Go Beyond

I posted a blog yesterday about participating in a prayer summit earlier this week for pastors and church leaders from Katy and the surrounding communities. Daniel Henderson, President of Strategic Renewal, served as our facilitator and Wayne Kerr, Worship Pastor at Grace Fellowship, led us in worship. During our concluding session, Daniel asked us to complete the following sentence: Here I am, Lord, send me to __________. It was great to listen to the responses, some filled with emotion, as Wayne played the piano softly in the background. This simple exercise was absolutely refreshing because it challenged each of us to reconnect with the fact that it is God who calls us and it is incumbent on each of us to answer His call. I was struck by the fact that we are not in a position to dictate to or negotiate with God regarding when or where we want to be called but must, instead, obey His marching orders.

As we continued to pray while those in the room responded to Daniel’s challenge, God reminded me of the most important non-negotiable clause in a divine call — we must submit to His will. When God calls us we are wise to accept and to acknowledge His call with Isaiah’s words, “Here I am, Lord, send me” (Isa. 6:8). However, once we have accepted God’s call, we must then abandon our own will and ways and embrace the attitude expressed in the words of the old hymn, “Wherever He Leads I’ll Go.” I must continue to keep my heart open to His leadership and allow Him to guide me where He wants me to go in order to serve His purposes. It was obvious from listening to the responses of those in the room that God’s call does not always come at convenient times, will not always lead us to comfortable places, and seldom asks us to do easy tasks — a reminder that His purposes advance only at our inconvenience, never at our convenience.

I appreciate the challenge at the prayer retreat to think deeply about and to verbalize where and to what God has called each of us. After 34 years in full-time ministry I can testify to the faithfulness of God. Over the years He has led me to places where I have had to depend on Him and, more than a few times, He has placed me in contexts where I could not walk by sight. And, because my journey is not yet over, my 55-year-old heart remains open. I will not close it. I will not negotiate terms of convenience with God. I will continue to ask for the rugged places and not the green valleys. And I will continue to accept and obey His marching orders. Anything less will not do, will not advance His purposes, and will not bring glory to God. Here I am, Lord, send me. Wherever You lead, I’ll go.