THE HIGH CALLING OF GOD, WHAT IS IT?

In the Holy Spirit inspired writing of apostle Paul to the Church at Philippi (Phil 3:14), he wrote ‘I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus’.

There is a high calling that God has made to all believers. This high calling is different from the call to salvation which is made to all human beings. 

The high calling is exclusive to those who have accepted the gift of eternal life which Jesus offers, those who have been saved or born again, re-born spiritually by the Holy Spirit.

The high calling is one, which when we heed and fulfill as believers, we are rewarded by God for. A reward which we will have in and enjoy through eternity.

This reward (prize) for fulfilling God’s high calling determines who or what we believers will be through eternity.

Eternity is beyond a ‘long, long time’, it is timeless, it is forever! All believers have the potential to meet the mark for the prize (reward) for this high calling of God. We can all fulfill God’s high calling.

Salvation in Christ is not an end in itself, it is a means to an end.

Our salvation is not meant to ONLY/JUST (barely) get us to heaven, otherwise God would have taken us to heaven the day we got born again. Our salvation is additionally meant to put us in the position where we can fulfill the high calling of God for our lives.

The high calling is God’s purpose for leaving the believer on earth till today. The purpose is exclusively God’s kingdom related.

It is all about God’s agenda to present every human being that is born into the world an opportunity of spending eternity with Him and not in hell.

It is God’s agenda to recruit all who receive the free gift of eternal life (salvation) in His workforce on earth to ensure everybody lives their time on earth doing His will and enjoying His blessings.

According to apostle Paul in Phil 3:10, you will only know your high calling as a believer as you get to know Jesus and the power that raised Him from the dead.

This knowledge of Jesus is not mental (head) knowledge, but experiential knowledge. The kind of knowledge you have of a friend by walking/dealing/relating with them daily.

Experiential knowledge of Jesus comes through revelation of the word of God (the bible) by the Holy Spirit (not by dreams and visions, as most erroneously think these days. To know Jesus by experience, seek the word, not dreams and visions).

Jesus is the LIVING WORD (John 1:1,14). The only way to access the LIVING WORD is through the WRITTEN WORD.

The LIVING WORD is the WRITTEN WORD revealed.

The experiential knowledge of Jesus that a believer has (and by extension, the knowledge of God) is limited by how much of God’s word he/she understands by the revelation of the Holy Spirit.

The experiential knowledge of Jesus that you have determines the level of your spiritual maturity. It is in this experiential knowledge that the Lord makes clear to you God’s high calling or God’s purpose for this life that you have been given to live.

God’s high calling is always about spiritual things, not earthly or worldly things.

It is always of things pertaining to God’s kingdom which is not of this world (earthly) – Jn 18:36. The calling/purpose/work can only be accomplished by the help of the Holy Spirit (talents and human abilities cannot do it, they are limited).

Now, if it is not contributing to the maturing of the saints to enable them do the kingdom work which results in the quantitative and qualitative increase of the body of Christ (Eph 4:12), then it is not the high calling of God.

Make no mistake, the ministry gifts are given only to some (men/women of God) to mature (prepare) the saints (all believers) to do the work of the ‘ministry’ (serving/ministering/helping one another with the view of ensuring that everyone fulfils their high calling). It is an error to assume that ‘ministry’ work is given to only some, it is given to ALL.

When Jesus gave the command in Mk 16:16, he gave it to ALL believers, not just apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Otherwise He would have said ‘these signs shall follow the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers…’.

He however said ‘these signs shall follow them that believe’ (Mk 16:17). This includes you (except you are not a believer), and the signs follow you ONLY as you step up to fulfill the high calling of God for you.

Beware of anything/anyone that discourages/misinforms you as a believer that God does not have a high calling for you.

Find it out by MATURING spiritually, get accustomed with the written word through daily fellowship and prayers for God to reveal Jesus (through the bible) to you by His Spirit.

Seek out God’s high calling for you, work on fulfilling it so you may have an (good) account to give on that day (Rom 14:12; Mt 25:14-30).

To succeed at finding out God’s high calling for us and fulfilling it, adopting apostle Paul’s strategy gives us an advantage. First, we discount the world and what it offers (Phil 3:7-8) and then learn to forget the past (whatever in our past that can make us lose focus/get discouraged) and aggressively seek more and more knowledge of Jesus with the view of doing His bidding (Phil 3:12-14).

We must prioritize knowing the Lord Jesus above everything else, that is the purpose for which we are kept alive. We do this in order to possess the best reserved for us by Him in eternity.

It is a fact that this may only appeal to sincere believers, those who desire to mature spiritually to fulfill God’s high calling but my prayer (like apostle Paul’s in Phil 3:15b) is that you also will desire it and therefore pursue it. Why will you not?

If you have the hope of spending eternity with God, you will stand to give account to Him for this high calling, why not make it good now (while you can)?

The Lord give you understanding and the zeal to heed and fulfill His high calling for you in Jesus' name, amen.

Meditate on these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all (1 Timothy 4:15).

Pastor Gboye Omolayo is the Resident Pastor of Church@Allen (House of Prayer Int'l), Allen TX, USA. He is a prolific writer and preacher who believes the efficacy of the word of God and the potency of the works of the Holy Spirit are still available to the Church today, as they were at the Church’s infancy. He is the publisher of this blog.

HOW TO UNDERSTAND GOD’S WORD

The greatest challenge a believer can have is not understanding the word of God.

The word of God (the bible) is the only book that cannot be interpreted by man’s intelligence because of its origin. It derives from God Himself, in actual fact, God’s word cannot be separated from God (John 1:1).

It is who God is, how He does things and information on everything concerning all His creation carefully packaged in His wisdom as a means by which those who believe in His salvation can get to know and walk with Him.

God’s word is covered in secrecy, it is a mystery (Eph 3:3-4, Col 1:25-27) and only revealed to those who submit themselves to Him for the purpose of knowing Him and doing His will (Acts 8:26-40).

This is good news for the believer though, because the fact that you are one is proof that you have submitted yourself to God (to an extent at least) and now are among those to whom God can reveal His word.

God will not reveal His word to anyone who holds Him in contempt. To what end would He do that? Jesus said Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you (Mat 7:6).

These are harsh words but true. God wouldn’t do it. He will not entrust Himself to anyone who will disrespect or disregard Him. He is God!

We must realize that the test of our character after we are saved is what makes God entrust Himself to us more. Our salvation was given us when we demonstrated (showed in our character) that we believed God’s message concerning His Son Jesus.

We must earn more of God’s trust so He’d give more of Himself to us through the revelation of His word and the beginning of this is our sincere desire to know Him more and do His will (1 Pet 2:2).

Sincere (not unscrupulous) desire, because the purpose for which we want to understand God’s word must be God’s purpose, which is to know Him and do His will. 

We express this desire to God by requesting for Him to reveal His word to us for this purpose. Then we follow up by systematically and deliberately studying the bible.

The understanding of God’s word is what causes our faith in God to grow stronger. Faith comes from understanding God’s word (Rom 10:17). The stronger our faith in God, the better we relate to Him on this side of eternity and this is the safe position God wants all believers to be in.

In describing this process in 2 Cor 3:16-17, apostle Paul said whoever turns to Christ will be given an understanding of God’s word by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us at salvation.

The liberty described in this text is liberty to understand God’s word. It is the right and a privilege of the believer to understand God’s word. The world does not have this liberty, it does not have the Spirit of God.

What is available to the believer who does not understand or has little understanding of God’s word? Deception by Satan, with the intent of leading away from God, all aimed at eventual destruction. If you ask me, this is not an option, do not settle for it.

Not settling for it is contingent however on you exercising your right and privilege, leveraging on the liberty the Holy Spirit in you has to offer. Liberty to understand God’s word, which the world does not have.

1 John 2:27, John 14:26 and 16:13-14 all point to this purpose for which God gave you the Holy Spirt (there are others). As a believer you have Him, as  Rom 8:9 says 'Now if any man has not the spirit of Christ, he is none of His'.

The steps to follow are simple, desire to know God with the purpose of doing His will. If you find that the desire is not strong enough, simply ask God in prayer that He should increase the desire in you.

Then express this desire by asking God sincerely and humbly in prayer to give you an understanding of His word by His Spirit (1 John 2:27, John 14:26, 16:13-14 and Eph 1:17, Col 1:9).

Then back this up with a determined and deliberate study of God’s word daily (James 2:26), meditating on (keeping in your thoughts and consciousness) what you learn  through your days as you study (1 Tim 4:15). Keep a journal of these also for reference. It will amaze you what immediate impact it will have on your relationship with God.

Understanding God’s word is not an exclusive preserve of a few believers. Unto us (all) is given to understand the mystery of the kingdom of God (Lk 8:10).

The believer that lives off others’ understanding of God’s word (or little/no understanding at all) will be a baby Christian for life. And how much can babies do for themselves? How vulnerable are babies to danger in a hostile environment?

We must all decide to and actively follow God (personally) as dear children (Eph 5:1). You can understand the word of God and you will, more than you do right now.

Meditate on these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all (1 Timothy 4:15).

Pastor Gboye Omolayo is the Resident Pastor of Church@Allen (House of Prayer Int'l), Allen TX, USA. He is a prolific writer and preacher who believes the efficacy of the word of God and the potency of the works of the Holy Spirit are still available to the Church today, as they were at the Church’s infancy. He is the publisher of this blog.