How Do You Know When God is Calling?

Shouldn't this be a whole lot easier? I mean Moses had a bush, Jonah had a whale. What's goin' on? Has God's voice gone hoarse, or have I got bad ears?

Surely, I thought, God's voice would sound more loud, or at least be more clearly heard by a whole church full o’ listenin' folks! When I get confused this way I try to go back to the basics.

Whenever it seems that God's voice has grown faint, I go "back" to where God's voice was loudest the last time I heard it. Sometimes that's a favorite Bible verse, like Exodus chapter 3, verses 7 and 8, "I have observed the misery of my people...and I have come down to deliver them..." or, Luke chapter 4, verses 18 -19, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me...to bring Good News to the poor..."

Besides returning to private devotions, I remember that the apostles, and those whom the Spirit gathered at the first Pentecost, remained faithful to the prayers and the breaking of the bread. That’s when I remember that even though I have special responsibilities at weekly worship, my first task is to make sure that I bring a thankful heart and a mind full of praise to the God who's seen me through another week.

Often I ask others to pray with me in this way, "It feels like God has laid a message on my heart, does it look to you as though God has equipped me, or this congregation, to take up that God-sized task?"

What a blessing when God reminds me that we're not made to go through life alone. In fact God's angel said that God's real name is Emmanuel, meaning GOD WITH US, not God-and-just-me.

And it's truly a miracle that God has set me in the middle of faithful people who are both able to share my struggle and say my "Amen!" whenever my ears are stopped, or my own voice quivers. Where is God calling you lately, and who helps you know for sure?