A Prayer to Accept God's Calling By Kyle Norman Bible ReadingAnd I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Who shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here I am, Send me." – Isaiah 6:8 Listen or Read Below: When I first heard Jesus call me to be a priest, I had a hard time accepting this path for me. I was 15 years old and socially awkward. I wanted to be accepted by my peers. Announcing that I wanted to go into ministry was not something that would help my popularity. So, I had a hard time vocalizing any type of assent to this calling. For close to a year, I refused to answer. And yet, the call of God was persistent. The whisper of God never stopped. This passage from Isaiah is challenging in the deepest of ways because it holds before us a question that is asked in the heavens, beyond all time and space. "Who will go for us?" Will we respond like Isaiah? What is Jesus asking you to do?  Responding to our calling is not that easy. It's not as simple as it sounds. These five words, "Here I am, send me," are perhaps the hardest words to say in our life of faith. They scare us. They scare us because they demand both radical trust and radical vulnerability. If we are to say these words, we must leap into the unknown. We daringly take a step into the place or ministry where God calls us. No matter who you are, no matter how many times we may have done so, this is always a scary endeavor. To trust in the Lord is to hand over the reins of our lives. But to say "send me" also means we offer to God the fullness of who we are. Stepping forward in faith demands a spirit of honesty. There can be no pretending, no bravado, no hiding. God knows who we are in the deepest way, and it is that person whom God has called, and so it must be that person who responds. This is a leap we find hard to take. It becomes far too easy to say things like "send someone else" (Moses), or "I am too young" (Jeremiah), "I am too old" (Sarah), or "I am too sinful" (Peter).  Even Isaiah rejects his calling at first. Before his act of radical acceptance, Isaiah is overcome with a sense of his own sinfulness. He laments, "Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips!" Isaiah doesn't see himself as someone fit for the prophetic task. There is comfort in knowing that the great pillars of faith struggled with these words themselves. If we find these words hard to speak in our lives, we stand in good company. But while we may rest in such camaraderie, the lives of these saints testify to the importance of accepting God's call. Each person we see in Scripture, who maybe questioned their ability to accept God's charge, found themselves unable to resist the call of Christ. Yes, we can feel comforted that saints of the past wrestled with their callings, but we should also feel challenged to follow in their footsteps and accept the call of Christ on our lives.  God doesn't call us because we have it all figured out or because we are perfect in our faith. And so, accepting our calling isn't dependent upon some criteria of perfection we must meet. Ultimately, accepting our call isn't an act of spiritual power; it's one of trust. For Isaiah, it is only when the Spirit of God comes and touches his lips that he feels he can accept his calling. The point is that God worked in the very place that Isaiah looked upon as his weakness to confirm his calling on his life. When Isaiah accepts his calling, he becomes one of the most significant prophets of the Old Testament, speaking the most about the life and ministry of Jesus. When we accept our calling, who knows how many people may be led to a deeper experience of Jesus in their lives? Let's Pray: Almighty God.I know that you are always with me and that you always beckon me to step further in my faith. I know that your calling on my life is constant. Lord, you know I love you; you know I desire to do your will, but sometimes I find it difficult to fully offer myself to you. My insufficiencies, faults, and sins stare back at me. I trust your calling, O Lord, but I doubt my ability to enter it. But still, you call again and again. Help me to see your vision for my life. As you touched Isaiah's lips, may your power work in the place of my doubt and weakness. Give me boldness, resolve, and faith. Help me to know that my calling is about having you work in me and through me, and give me the strength to say, "Send me".This I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Photo credit: ©GettyImages/pcess609 The Reverend Dr. Kyle Norman is the Rector of St. Paul's Cathedral, located in Kamloops BC, Canada.  He holds a doctorate in Spiritual formation and is a sought-after writer, speaker, and retreat leader. His writing can be found at Christianity.com, crosswalk.com, ibelieve.com, Renovare Canada, and many others.  He also maintains his own blog revkylenorman.ca.  He has 20 years of pastoral experience, and his ministry focuses on helping people overcome times of spiritual discouragement. Related Resource: Jesus Calling – Stories of Faith Kerry Washington. Andrea Bocelli. Reba McEntire. Mark Wahlberg. Tony Dungy. Matthew McConaughey, What do all of these people have in common? They are all people of faith who have leaned on God in both the good and challenging times-and they've shown up to tell their story of faith on The Jesus Calling Podcast. The Jesus Calling Podcast provides a place for people from all walks of life to share the heartaches, joys, and divine moments that keep them going.  Inspired by Sarah Young’s classic devotional book, the Jesus Calling podcast has brought encouragement and peace to millions. New episodes drop every Thursday! Listen today on LifeAudio.com or wherever you find your podcasts. Now that you’ve prayed, are you in need of someone to pray for YOU? Click the button below! The post A Prayer to Accept God’s Calling – Your Daily Prayer – October 20 appeared first on GodUpdates.

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Anxiety has a purpose. I’ve saved my 2-year-old daughter from drowning a thousand times this summer. She believes she can swim, but she can’t. Her lack of anxiety isn’t an asset but a liability. Every time we go swimming as a family, she jumps in and flails around until I grab her with both hands. She always emerges from the water with a joyous grin. Ignorance is bliss. She’s free to not be anxious because I’m anxious. Anxiety gets a bad rap nowadays. It’s assumed to be an inherently negative term. The Koine Greek word is merimna, which can be rendered as “anxiety,” “worry,” “care,” or “undue concern.” It describes vigilance rooted in regard; it can be negative, positive, or neutral. One of my friends who is a licensed therapist regularly has people come into his office because they “have anxiety.” Step one, he says, is to get more specific in their self-assessment: he helps them discern whether their anxiety is ordered or disordered. The existence of anxiety disorders, like generalized anxiety disorder or panic disorder, proves there can, in fact, be ordered anxiety. Clinically disordered anxiety is brutal to live with, and it often takes a whole team of pastors, psychiatrists, and friends to help bear one’s burden (Gal. 6:2). This article isn’t meant to be a discussion about mental illness or its treatment, but I’d like to consider what ordered anxiety might look and feel like in the life of a follower of Jesus. Anxious for Godly Reasons The apostle Paul uses the term merimna and its derivatives nine times, and most of the time the term is decidedly positive. See, for example, what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7:32–34: I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. What does anxiety do? Here, anxiety is the regard a husband and wife have for one another that energizes them to please one another. Also, to be anxious about the “things of the Lord” has to do with pursuing holiness in body and spirit. So when Paul says “free from anxieties,” he demonstrates how competing anxieties inhibit one’s freedom to act single-mindedly. The unmarried person is single-minded with regard to the work of ministry, but the married person’s interests are rightly divided—it’s good and right that they’re concerned about pleasing their spouse. The existence of anxiety disorders proves there can, in fact, be ordered anxiety. In Philippians, Paul uses the term twice. Once, Paul describes Timothy as a great pastor. He says, “I have no one like him, who will be genuinely anxious for your welfare” (Phil. 2:20). This usage is similar to what we find in 1 Corinthians 12:25, where Paul tells the church to walk in unity so “the members may have the same anxiety for one another.” Here, anxiety is synonymous with care or concern. The second usage in Philippians is famous: “Be not anxious for anything” (4:6). How do these two uses of the word “anxiety” work together? Does Paul want us to care about nothing? To, like the Buddhists, extinguish the flames of passion in the pursuit of Nirvana? No. Paul is saying, “Do not sit idly in or be paralyzed by your anxiety, but bring it to the Lord with thanksgiving and prayer.” The Philippians 4:6 use of anxiety is similar to what Jesus is getting at in Luke 12:25: “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” Only God can add hours to your life, so worrying about your lifespan wastes emotional energy. Let this anxiety drive you to prayer and cling to the Author of Life. Pastoral Anxiety for the Local Church Anxiety isn’t without cost to the one who carries it. Paul describes his burden: “There is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches” (2 Cor. 11:28). Does Paul not trust the Lord to care for the church? Does Paul not believe the promise that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18)? Does Paul not understand that the sovereign Lord never sleeps? Paul soberly understands that local churches are fragile. Churches shut their doors every day. Elder teams split and fracture. Division ravages local assemblies of saints. Pastors make shipwreck of their faith and abandon the gospel once for all delivered to the saints all the time. The kingdom is unshakable, but local churches are shakable. Paul isn’t anxious about the church; he’s anxious for all the individual churches. Paul isn’t anxious about the church; he’s anxious for all the individual churches. About 10 years ago, I had a mentor figure disqualify himself from ministry. It haunted me. After a few months, he showed himself repentant. I took him out to lunch and said, “I’m concerned that I’ll end up like you. Where did you begin to go wrong?” He laughed and said, “Well, that’s an aggressive question I wasn’t prepared to answer.” He then said, “I stopped believing that it could happen to me. The fact that you’re concerned about the possibility that it might happen to you is a good sign. So, stay anxious, I guess?” This is congruent with Pauline teaching: “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this” (1 Tim. 4:16). If we stop believing we might go astray morally or doctrinally, we’ll stop keeping a close watch on ourselves. Nonanxious Leadership Isn’t Always Healthy There’s value in the pursuit of a nonanxious presence that comes through having a differentiated sense of self. When I know who I am in Christ, I don’t need others’ approval. I can live and lead with conviction, and I can resist the Messiah complex of overresponsibility. However, the low-grade narcissism that tempts pastors can use the idea of differentiation to mask that we might not care and might not love. A calloused heart will inevitably present itself as nonanxious. Perhaps we aren’t anxious because we trust the Lord; perhaps we aren’t anxious because we don’t care. Perhaps we aren’t anxious because we’re experienced and time-tested; perhaps we aren’t anxious because we’re haughty and prideful. Perhaps we aren’t anxious because we trust the Lord will build his church; perhaps we aren’t anxious because we’re naive about the fragility of institutions. Rather than avoid or suppress our anxieties, we should run hard toward a loving, attached life that produces ordered anxiety. Then we’ll find we need the Lord’s help and will lean on him as, perhaps, we haven’t in a long time. Having a total lack of anxiety like a toddler in swimming pool is a liability, not an asset.

Absolute chaos in Austin

YANKEES WIN

Residents of a Vermont city plagued by rampant homelessness and drug use are speaking out against the “lack of respect” shown for law-abiding citizens, and complaining that they cannot go outside…