I’ve been thinking about dreams, visions, and callings again lately… and then ol’ Robbymac posts on the subject just to stir the pot. (I’ll have to get him back for that later.) It seems I’m looking for the 411 on the subject and all I’m getting is the 404.
Let’s review. We’re talking about dreams, visions, and callings that seem to have died… ones that we don’t think that we or God want dead.
And here’s the Rub. I had a dream. I had a vision. I had a calling. People said things to me, people “saw” things for me, people encouraged me in certain things. And I felt God called me to certain things. I had this idea that God puts deep within us an earnest and eager desire to do the thing he’s ultimately called us to do, and we can sometimes feel out of place when we aren’t pursuing that thing. Often it seems to us that perhaps it couldn’t be truly God calling us to that thing because it’s the thing we want so badly. The logic ran that God would put a desire in us that he longs to fill for his own Glory, and as long as we were in touch with the desires that God put within us, we would gravitate into our calling. God wouldn’t put a desire like that in the depths of our spirit and then specifically not want us to see it fulfilled… that’d be sadistic. I reasoned that a lot of these dreams are therefore from God. And I had a dream.
So then Robbymac writes,
It was almost like an X-Files kind of moment: people wanted to believe that their dreams and hopes were from God, but lacking evidence, were losing hope and trying to make sense out of life — if I may be permitted to use the dreaded “post” prefix — post-dreams/vision.
Hmmm.
Am I post-dreams/vision, or dare I push the envelope… post-calling?
Now, one of the common verses to encourage people who are discouraged in their callings is Romans 11:29.
For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. (ESV)
For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. (NET)
For God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. (NIV)
For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. (KJV)
For the gifts and the calling of God are not repented of. (ASV)
God’s gifts and God’s call are under full warranty—never canceled, never rescinded. (Message)
For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn. (NLT)
For once they are made, God does not withdraw his gifts of his calling. (Phillips)
So let’s just pause and stipulate that translators seem to be pretty much in agreement about what the verse ought to say in fairly plain English. And though there may be room for “post-dreams/vision,” it doesn’t support the notion of “post-calling.” I’m not sure if that’s the good news or the bad news.
So I had this thing I wanted to do, I felt God called me to do, someday… something to work toward. This became the thing I most wanted to do, above all other things, someday. At first I felt encouraged by the church leaders to pursue it. I began to engage in related activities, somewhat “dabbling” in this calling, working toward being able to “leave my nets behind.” Eventually I felt resisted by the church leaders in my pursuit of it. Then I kind of gave up and asked how on earth I could ever have possibly wanted to do this thing. Now I’m not so sure that this thing should even be done in the way that it’s always been done, and maybe I was all wrong about it to start with. I’m not seriously motivated in this direction anymore, and I’m not encouraged about the whole thing. Maybe I’m “post-couraged.”
So now I have this problem. I still believe that I had a dream, that this dream was of God. Moreover, I had a calling. What happened to it? Well, it must still be there somewhere, but it seems a little MIA at the moment. If anyone sees it wandering around, give me a shout, okay? Seriously, the problem is this: I’m not convinced I was wrong about the whole thing, but there are a lot of irreconcilables involved, and it no longer looks at all appealing and I no longer think I’m up to the task at all. Maybe dreams, visions, and callings don’t evaporate or get rescinded after all… but evidently they’re still prone to some very deep hibernation.
There will be a time and a place for your calling. Moses was 80 before his was used, altho God told him about it long before that. Just because we know about our callings and visions doesn’t mean that we need to act on them at that very moment. There may need to be other things that we need to do first and other things that need to be in place before they can come to fruition. And sometimes you may find that you use your calling in unexpected ways and you can’t see it but others can.
Oh yeah, I just remembered — then there’s that prophetic guy who became a fairly good friend in the ‘denomination’ which I left who when he first met me told me I was a “Joseph.” Thanks a lot!
Brother Maynard,
I appreciate when you share where you’re at on this journey. I can always relate it seems.
At first, I thought all of the words about destiny, etc. had been a load of…well, you know. Then I decided it was just me, that I couldn’t be trusted with dreams and vision. Now I believe that I need to believe in the dreams that are still there, but I’m still in this place of dormancy. I know that I’m supposed to be learning the lessons of this phase of the journey. I still struggle with my tendency to make something happen, but fortunately, that is out of my reach for now.
Thanks for sharing your heart.
OH NO… another “Joseph” … move over bro.
Here’s my fifty cents.. the calling lives, but its expression was not what you and I expected. But hey.. we see in part and prophesy in part right? The good thing is God managed to get our eyes off the calling.. off ourselves really.. and get us moving on with life. Because in the end Liz O’Connor is right.. the real test of spirituality is how we handle the ordinary.
Well put, Len. I have no problem with the calling still being there, and I could maybe drum up some enthusiasm (though I won’t be trying) if the end result will be something other than it sounds like (having tossed so many of my old paradigms and methodologies…). It’s in the ordinary. Maybe you’ll like this one: a couple years ago after a long absence from the prophetic gathering that I used to partially oversee, I got encouraged, invited, to drop in again, see what’s up, share whatever I had, they were eager to hear from me as well. I told them a bunch of stuff, and then I basically told them [THIS] which is along the lines of the ordinary. They thanked me for sharing, but… well, the reception was less than enthusiastic for that last part.
I have to wonder if the reception was less enthusiastic because what you were asking of them was actually far more difficult. It’s also not as much fun. There are no bright lights, no applause. It’s just life … in the trenches; calling light into dark places one matchstick at a time. I like that idea.
I see I’m late joining this conversation. Bro. Maynard, with your intentional vagaries solildly in place as they are, I could have written the same post- probably without the “eh.” I loved the message from 2004 you linked to. Well said.
I still hear from fellow “leavers” of my old church who’ve gone to a different, more “active” church (how should I say that?)– whereas we were “called” (gee I’m sick of quotation marks) to go to a sleepy little congrgation who still would run screaming if anyone dared say “God told me…” or “I had a vision” eee gads. Never mind devote entire services to such things. And to be honest, I might raise my eyebrows now, too. My how things have changed. Additionally, I’m still sometimes asked for my opinion/insight about things of the spirit, demonic, what have you. I feel like a hypocrit even trying to answer. “What do I know? I was “called” out of all that. Shouldn’t you be asking somebody else?” My greatest awareness of a calling right now has little to do with my service to a congregation- though I am currently on staff (shhh) it’s about my family. My flowers. The grass seed we planted. The fight I’m having with the garbage company who drove over my water meter. I’m remembering a post I was going to make.
I loved your reply Len, by the way. It was such a self centered sprituality back then… I see now how noxious that is. Reminds me of my daughter. She’s growing out of the “look at me look at me” stage into a quieter self confidence that she carries with her all the time. She doesn’t have to say it. She knows I’m looking.
Yikes Cindy, check your blog the code has left the building ;)
I just discovered that! Blogger has gone all squirrely on us. It hasn’t been right all week. Then, silly me, I tried to alter my template yesterday – half of it just disappeard. I would be the one not savvy enough to have kept a copy of the code on my hard drive… I’m at the mercy of Blogger. gulp.
I am really late on this one, but I just want to give you a few thoughts from my own journey:
– I am not sure, or rather, I don’t believe you can use the verse from Romans in that way. It has been used that way by evangelicals, but it is bad theology. The verse is right in Pauls lengthy argument about Israel – has God left them, or are they still the people of God.
– The problem with using it in the way you do, is that the “calling of Israel” is a much wider idea than a “thing God has told them to do” – the calling Paul speaks about is the calling of being the people of God – the chosen ones, has God dumped them? Are they no longer Gods people?
– If you apply this to your life; Has God dumped you? Are you no longer His child? The answer is of course; no.
– So what is your calling? First and foremost your calling is a calling to Him: He has called you close to himself, this calling prevails.
– In His presence you are transformed, energized and activated in whatever gifts and talents God has given you. Like Israel you are called to be a sign of Gods transforming power in a sick world. This is a collective calling to the church who has been grafted to the vine, Israel, but the collective calling is dependant on the transforming work of God in each individuals heart.
– God may send you to do very specific things. Those might, or might not come to pass. Paul may very well not have made it to Spain. The apostles believed Christ would return within their lifetime. Gods work is Gods work. Our job is being available.
Brother, I don’t know where you are in your call or faith, but I pray that you have not allowed people to discourage you in answering God’s call
Take that scripture to mean that His calling can not be stripped from you.
In Christ