 What does it take to fulfill the call of God for your life? Here are five keys to your calling. It's time to fulfill the call of God for your life. To see how, let's look at the life of Isaiah the prophet. Isaiah six, verse one. It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne and the train of his robe filled the temple. Before Isaiah could see the king of kings, the king in his life had to die. It was when the king died that Isaiah caught a glimpse of the throne room of God. And this is key number one for the called, all other kings must die. All of your devotion, all of your heart, soul, mind and strength must be focused on the Lord. Your life will be spent for God's glory if you're going to step into his call. There will be sacrifice. There will be things you have to leave behind. You will have to live at a higher level. When God calls you, he sets you apart. When God anoints you, he puts his hand on you. If you want to walk in a greater level of power, you must learn to walk in a greater level of consecration. Don't worry about what your brothers and sisters are doing. Don't worry if others aren't as devoted as you. Don't worry if they make fun of you for having a higher standard of holiness. Instead, rejoice and give that throne on your heart to the one and only. Some people have on the throne in their heart, their emotions, relationship, a career, finances, selfish ambition. But if there's anything on that throne other than the Lord himself, you're not ready to step into that call. Jesus talked about denying yourself, picking up your cross, coming after him, losing your life to find it. You see, salvation is free, but the call of God will cost you everything. And once you choose to follow after him, you can't become double-minded. You can't go back and forth. You can't ebb and flow. You can't question that devotion. If you're going to follow him, you must make up your mind about who is Lord in your life. If you're going to follow him, you must make up your mind that it is for the rest of your life. God is calling you to do something for him. God has consecrated you for a purpose. The scripture says in verse two, attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings, they covered their faces. With two, they covered their feet. And with two, they flew. What a wonderful vision that he saw. He sees the heavenly realm. He sees angelic beings. But before he could see the glory, all of the kings had to die. They were calling out to each other, holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of heaven's armies. The whole earth is filled with his glory. Their voices shook the temple to its foundations and the entire building was filled with smoke. We must catch a glimpse of God's glory. The called must glimpse the glory of God. That's key number two. So key number one has to do with the lordship of Jesus, surrendering the throne of your heart to one king and one king only. But if you're going to be used for the glory of God, you must be touched by the glory of God. Only those who've been in the glory can be truly yielded and effective for the kingdom of God. Encounters in the presence of God are what produce ministries. All ministry, true ministry that is. All true ministry is simply an overflow of your encounters with God. If there are no encounters with God, if there are no glimpses of the glory, and I'm not just talking about literal glimpses, I'm talking about having a relationship with the Lord. I'm talking about experiencing His power in your own life. If there are no encounters with God, it's not ministry, it's a career choice. If there is no encounter with God, it's not ministry, it's just charity. But when you've caught a glimpse of the glory of God, when you've come to know Him for yourself, it establishes you in your calling. Here's why, because if you don't have that encounter, that means you're going into ministry, you're stepping into the call of God on a whim, because of a desire, possibly because of family pressure. Maybe people in your family are in ministry, so you feel the pressure to be in ministry. Maybe all your friends are in ministry, so you feel called to ministry. But only when you've received the call of God from the presence of God are you firmly established for when trials come. You see, if I'm not convinced of my calling, if I haven't had an encounter with God, then when hard times come and they will come, when people begin to speak evil of you, when people begin to question your motives, when things go wrong, if you're not convinced of the call of God for your life, you'll be uprooted from that place. If you're not convinced of the call of God, then when trials do come, that call will be no more. This is why you must know the presence of God before you operate in the power of God. Verse number five, then I said, it's all over. I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips, yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven's armies. Verse six, then one of the Seraphim flew to me with a burning call he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. He touched my lips with it and said, see this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed and your sins are forgiven. Notice here that Isaiah the prophet is witnessing a powerful display of heavenly excellence. He sees the angelic beings. He hears God speak. The temple is shaking. Smoke is filling the building. What an encounter in the presence of God. And with the train of God's robe right before him, in this moment where God reveals himself in an intense and apparent way, Isaiah looks at himself. Interesting, we have the tendency to do that, you know. We have an encounter with God. God shows us how he wants to use us. And rather than looking to God, what do we do? We look back at ourselves. This is what Isaiah did. Woe is me, the King James version puts it. Woe is me for I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. He was shaken to his core. Now this is interesting because often people imagine that the closer they get to God, the holier they'll feel. Reality, the closer you get to God, the more sensitive you become to your sin. The closer you get to the Lord, the higher your standards go. And the things you used to accept, the things you used to allow, the areas of compromise that you allowed in your life are no more. Why? Because the further you go into the glory of God, the brighter the light of the Holy Spirit shines in your life. And the brighter that light shines, the more your sin becomes exposed. As you move closer to the Lord, you will say, woe is me. I'm undone. You will recognize things about yourself that you wanna see fixed. I can't tell you how many times as I go through the scripture that I say to the Lord, Lord, there are so many ways I'm not like you. Help me to be more like you. That's because a light is shining now. I'm being exposed by the glory of God. But my encouragement to you is to not look at this as a setback and some people do. They start to see their flaws. They start to see all the ways that they could improve and they become discouraged. What you should recognize is that God is not pushing you away. He's drawing you closer. The fact that your sin is troubling you more is a sign that God is actually bringing you closer to himself. When you glimpse the glory, the flesh is exposed. When you glimpse the glory, you see the trouble within you which leads to key number three, the called must be cleansed. I find it interesting that the very thing that Isaiah thought disqualified him God used. I'm a man of unclean lips. What it got anoint, his lips. The thing that you thought would disqualify you, God could turn it around and use it. Those things about yourself for which you feel insecurity. Those past mistakes that you think have disqualified you. God can use it all. God can use everything about you except your sin. God can use everything about you except the ungodliness within you and he'll use it but you have to let him cleanse you. You have to embrace the forgiveness of God and you have to move beyond that. Some people are so fixated on their own mistakes that they never step into the call of God because they feel they're not qualified. The Holy Spirit in you is your qualification for ministry. If you've turned from your sin and you're walking toward the things of God and you're allowing the Holy Spirit to work in you, that's God qualifying you himself. Notice that the angelic being doesn't even ask God what it should do. It just takes the call and presses it to the prophet's lips. God didn't say anything. God didn't even respond to that issue. Why? The angel knew God's nature. You know that God is a forgiving God. If you want to step into the call of God, you must experience the cleansing of God, get over the guilt, get over the shame, allow him to use you and stop saying God can't use me because of this, that and the other. Let him work in your life. The scripture goes on to say, then I heard the Lord asking, whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us? I said, here I am, send me. Number four, the called must offer themselves. God didn't say, Isaiah, I want you to go for me. Instead, he said, who can I send? And Isaiah had to surrender and volunteer. Sometimes people are waiting for God to speak directly to them before they do anything for him. And while I understand the exercising of wisdom, I must also caution you to not be so fearful that you never do anything for God. He said, who will go for us? If I was Isaiah, I would have said, Lord, why don't you use one of those weird-looking creatures flying around? But no, God says, who will go for us? Who am I gonna send? And he says, here I am, send me. That's the response of someone who's been cleansed by God. Here I am, send me. The called must offer themselves. And he said, yes, go and say to this people, listen carefully, but do not understand. Watch closely, but learn nothing. In other words, he's saying to Isaiah, here's your ministry. You're gonna go preach to people who will not hear you. You're gonna go and explain things to people who will not understand. How would you like that for a call? Basically, you're gonna go and do something for me, but no fruit will result from it. I was Isaiah, I probably would have been a little frustrated, wait a minute. You're gonna send me to go and do something that you know isn't gonna work? Number five, the called must leave the results to God. Your only part in this is to trust and obey. Your only part in this is to trust and obey. And stewardship is a part of obedience. Excellence is a part of obedience. Of course, we should try to see growth. We should try to see fruitfulness as much as is in our control. But God is the one who brings the harvest. Do what God has called you to do and leave the results to him. For the called, all of the kings must die. The called must glimpse the glory of God. The called must be cleansed. The called must offer themselves. And the called must leave the results to God. Father, I pray, you would give us the courage to step into what you've called us to do. Father, I pray you would anoint your people for your purposes. Spend us for your glory. Spend us for your glory. Let your power come on them in a fresh way. Let them see you. They might be used by you. Lord, I pray you use their lives in greater ways than they ever thought possible. We surrender to you, Lord. Do as you wish with us. Touch them, I pray. Jesus, I want you to say it because you believe it, say amen. And here now is a question for conversation. Have you ever felt afraid of stepping into God's call? And how did you overcome that fear? Tell me about it in the comment section right now. Make sure you're subscribed to Encounter TV and do click that notification bell. That means you'll receive notices whenever we release new content. You can also follow us on whatever platform you're watching us. I want to share this verse with you from Proverbs 21. It's verse 26. Some people are always greedy for more but the godly love to give. Think about the fact that nothing in this world will satisfy like the presence of Jesus. And while the world becomes more and more greedy, the godly become more and more generous. I want to challenge you to allow your heavenly father's generosity to flow through you. You are generous. You are giving. You love souls. You love the gospel. You are a follower of Jesus. And I want to ask you to consider right now making a one-time donation or becoming a monthly ministry supporter. Why? So that you can help us continue to create the content, to host our live streams, to host our online school. And that will also help us to host events in person all around the world. All of that is donor supported which is why we're able to offer it for free. Get behind this ministry. Help us to keep going and growing. Help us to keep winning souls. Again, make a one-time donation or become a monthly supporter. 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