Call To Me

(Message by Pastor Philip Joseph)

“Thus says the LORD who made it, the LORD who formed it to establish it (the LORD is His name): Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” – Jer. 33: 2, 3

Imagine you sitting on this earth, and then imagine the Lord seated in the third Heaven; the physical distance is mind boggling. But do you know that His answer is just a call away? We have this wonderful privilege of “calling” out to Him; and our Lord will answer. And I am talking about more than just prayer (Have you really called out to Him?)

You see, the ‘activities’ of attending church service, singing out ‘good’ songs, the dutiful reading of the Bible, the mumbling of familiar phrases in prayer-all this can become so routine that you may not even realize you have lost touch with God! Or maybe you do realize that even with all these-your ‘activities’, you are not getting through to God but don’t know what’s wrong! Do you console yourself saying, that you are doing nothing ‘wrong’ and continue in that same familiar routines, or are you really interested in ‘connecting’ to God?

Here is our God, willing to answer our call and waiting to show us great and mighty things that we do not know! Would you call Him in a manner worthy to be called as ‘Call’? We can learn from the Bible how men began to call on the name of the Lord. Gen. 4: 26 says “And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the LORD”. Adam was 130y old, when Seth was born; and Seth was 105y old when Enosh was born-this tells us, generally speaking, some 235 years passed by, before men began to call on the name of the Lord. (Of course, there were exceptions with Abel offering a better sacrifice). You see, we too can be busy caught up in the routine works and practices that can occupy our entire life-span, without realizing that we missed to make the call (and connect) to God! What a sad 'miss' that would be!

That is why I say, ‘Break free’ from the routine, from what you have been taught, from what you have seen and what you have heard, and what you have imagined, and get to know what God says He will do FOR YOU as a special INDIVIDUAL. Give a CALL to God Himself. Genesis 12: 8 talks about Abraham thus: And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.

Call on the name of the LORD! Abraham did just that. I was amazed while reading the biographies of a Hindu-Sadhu Sunder Singh, and a Muslim-Gulzan Esther, who called on the name of the Lord; and the Lord revealed Himself to them. With God there is no partiality; no religion, no caste, no color, no region or language, neither rich nor poor. Anyone can call on the name of the Lord and He is willing to answer. Get through to Him. Draw near to Him and He will draw near to you (James 4: 8).

We have wonderful examples in the Bible of men who called on the name of the Lord-also David, Jonah, Elijah…but I am going to leave all these examples for you to read for yourself and see how many times David calls the Lord and the Lord delivered him from the hands of his enemies; how Jonah prays from the fish’s stomach and calls on the name of the Lord and the Lord commanded the fish to vomit him in dry land; how Elijah called on the name of the Lord-confronted with a dead boy and the mother pleading for him, and the Lord raised the dead boy back to life…

Yes, Let me take the example of just one man from the Bible-Jabez (have you heard of him?). Because his mother was in much pain during his birth, she named him Jabez, which means “pain”. He was just an ordinary man, with a constant ‘painful’ reminder in his name; the Bible says, that Jabez was more honorable than all his brothers (1 Chr. 4: 9). Imagine this man, ‘pain’ going about his daily routine, day after day after day… But ONE day, suddenly, he decided to CALL on the name of the LORD.

And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested. – 1 Chronicles 4: 10

Our God is the anytime, anywhere, available-to-answer-your-call God! So wherever you are, whatever you are doing, whatever time it may be-PAUSE. Take a deep breath and call out to God.

Jabez had just a 4-point prayer (request). His prayer starts with what any ‘ordinary’ person would look for – (1) BLESS ME indeed and (2) ENLARGE my territory. You see, why should it be a strange thing to seek God’s blessing? God is here and that to bless us!

And why do many imagine that it is WRONG if you look to God for increase? Remember, Jabez must be quite well-off (The Bible says, that Jabez was more honorable than his brothers). God sees your heart; God knows what is going through in your mind. Be sincere in your prayer and be serious in your asking-that is all. Now, seek an increase from your God-go ahead!

Thirdly, Jabez looked for God’s hand to be with him. He was not looking at wealth and riches, but just that God’s hand would be with him. If God be for us, who can be against us? God’s presence and His nearness is what matters in our endeavors - honorable and in accordance to His will in everything that we do. (There are quite a few, who do not want God too close-lest they be shamed in what they continue to do!)

The final request of Jabez was to be protected from evil and not be a cause for anybody’s pain. Imagine the burden of carrying that name meaning 'pain' for so long; it must have caught up with Jabez and he would have none of it any longer. Jabez requested that the burden in his name be lifted away.

And you know what! And God granted him what he requested. The same God that answered Jabez and granted him his request is waiting to your call and willing to grant your requests. Call on the name of the Lord; pour out your sincere requests-whether it be concerning a stigma in the meaning of your name or social standing, a stigma concerning your caste or region-Look up to God and call out to him.

Go into the inner room, shut the door and call out to Him-your Heavenly Father, in secret. This is what Jesus taught us. In solitude, have a little talk with your Father, one-on-one.
It is never too early and now not too late. Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. (Isa. 55: 6) Know… that the Lord will hear when you call to Him. (Ps. 4:3).