Have you ever been in a situation where God was calling you to do something, but you hesitated? Maybe you were worried about what others would think, or maybe you just weren’t sure if it was the right thing to do. In this blog post, we will discuss the importance of answering God’s call when he calls us. We will also share a personal story about how we failed to act when God called us. We hope that this post will inspire you to become more like children and answer God’s call with faith and obedience!
Does the Spirit lead Christians to hide in the middle?
When my wife and I had our first daughter, we started going back to church. We sat in the comfortable middle of the congregation.
Our family grew with the addition of our 2nd and 3rd daughters. Brenda worked weekends as a surgical nurse so she could be home during the week with the girls. That meant dad was responsible for taking our daughters to Sunday worship. I was asked one Sunday, “did you comb their hair”?
Yes, I even put bows in their hair
Another time, “do you let them dress themselves”? Her shirt is inside out.
I just smiled and let out a deep breath. Getting to church was a challenge. I wonder how single parents do it.
One Sunday I was sitting there “managing our three girls”. A call went out from the minister to come forward and commit or recommit our lives to Christ. I was frozen. God was calling me forward, I wanted to get up, but I hesitated…. In a moment the opportunity was gone. I failed to act. All the way home I was kicking myself. For some time I closed my ears to God’s call because I felt like God was disappointed with me.
God’s prompting was clear but I failed to take action.
What was going to get me to move forward and embrace my faith?
Matthew 18: 2. “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
I’ve shared a little about the importance of answering responding when God calls us. This is my own personal story about how we failed to act when God was leading us. We hope that this post will inspire you to become more like children and answer God’s call with faith and obedience! Thanks for reading!
For further study listen to the our latest podcast about God’s calling or consider what the Bible says about God’s calling on our lives.
When have you failed to hear God’s calling?
1. If you haven’t heard God’s voice lately, what refusal may have started this dry season?
2. What are you doing wrong that God doesn’t want you?
3. What makes you most afraid about serving God without limits?
This post was written by Steve Wakefield.
Steve is married to Brenda and has three talented and creative daughters. He is a graduate of Wabash College. Recently retired from Superior Industrial Solutions, he enjoys writing, reading, cooking, and traveling. Steve has been active in the youth ministry program at Grace United Methodist Church for the past 24 years. For ten of those years he was the Minister of Youth. One of the highlights of that tenure was leading seven national and three international youth mission trips.