A couple of times, I’d been asked, ‘How do you know God calls you to missions?’ I think this is the question that many people would like to know. Did missionaries hear God’s audio voice?
Discerning God’s calling:
God called me to missions when I was still a rather young believer (i.e. about 3-4 years after converting from Buddhism), but I’ve been actively involved in student ministry on campus. One evening at a student fellowship meeting, a sister who just came back from a short-term missions trip read to us a letter written by a minority people group in Papua New Guinea, asking Christians to come to their midst to tell them about God’s love, but they waited for years and years, still no one willing to come. In the end, they died without God’s salvation. Upon hearing this, my heart sensed a small little voice of God speaking to me, ‘Go and reach unreached people’. It is not an audio voice, but the voice is sure and clear to my heart that God spoke to me at that very moment. After that, from time to time, God reminded me of His calling till I stepped into missions work at His appointed time. When God speaks specifically to you, He will make it clear to you. If we doubt, confuse, or discourage, He would reassure us of His calling through some other ways.
As we seek to know God’s will in our lives, we all need to bear in mind that our God is a creative God and His way is beyond our imagination (Isaiah 55:9). He speaks to different people in different unique ways. He may speak to you in a way that you never heard of or simpler than you think, so let’s not put ‘God in a box’. We need to be open to Him whichever way He speaks to us. He may speak to us through His words, His spirit, His people (i.e. individual, sermon, conference, etc.), and/or through circumstances, even through dreams or vision. As a guide, what He calls us to do will never contradict the truth that He already revealed to us in the Bible.
Responding To God’s Calling:
As we seek to respond to God’s calling in the right way, we need to be aware that the great commission (Matthew 28: 19-20) is for every Christian. It is God’s desire for every one of us to be involved in His missions, either local missions or overseas cross-cultural missions. We all are to actively share His good news with the lost whenever there is an opportunity whether or not God calls us to overseas missions work (2 Timothy 4:2). Let’s be faithful in little tasks so that we may be ready to respond when He calls us to more challenging tasks.
Whenever we sense His speaking to us, we need to respond promptly, “Just Do It”, otherwise we will become less and less sensitive to His leading in our life. Each prompt response will help us to grow toward greater faith preparing for greater tasks.
Whatever missions work He calls us to do, let’s respond by faith like Caleb and Joshua did, not focus on our weakness or “giant(s)” in our life, but focus on what God’s power can do through our step of faith (Numbers 13:30-33; 14:6-9).
Above all, let’s bear in mind that we are called to cross-cultural missions work; it is not because we are more qualified or “heroes”. Like what the apostle Paul said, we all are chosen by His grace (1 Timothy 1:13-14) and each day we need His grace to sustain us.
At the end of the day, what matters is not what we are called to do, but whether we are faithful to His calling.
By Missionary Sharon 