“God did not direct His call to Isaiah – Isaiah overheard God saying, “…who will go for Us?” the call of God is not just for a select few but for everyone. Whether I hear God’s call or not depends on the condition of my ears, and exactly what I hear depends upon my spiritual attitude.” ~ Oswald Chambers ~
“Do we enjoy our work, love our work, virtually worship our work so that our devotion to Jesus is off-center? Do we put our emphasis on service, usefulness, or being productive in working for God-at His expense? Do we strive to prove our own significance? To make a difference in the world? To carve our names in marble on the monuments of time? The call of God blocks the path of all such deeply human tendencies. We are not primarily called to do something or go somewhere; we are called to Someone. We are not called to special work but to God. The key to answering the call is to be devoted to no one and to nothing above God himself.” ~ Os Guinness ~
“Beware of anything that competes with loyalty to Jesus Christ. The greatest competitor of devotion to Jesus is service for Him. … The one aim of the call of God is the satisfaction of God, not a call to do something for Him. … the men and women our Lord sends out on His enterprises are the ordinary human stuff, plus dominating devotion to Himself wrought by the Holy Spirit. Be absolutely His.” ~ Oswald Chambers ~
“Our deepest calling is to grow into our own authentic self-hood, whether or not it conforms to some image of who we ought to be. As we do so, we will not only find the joy that every human being seeks-we will also find our path of authentic service in the world.” ~ Parker Palmer ~
“Today, in principle, the call of the Lord Jesus has not changed. He still says, “Follow me,” and adds, “whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” In practice, however, this does not mean for the majority of Christians a physical departure from their home or their job. It implies rather an inner surrender of both, and a refusal to allow either family or ambition to occupy the first place in our lives.” ~ C. S. Lewis ~
“The man who is called by God is a man who realizes what he is called to do, and he so realizes the awfulness of the task that he shrinks from it.”
~ Martyn Lloyd-Jones ~
“You yourselves say, “we won’t come,” God says, “You shall come.” Yes! There are some here who are laughing at salvation, who can scoff at Christ, and mock at the gospel; but I tell you some of you shall come yet. “What!” you say, “can God make me become a Christian?” I tell you yes, for herein rests the power of the gospel. It does not ask your consent; but it gets it. It does not say, will you have it? But it makes you willing in the day of God’s power.”
~ C. H. Spurgeon ~
Please pray for ~ Ronnie (his wife passed away) ~ Steve (traveling safety) ~ Paul (health) ~ Ruby (health) ~ Helen (health) ~
I love the first Chambers quote! It reminded me of this one I also read recently:
For what you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing: it also depends on what sort of person you are. –C.S. Lewis in The Magician’s Nephew
Thank you, Sandra!
oh Gretchen, Dave always used to say, "Where you stand depends upon where you sit." So true, isn't it? I like how Lewis carries it further.
I've never heard of Martyn Lloyd-Jones before but his sentence sure does stand out, doesn't it?
Yes and so does a Spurgeon quote I read which is something along the lines of "Don't do ministry if you can do anything else." It's a fearsome thing to be a minister or teacher; God requires more, much more, of those folks.
Thank you for the quotes. Blessings on you…
You are so welcome and thank you for the blessings.
Not sure what it is about Buechner . . .
But I like it . . .
I love his “deep gladness-deep hunger” word dance . . .
I need to pull out some of his books . . .
It has been a long while since I have”sat with him.”
He takes full concentration but well worth the effort and time!