Lecture

Discerning Calling: Supernatural Means

In our last session, we looked at the importance of a season of preparation, of how God prepares us and how we can ready ourselves to hear His voice. In this session we’re going to dive into the actual process of discerning a calling.

So, we talked about the season of preparation and then the season now of discernment. So actual discernment can often overlap with the season of preparation because discernment is usually a process that takes place over time. We may start by asking God what He has for us, but often God’s calling finds us, sometimes in unexpected places, in unexpected ways.

I once heard of calling described as, a lot of times we view it as, we stress about what is God calling me to and how do I find out God’s calling? Like it’s this tight rope that we have to find the exact right thing. And we’re in danger of falling off, and then we’re out of God’s will. But really, it’s more like a canyon. And so, if we’re walking with God, and we’ve prepared ourselves and we’re just journeying with Him, it’s like a canyon and it’s hard to fall out of because it’s just, we’re walking with God already.

And also, another illustration I like is the difference between a map versus a compass. Oftentimes, we want a map. We want specific instructions. We want to know the specific destination, exactly how to get there, where a compass is more of an orientation point. God wants us to orient our lives around Him. And so, if we’re orienting ourselves on the compass point, again, like the canyon, we’re not going to get lost because we are just following that wherever we’ve set our compass point to.

I also want to note that your process of discernment will look different from anyone else’s. And so, it’s tempting a lot of times to compare our calling, or the way God has talked with us and communicated with us and what our calling is to what He is doing in anybody else’s life. And we just shouldn’t and can’t do that because it’s going to look completely different. It’s also going to be maybe different from how we thought it would look or should look. We may have some ideas and some boxes that we’ve put God into, and God doesn’t live in boxes. And so, we need to be open to whatever way, orienting our lives around God and following Christ. And then what ways will He use particularly in our life? So, we need to be open to whatever means God chooses to use for me and for you.

My friend Elizabeth said . . . she said, “God created me the way He created me, and He knows how He created me. So, when He calls me, He knows how I need to work through that. Whatever my calling, God’s going to take me through it in the way He knows I need to go through it.” And that’s just such a good reminder that our Creator made us. He knows what ways we hear Him. And what ways we will sense that and respond. And so just trust that God will lead in the way that He knows is right for us.

So, what are some of the ways that God can communicate calling? One is through supernatural means, that could be visible or audible signs. It could be dreams and visions. It could be through prophets, prophetic voice, someone speaking to you a word of truth that just seems to hit you like a lightning bolt. These are often less familiar to many of us today, especially again, depending on our tradition, our experience, our cultural background, but God can and still does use them.

I know of friends personally, a man who came to Christ and is following his current calling because he has seen God in dreams and a vision. I know of someone else who heard an audible voice when there was no one there, she thought it was her husband and it was not him. It was almost like Eli and Samuel. It was God speaking to her. I’ve known of people who have seen visible signs, like a handprint left in a seat or somewhere, not just looking at a cloud and saying, “Oh, I think that’s God speaking”—like literal, visible signs. So, they’ve seen handprints, they’ve heard voices, they’ve received visions. They’ve had strangers come up to them and give them a word from God. Someone who had no idea of their circumstances comes up to them and gives them a word. So those things are every bit as valid today as they were during Bible times, even if they’re less familiar to us, and we should be open to the possibility of that type of supernatural communication.

Discerning Calling: Natural Means

So, one of the first natural means that God can use to give us a calling is duty. So, the things that we have committed to, again, like our responsibilities whether that is marriage or parenting, we may have a duty or responsibility to aging parents. We may have church or community commitments. And so doing our duty is one way of following God’s call. It’s not separate from God’s calling. It is part of our calling. So, I heard Gordon MacDonald one time talk about how you balance your marriage with your ministry. And he said your marriage and taking care of your marriage is part of your ministry. And part of your calling. So, duty is one of the first things, you know, what are the things God has set right before us that we have a responsibility and a duty for and do those.

But the next thing God can use is human agents, that could be people in our lives, could be parents, siblings, a spouse. It could be even our children or friends or even strangers. These can serve, they can initiate or confirm a calling, suggest something, they could affirm for us a sense of calling or a giftedness. They could say something like, “When you do that, I see how God uses that.” They just affirm that. I had somebody when I was in college say, “Wow, you’re a really good leader.” And I had never thought of that. I mean, they were affirming that for me and so that really led to that realization, the title of my book, that I am a leader, and identifying that gifting and calling in my life. They can also ask questions for us that give clarity. There is a denomination, the Quakers do something called a clearness committee, where it’s just people sitting with you to ask questions and help you hear God clearly.

Human agents can also give us caution, but any human direction must be checked and confirmed through prayer and Scripture. Not all counsel should be accorded equal weight. When we’re listening to human agents and looking at whether that might be direction from God, we should always seek guidance from mature believers who truly want God’s best for us and who are as interested in listening as they are in talking. So not just, we have many friends, we may have people who have their own agenda, but who are those who truly care about us, whatever the outcome, and truly care about your life with Christ?

Also note that God can use you to clarify, confirm, or encourage someone else’s calling. Sometimes I’ve been talking with students in my classroom or after class. And I’ll just ask a question, you know, about what is God saying? Or well, maybe this, and I’ve had sometimes students just look at me, wide-eyed, kind of stunned. And they go, “I think I just heard something from God.” And it’s nothing that I intentionally said, “God said to me, ‘you need to tell them this thing’ or ‘tell this person this,’” but just through listening to them or something I’ve said, God’s just used that without any intent on my part.

Another way God can . . . a natural means God can use for calling is our giftedness. So, God often calls people to roles that fit their gifts, but God can also gift those who He has called. So, we all are given spiritual gifts by the Holy Spirit when we become followers of Christ, but there’s times that He gives us a gift for a particular time or a particular need or to respond to this calling. And even can use in our weakness or failure—you think of Moses and Aaron, and Moses keeps talking about how he’s not a good speaker, send Aaron instead. But God said, I will give you the words to say and I will give you the power to say that. You look at another example of weakness or failure—the disciples. You look at any, like if you did a job description for the disciples or followers of Christ, the disciples that Jesus ended up with would not be on a list that a search firm would pick out as top candidates. But God often uses our weakness and failure.

I have a friend, my friend Cherie, who does a financial ministry to individuals and couples out of their experience going through incredible debt and being hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, and then paying it all off to the penny and then walking people through that. So, she says, my calling came out of my own bad or dumb decisions or lack of wisdom. And now she’s got a calling to help people through that same journey.

God can also use our experiences as another natural means. I’ve looked back on my life. You may see common themes through the different experiences you have and say, “Oh, it’s through these things I recognize this thread that God uses in my life.” We can see how God has used us in the past. For example, for me, for some of my leadership and teaching, I realize I was doing that even like, as I mentioned, as a fast-food worker. As I was training people and enjoying training the new people coming in, I was doing that when I was named a captain on a basketball team in high school and bringing up . . . I was always bringing up the people behind me. And so, I realized that was a theme through my experiences. Our experience can unearth a passion. We may try something and realize we have a love for it, just by trying something out.

And we can also, calling can also grow from negative experience. As I have a former student and a friend now, Wade Mullen, who has written a book about spiritual abuse in ministry and by pastors that came from his own very bad experience in ministry, led to his doctoral research, now to a vocation and a calling to help others going through that and to warn others and to help bring healing in those situations.

God can also use our desires and passions. Some people would say that our feelings have no place in our calling, but God has clearly created us as emotional beings. And we see that Jesus was an emotional Person. He wept, He felt things. An author named Ben Campbell Johnson says that our passions animate our calling. And that’s what actually gives it energy. It’s not just a cognitive thing. It’s not just a thing in our mind. So yes, feelings can be fickle, but they can be a part . . . our emotions can be a part of our calling.

I would say they should be used as a gauge, not necessarily a pure guide, but they can be something that we can sense, you know, follow that energy. How does God . . . are you feeling like full of the Spirit? You know, Eric Liddell, in the movie and the book, Chariots of Fire, in the story, he says, “When I run, I feel [God’s] pleasure.” So, what are those things that you feel this sense of fulfillment? Like, “this is where I’m in the center of doing what God’s made me to be.”

Another natural means God can use is circumstances. So that literally refers to those things around us, circum (around us), stance. It could be an open or a closed door. You could read a passage from a book. It could be something we hear in a sermon or a worship song, or just an interaction. So those are the tricky ones to discern. They can be easiest to see, but they’re not always the most trustworthy, if we’re looking for a particular thing, we can see that thing. We can make that thing appear in anything we see in some way. So, I’d say ease of observation does not guarantee accuracy of interpretation, but circumstances can be one way. We just have to filter that through the lens of Scripture, make sure, is this God really speaking to me? Or is this trying to read my desires onto something? Or is it just not related at all?

The most trustworthy . . . one of the most trustworthy is God’s Word. That is the plumb line against which to evaluate a perceived call by any other means. J. Oswald Sanders writes, “Where Scripture speaks clearly, no further guidance need be sought.” And so, there are things where we could maybe see in circumstances one direction, but if it’s going against God’s clear teaching in Scripture, God will not call us to do anything that would violate clear teaching in Scripture, biblical principles.

But to know God’s Word, we must spend regular time in it. The Bible promises that it’s a lamp to our feet, a light to our path, it’s alive and active, illuminated by the Holy Spirit, will never return empty. So, there’s great power in God’s Word. And that should be one of the primary places we are always looking, apart from either of these others. So, in that way, Scripture is a supernatural means as well, but it’s something that we can read for us and see. And so, in that way, it’s natural. It’s in front of us, but it’s God speaking supernaturally through those words of Scripture and the illumination of the Holy Spirit.

And then the final means that God can use is prayer. And this is another natural and supernatural means because it’s a way that we can communicate with God that we have some initiative or agency over but that God speaks to us through that. Direction from God requires dialogue with God. And so, we can’t expect to find God’s calling or direction for our lives if we’re not talking with Him regularly, if we’re not seeking His will through the Word of God through Scripture, if we’re not tuning our ear to listen to the Holy Spirit and then checking through prayer and through Scripture, these other things that we may see, these other natural means.

Elizabeth Liebert writes, “A life of personal and corporate prayer is the single most important preparation for discernment.” And I just want to note that prayer should be conversation. It can include us telling and asking but also for discernment, it’s a lot of listening. And so, it’s not just, “God show me in some natural means.” It’s listening, what is God saying?

So, when we look at all these natural means and supernatural means, again, there is no one size fits all method of calling. That’s the part about the discernment. And so, in the next section, we’re going to look at how we should respond and that season and that phase of response when God gives us an invitation.

Our Response

we have received an invitation or direction from God, we must choose whether and how to respond. All our efforts to listen and discern are wasted unless we act. But the first response is actually one of the heart, not of our hands and feet. The central issue is whether we will surrender to God. Discovery of our calling is what I call a divine disruption. It requires us to make a choice.

Remember our definition of calling. It’s a God-given conviction about your life’s direction. So, the question is, will we keep doing what we have been doing? Or will we reorient our lives so that we can join God’s work? Surrendering literally costs us everything ‘cause it is a reorientation in many ways. Even if we end up doing some of the same things, the orientation about why we do it and Who we do it for is completely different.

Jennie Allen writes, she says, “We hand over every dream for our lives—every hope, every remnant of control we think we have—to God, and we say, ‘You have all of it. You have me. I am yours. Anything you want to do with me. Anything. I’m in.’” And that may sound scary, but we all eventually surrender to something or to someone. We may not surrender to God; we may just say we want to keep control, or we may let somebody else tell us what we need to do with our lives. So, we all give our life’s control to something or to someone.

We do not need to know all the details of a calling in order to obey that. We’ve seen that earlier in the sessions in this course. It’s a posture of submission, a reorienting around a compass point, not necessarily knowing the map or all the details. In fact, knowing every step can actually be a hindrance to faith.

There’s a story about Mother Teresa’s perspective on faith and calling. A man who worked for three months at the house of the dying in Kolkata, was seeking a clear answer about what God wanted him to do with his life. He asked Mother Teresa to pray for him. “What do you want me to pray for?” she asked. “Pray that I would have clarity,” he said. “No, I will not do that,” she said. When he asked her why she explained, “Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go of.” When he mentioned that she always seemed to have clarity, Mother Teresa just laughed. “I’ve never had clarity. All I’ve ever had is trust. So, I will pray that you trust in God.”

Faith is not blind obedience. It’s more like leaving the house with a friend to go on a journey. When we’re communicating with God regularly and have surrendered our will to His, faith is not at all a leap. It’s just a series of steps. All we have to do is the next thing. And that next thing could be a phone call. It could be an email. It could be some on. . . online research. It could be just 10 minutes of your time. A few dollars, a yes instead of a no, it could be more prayer or just a lunch meeting.

I remember as we were getting ready to move here to Denver earlier this year, a few months ago, I was stressed about all the things to do, the many things on my list, things wrapping up where we lived in Indiana, moving to Colorado. It was during the pandemic and the full shutdown. So, I just had all these anxieties, concerns. And I was lying in bed at about two in the morning. And God said, “Your next thing is not to figure all that out, your next thing is to go to sleep and get some rest. Tomorrow you can start on that next thing.” So, there’s always a next thing that you can do. And it doesn’t have to be a big thing. We don’t have to take the entire thing at once. We may not know, it may be just, what is the next thing that God’s calling us to do?

So, some conclusions about this calling process and this discernment process and the response process—calling is mysterious. It’s up to God. And we don’t understand fully the mind of God and the ways of God. He can use any method and He can work outside of any box, but it’s not secret. There are postures and practices we can develop. So, trust the process. In these next couple sessions, we’re going to start looking at what it looks like to live into our calling in the middle of various real-life issues and challenges.