that in our own ability and strength we cannot do it. Before, there was and still may be that fear of failure - not the kind of failure that comes from the plan not working, but the kind that has humiliation wrapped around it as a result of negative responses from other souls who live in deep need, misery and fear.

As we move closer to God and His plan for our lives, we realize that a new fear surfaces (more?!) from the greatness of the power He gives us. It is going to affect other people! A huge sense of responsibility comes with that and looking at what we believe are our strengths and weaknesses, our instinct is to run or crumble in disbelief. Could God really want me to do something great? Seriously?! Yes, He does and as Oswald Chambers says in My Utmost for His Highest, we must believe that when we answer the call, in each step, God will be the God we know in our most intimate moments with Him.

I have to tell you that I am scared to step completely into His call on my life, yet there is a part of me that longs to be in that place twenty-four hours a day for the rest of my life. The steps are simple, but the decision to fully commit in faith is hard. Those steps require me to be continually transparent, leaving me vulnerable to the heartlessness in this world. Yet, I know that to fully live I have to let go of the side of the boat and move forward. Why do it? Because I don't to disappoint my heavenly Father.

God has called each of us to greatness. My prayer is that each one of us makes two decisions - one to commit to the call, and two, to lovingly encourage each other as we come closer and move into the high calling on our lives.

Be blessed and encouraged.

mts