Jeremiah 1:4-10 (NIV)

The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

5Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.

6Ah, Sovereign Lord, I said, I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.

7 But the Lord said to me, Do not say, I am only a child. You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you, declares the Lord.
9 Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, Now, I have put my words in your mouth. 10See, today I appoint you

Here we have what is commonly referred to as a call.  If I were to ask you about your call you would probably have a difficult time answering such a spiritual question.  But it is not nearly as complicated as you might think.

Basically, God made Jeremiah with a purpose and He will take responsibility for fulfilling it.  Your life is no different than Jeremiah.  God has created you with a purpose.  He is just as committed to completing the purpose He has for you as He was for Jeremiah. Let that sink in!  He is just as committed to you as He was to Jeremiah!

We simply have to arrange our lives accordingly.  The scene unfolds quite normallyjust in the way  you might expect.  God comes to Jeremiah and declares the fact that He made him.  He reminds Jeremiah that He knows him, intimately.

Let those words in verse 5 be spoken to you:

Before I formed you in your mothers womb, I knew you.  Before you were born, I set you apart

Those words are almost instantly met with resistance. Ahhhh  God youve got the wrong person.  I am too young, too old, too shy, too dumb, too whatever excuse you decide to place in this space.  God is going to interrupt you for He knows exactly what excuse will roll off of your tongue.  He formed you and He knows you.  What we begin to see is that we are not called to fulfill Gods purposes in our own strength and resourcefulness.  We are to trust in His.

Do you see how this ends? God told Jeremiah I have appointed you. He tells you the same thing this morning.  I have appointed this day and this hour.  I have appointed you for this exact time for this exact purpose.  Today will be one more day in which Gods purposes are fulfilled in your life. What we must do is to stop, listen and watch to see where He wants to use us.

Lord, I do not feel like a called person.  I have my list of reasons why I am not effective for you but you already know them.  I confess my excuses as a lack of faith in Your ability to fulfill Your purposes.  I ask for You to reveal to me what my life is for.  Give me the patience to discover this as I pursue You.  Give me the faith to believe that You have appointed me  Help me to see this today.  Amen.

• Why do you often  find it difficult to see yourself as someone who is “called” by God to make His name known?
• How could seeing yourself as a “called” person influence your willingness to let God transform your heart through your One Word? As you reflect on your One Word journey, where is one place God could use you to make His name known?

Are you looking for a way to keep your word in front of you all year long? Register for a My One Word account! One of the key features of a MOW account is an online Word Journal that allows you to capture your thoughts to reflective questions like you see above. You can go back at any time to read your completed journals to see how God has been moving in your life through your word in 2011.  If you already have an account, the questions from this blog have been posted to your Word Journal log in to your account to start your Word Journal today!