“Called”… Or Free?

WED., JUNE 2, 1999, 8:37 AM
FPC, ASC

In most of the letters of My servant Paul there is some reference to his being called to what I would have him do and be. And also… the Church of which you are a part, in common with most of Christian doctrine, holds that I have given each of you free will. That is, you are free to choose Me, avidly to barely, or to reject Me, lazily to fiercely. What do I tell you, as this last summer season of the century commences?

You will not be surprised when I say, Both/And. I gave you a parable many years ago that dealt with this matter in story form. Now I’ll present it more as a continuum rather than as a dichotomy. Numbers or percentages are not important here… to Me, anyway, so they needn’t be to you.

At one extreme I do call certain people to serve Me. Some are called early in life, others (like yourself) in mid-life, and still others in the golden (or silver) years. I still call some in drastic, memorable ways, as I did Paul. Other calls are less dramatic, but recognizable. Still others, real calls, are never acknowledged by the callee, but they still produce the results I desire. Some are called for a specific purpose, some to a more general purpose, and then some are just called to be “the best people they can be.”

Some calls may shift during a life. In your case I called you to be an educator. I let you have your fling at coaching, but it was in a setting combined with classroom teaching. Thus you experienced success and satisfaction in non-athletic teaching, and I led you on to your university career and, finally, to the classes that were “the best” for you. Remember, though, the time when you were going to leave teaching and go into “business.” It seemed to be a “choice” between Lenore and the career that seemed best for you. I arranged a compromise, so that you and Lenore became “one” and you prepared yourself for the university level.

Some I do not direct as fully as I did you. Oh, you had some freedom to “do it your way,” but when I have a “plan” there is no good reason for it to be denied. You see, I needed you, for the major call of this past 20 years, to be a good writer. That would have been less likely if you had stayed on as a Punahou teacher… or, worse, a Dean. The university career included the need to write, even to edit, as well. So when I called you to hear these Teachings of Mine you were prepared.

(This is a mystical process and, hence, is not completely explainable in words. It is another Both/And. You hear Me, with your spirit, and the words, phrases, and ideas are Mine. This is a Teaching from Holy Spirit. At the same time, I am “using” your vocabulary, syntax, punctuation, and general “style”. I have no single, “pure” way of communicating. I like the one We’ve developed, and it is a mystical amalgam of you and Me, but I can never be limited to these words and style. I just can never be limited, however rational this may be.)

Also never deny or underestimate My spirit of fun. Paul was a clearly called servant of Mine, the author, in letters, of much fine and important Scripture. Yet I also “allowed” him to write rather disparagingly of women… and to announce, boldly, that the end of time and human life would be soon. I just gave him the freedom to proclaim in his own way… which results in present-day readers both accepting and rejecting Me, because or some of his statements.