How to Respond to the Call of God
by Dr. John Tetsola

We must make sure that we count the cost when responding to the call of God. If there is a price to pay for you to deny the call, the devil will happily pay it. If your wife can intimidate you out of the call of God, the devil will see that she does. If your father, mother, friends and old church can intimidate you out of the call of God, the devil will definitely see that they do. If you have not counted the cost, you will not be able to go on to answer the call of God for your life. Before you answer the call, you must count the cost. What will the cost be? Well, you must be willing to endure hardship, neglect, loneliness, misunderstanding, rejection, and abandonment while being cast down all the day long for God's glory.

Many times you see a person experiencing these things and you say, "My God … I sure don't think I could take that." Well, that is why you did not receive their call. That is why it was given to that person and not to you. The reason the person can take all of the hardship is because he or she is operating on an anointing and a grace to take it, for it is their call. God will not allow anything to be put on you for which He has not given you divine enablement to sustain you through it, until that call is fully accomplished in your life. This ought to encourage you!

And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. 
Luke 9:62

If you have any idea that you may run back when the going gets tough, or think that you can take a sabbatical, then don't answer the call. Abraham was seventy five when he left Haran. That is pretty old. Jeremiah was told by God, "Say not that thou art a child." Therefore, say not that you are too old for a call, or that you are too young for a call. The call of God is limitless. It is all encompassing. It has no age, social, racial, nor physical boundaries. It is just like salvation. Whosoever will may come when God calls. We can never offer an acceptable excuse when confronted with the call of God upon our lives.

Is God speaking to you? Has God already spoken to you? Has a call of God come to you? The issue is, are you responding to it? Or, will you respond? Has God already given you a call and you answered, and now God has put a fresh call upon your life and you are battling with it? Will you go? Will you say yes? I believe so much and so strongly that God is calling a lot of people in this hour out of an old body unto a new body. God never does a new thing in an old wineskin.

You don't build a church on friendship. You don't build a church on emotion. You don't build a church on how long you have known someone. You must answer the call of God on your life and God will bring new friends and new relationships to fortify your life. If God is calling you out of a fellowship into a new fellowship, a new work or a new move in God, you had better go. Don't ever stay because the pastor, the eldership, your friends or relatives say, "You'll break my heart if you leave." Don't let them give you the song and dance of human reasoning! "You are such a vital part of this ministry." You will instead break the heart of God and lose the will and blessing of God, if you don't go.

We have pastors, leaders and eldership all over the country and nations today that are trying to hold churches and ministries together on friendships. They may say, "After all, we have been together for years. You can't just leave me. Please think about it." If God says leave - honey, you'd better leave!! But don't leave with malice, pride or animosity. Just leave in love. God may give you a call and for years you answer that call, but then God may give you a new call. Now you have to go right back and let everything in Haran die. You have to forget the former things and move forward. It is very important for you to understand that we must allow God to lead us in and to lead us out.

Don't just make it your decision. Let the Spirit of God do it. We must not build churches, ministries and calls on emotions and methods. That is a might and power way of building. The Holy Ghost should draw you in and He should take you out, and there should be peace on you when this is done. Anything that says "But I am so afraid that I will hurt their feelings if I leave," is not God.

The Holy Ghost does not produce that stress. If, for example, you walk up to the leadership of an organization, church or ministry that you are under, and say to the leadership that you feel God has called you, and that you feel a stirring up in your spirit to go to Alabama or Alaska to establish a work, the leadership - after an unselfish and Spirit-inspired, impartial counseling session - is supposed to be able to let you go with his or her blessings. And, if the individual gets to Alabama or Alaska and realizes that they missed God and wants to come back, they should be able to come back with no embarrassment, anger or hassle from the leadership. Child of God, listen to me. Don't ever let the call of God upon your life be manipulated by the emotions of men!

I believe there are some of you reading this right now that God has laid His hands on, and is calling as missionaries into the ministry. You may not know the time, or when it is going to be accomplished, but God has called you to pastor, evangelize, teach, or perhaps He is calling you out of one phase of employment or career into another. You are wrestling with it and yet, in your heart, God won't turn it loose. I urge some of you reading this to answer that call prayerfully. Go to your leadership and tell them what you believe God is speaking to you, so that they can help you judge it and counsel you properly, so as to bring understanding in that area. God will always give you the divine enablement and the anointing for that call when it is time for it to be birthed.

by Dr. John A.Tetsola