Be Who God Called You to Be

[…to be a part of this teaching team, and my assignment is: be who God called you to be.]

The truth is, God is calling us. And whenever we think about the fact that God — actually, God is calling us, wanting us to be what He's called us to be — that is quite a challenge, and an opportunity. So the question is: can we hear the call? Are we tuned in to Him in a way that we can be clear on this call? God speaks to us predominantly through His Word, and He speaks to us through His Spirit. So learning how to respond to His Word, and to sense His Spirit — these two things are very vital, if we're going to be who He has called us to be.

I think, first of all, we need to consider the general — what I will call the call to all. This is the call to all of us. Romans 1:7: called to be saints. Romans 8:28: called according to His purpose — which means His will, His original intent. First Corinthians 1:9: called to fellowship with Jesus Christ. That's quite a call. Galatians 5:13: called unto liberty. Second Timothy 1:9 speaks of a holy calling. And First Peter 1:15 through 16 speaks of a call to holiness. And then First Peter 3:9 speaks of a call to a blessing — that we are literally called to a blessing.

I want to read the entire verse of First Peter 2:9, because I believe this speaks in a manner that we really need revelation in this day: "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." And then we see in Revelation 1:6: "And hath made us kings and priests." Kings and priests. When we speak of being called to be a king, we need the understanding that this calling is for us to operate in dominion and authority. That's what He has for us. When we think about being a priest: priests offered sacrifices. They literally connected God with people. They had the ministry that is spoken of in the New Testament — the ministry of reconciliation. And this is what we're called to do.

Now, as we move now into the part of this that I know is the original intent of asking me to deal with this subject, we now speak of answering our individual call. We see in First Corinthians 1:1 that Paul was called to be an apostle. So he had the general call, obviously. He had a very dramatic call. But that general call was not where it all stopped. Then, as he progressed in his relationship with God, as he followed after that direction, there was an individual call that happened to him, and he was called to be an apostle. So here we are: me in my life, you in your life. What is ours? What is our call? When we think about this, and then we answer the other question that follows that, and that is: will we respond individually?

Now, God made it abundantly clear that He wants us to be who He has called us to be — not any other person. Now, if we were going to look at this biblically — which we are — but just for the sake of time, for this short amount of time that we have, I believe that the chapter of First Corinthians 12 — the body chapter [track: 'booking chapter'] — First Corinthians 12 literally takes this and gives us such insight, if we would just focus on that one chapter. Now, I'm just going to give the highlights of the chapter, to kind of bring this into focus. In this one chapter, we find spiritual gifts given by the same Spirit. Now, there's different administrations and operations, but it's the same Spirit. And it also says — and this is key, that really fits with this title, "be who we are called to be" — it says they are given to every man to profit withal. Every man. You're not excluded. You're not moved aside. I'm not moved aside. Literally, when we look at First Corinthians 12, it's very clear. All right: "I'm giving you the Spirit. This is the way it's going to operate, and I'm giving it to every man." And then, of course, the Word breaks it down: there's the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, divers — or different — kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues. And then again, at this section in First Corinthians 12, it stops and says again: dividing to every man, as He will. So we start in that particular section with "every man," and then that section ends with, again — remember — every man. Everybody has one of these. Then it shifts from that, and goes into talking about the body. It's one body; it has many members. And then it calls out the foot, the hand, the ear, the eye. Then it says: God set the members, every one of them, in the body — here it goes again — as it pleased Him. So literally, the members of our body are set in a way that pleases Him. And then it talks about: all members are needed. Every one of them. Some members of our body are the honorable members. Some are the less honorable. But it speaks of: let there be no division in the body. Every member is important. God had set that member in that body exactly the way He wanted it. Now the focus goes back, and starts talking about apostles, prophets, teachers, miracles, gifts of healing. And then it's interjected: helps, and governments, and different tongues. Now, there are many more references in God's Word about different calling and gifting, but First Corinthians 12 is enough for us to understand that there is a needed question that we have to ask ourselves: will we be who God has called us to be?

So, really, when it comes down to it, it's like: whose will will be done? Will we indeed pray, and live with integrity: "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done"? In other words: Thy will be done. Thy purpose be done. Thy intent be done. So it's our turn. How am I going to respond to that? How are you going to respond to this, through our life? It could be a tug at our heart. It could be a time of prayer. We could be reading through the Word of God, and there may be some words that arrest our attention. Our call may not nearly be as dramatic as Samuel — what a call he had. Our call may not be as dramatic as Mary — angel appear and give that kind of news; that's a call. How about Saul? I'm glad that I haven't experienced a call as dramatic as Saul. We could go through Scripture: Moses, Gideon. How many different calls were dramatic? Now, my call and your call may not be as dramatic as theirs, but our response better be. I can't match their call. It's, you know — sometimes we're so focused on sensation that we miss the still, small voice. But we focus on Him, and as we turn our attention to: "Okay, God, You created me. You put me in the body. You have a plan for my life. Now I've got to find that, and I will find that. I will seek You until I find that. I'll even get other godly counsel, if I need to, to confirm that call." That's fine. That's one level. We won't match the call of other people — especially the ones that I just mentioned in Scripture — but we better match the response. And that is: I will be who You have called me to be.

And so what happens is, the enemy fights us where we are. Each level, new tactic. He tries to keep us from hearing the call. Then he definitely — if we hear the call and start leaning toward that, moving toward that — then he's going to try to confuse that call. Confusion is his trick. And so if we start responding to our individual call, then the enemy will try to confuse it. So we'll try to be like someone else. We'll try to match someone else in their calling. And when we consider confusion, it's absolutely rampant today. Now, back in the Bible days, when it was, you know, Mary and Saul and all of these, they dealt with distraction. But think about it: their distraction was limited. It was pretty much to their family. It was their associates, close friends, you know, maybe acquaintances. But in this day, we have absolutely an unlimited amount of distraction. We have all the distraction they had, that tried to confuse their call, and then you start adding on the internet. And then we realize that they had distraction; we have mega-distraction. But it's still the same choice. It's that same choice that I have and you have: to hear the call, to answer the call, and then to be exactly who He has called us to be. Answering the general call is great. We have to do that first. But it's not enough to just stay with that general call. We have to move to the individual call.

Isaiah 45 gives us great insight in answering this. It's simply this: the clay is not to question the Potter. The clay is not to talk to the Potter. The clay has no right to say to the Potter, "Now, why have you made me like this? I want to be that." All right. No, no, no. The clay does not have power over the Potter. We are dealing with a movement today in our land, and it's the transgender movement. As I think about it, I really believe that this movement is based on the belief that the clay does have power over the Potter. And so, if we're not careful, what we will do is, we will oppose this movement naturally, and we'll embrace it spiritually. We can do the very same thing. We can be the clay that starts telling the Potter, "Don't make me like this." "Maybe I don't like this." And so here God has gifted us, wired us, enabled us, and needs us to say, "Thy will be done," and us flow in the way — in the body, placed, fitly placed, as the Scripture says — and we need to embrace that.

So, to refuse the call, to be who God has called us to be, is a great personal injustice. It's not just an injustice to me. If I refuse to operate, to flow, to be what God has called me to be, it doesn't just affect me. When I refuse that call, it will affect Melanie. It will affect Kendra. It'll affect Brayden. It will affect anybody close to me in my world. Because you get somebody who is moving against the call, and refusing to be who God has called them to be — they do not just damage themselves.

So my challenge today is: please don't refuse the call. Be who God called you to be. Quit allowing humans in your God zone to confuse this. God made you. Talk to God. Then, yes, get other people to confirm what you feel. But can we answer the call, to be exactly who God called us to be? And can we flow in that?

Ephesians 4:1 gives us a great challenge. And it just simply says for us to walk in a manner worthy of our calling. We've been called. We have a general call. We have an individual call. We have that call. And so my challenge to you today is: would you — for the sake of you, your life, and your fulfillment; for the sake of your family; for the sake of the people close around you; and for the sake of kingdom expansion — would you please just simply be who God called you to be?