“Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.”

DO WE KNOW WHEN GOD IS CALLING US?

• It is not an overnight event

•  God reveals it to those chosen gradually over the years.

• BUT  talents and gifts to serve others is a major sign of God’s calling,

• God’s Calling  brings us a deep sense of fulfillment and happiness.

As one writer once wrote that: "We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully."

Because of our human nature “it is easy to dismiss the voice of God when He speaks to us. We may even turn it away and think we are just confusing it with something else. It is so easy to pass it off as being something other than what it really is that we delay hearing what God has to say to us and we delay God’s blessings on our lives”

 

When we read In First Samuel 3:7, “Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him.”

What is this to our understanding?  Does it mean that Samuel did not know the Lord? Knowing the Lord is a very basic and fundamental part of serving Him. Listening to God is not always easy, but it is always rewarding. Listening means taking time to seek His will and focusing on what He has to say. We will never find peace of heart until we take the time to attune our attention on Him.

We will never know what God is trying to tell us if we do not listen. There are those out there who never listen to Him simply because they don’t want to. Let us develop this a habit of saying “Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.”

Assumption one:

Suppose Samuel had not listened to God when he heard Him call his name what then?

Assumption two:

Suppose he had just rolled over and gone back to sleep. He could just as easily have chosen to ignore the calling of God, but he didn’t.

In John 10, the Lord Jesus Christ said, “My sheep know my voice, and they follow me.”

We need to be ready because “God may be calling your name today, but for whatever reason, you have not responded: continue to search God’s calling like Samuel.

For some reason, you have chosen to tune Him out”  remember what happened to Jonah;

 

We need to remember that, God does this by calling each of us by name.  It might not be an audible voice in the night as it was for Samuel, but God does call out our names to come and follow Him and make a difference in the world.  To bring hope where there is no hope.  To bring light to where there is darkness.  To build a better world

The questions which we need to ask ourselves are:

•  Do I seek to find God’s voice in the voices of those who know me and who love me?

•  Do I take any criticism or concern as an opportunity to examine my motivations and find myself strengthened rather than weakened in accepting Gods calling?