I'm Just Saying! (Whose ringing your phone?)

Do you get those annoying bill collectors phone calls?  Ever get a phone call in the middle of the night?  We called them "booty calls" in my era.  You may be expecting their call or perhaps they sneak up and irk your nerves.  One by calling you so late and two they were last month favor.  That is exactly how the devil works.  He will ring your phone at all hours of the day and night.  

God calls each of us giving us the choice to answer and to accept His call.  You know the call I'm talking about, when you're crying and decides to join a church or confess with your mouth and heart that Jesus died for your sins.  BAMM!  You accepted the call.  Then the devil comes calling you trying to persaude you to pick up the phone and talk to him. That is all in the devils plan to make you hang up on God.  

God already knows what we are going to do before we do it.  In the bible,

• God Calls Abraham (Genesis 12:1-5)
  
• God Calls Moses (Exodus 3:1-12)
  
• God Calls Ruth (Ruth 1:15-18)
  
• God Calls Samuel (I Samuel 3:1-10)
  
• God Calls David (I Samuel 16:6-13)
  
• God Calls Esther (Esther 4:9-17)
  
• God Calls Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:4-19)
  
• The Baptism, Temptation and Beginning of Jesus’ Ministry (Matthew 3:13–4:25)
  
• Jesus’ Resurrection – Mary Magdalene and the Other Mary (Matthew 28:1-10)
  
• God Calls Mary (Luke 1:26-38)
  
• Jesus and the Samaritan Woman (John 4:1-30)
  
• Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-40)
  
• God Calls Lydia (Acts 16:11-15)
  
• God Calls Timothy (I Timothy 4:6-16)

Each of these people had or have faced the evil wrongs of Satan.  God will do two things, one call you and give you the choice to pick up OR God will answer your call & deliver you from your sin!  It will still take an effort on your part either way.

So I challenge you to study the people above and see what transpired in their life on being "called"!  Ask yourself the following questions:

• What’s your initial response when God calls this person?
  
• How does this call story relate to how God might be calling you to live?
  
• What are the signs that God might be asking you to answer a call to service?
  
• What’s different about your call story and the person in the passage?
  
• How does this character respond and what are some ways God is calling you to respond?
  
• What fears or anxieties do you have about how God may be calling you to live?
  
• What excites you about God’s call in your life?
  
• Take some time to write out your answers in a journal or talk with a person or people you trust about your answers.

Now I ask you, Whose ringing your phone?  I'm Just Saying!

Sincerely,