I – Thesis statement
Many people claim the following, “God is calling me to do this,” but the subjective nature of interpreting emotions resulting from prayer leaves them open to total deception because they do not have empirical evidence for who or what is “calling” them or what “calling” actually means.
What even is “calling”? I think it’s simply a desire to do something that people try to justify with vague divine approval.
“God’s calling me to major in Liberal Arts” – no, you want to major in Liberal Arts because it’s not as objectively difficult as physics and you want an easy degree.
II. Understanding the Phenomenon
Who makes this statement?
People who are looking to justify a choice or course of action [usually that they have already made up their minds about before God ever “called” them] by linking that action to divine approval.
It is a good way to immunize oneself to the majority of pushback or argumentation. Because who is going to come up to them and say “God’s not calling you”? It’s an unassailable position. To attack their decision is to attack the calling of God.
What do they mean when they say “God is calling me”?
They usually mean that they feel some sort of internal emotional push to take some action. They have no objective, empirical evidence of God’s calling [and they almost certainly can never support their claim through scripture], but nonetheless, because they felt the warm-and-fuzzies in their little hearts, they assume it’s God.
What do they truly mean?
When people make a statement like “God is calling me”, they mean that they decided what they wanted to do and are looking for external validation that cannot be questioned or opposed.
“I came to this decision after a lot of prayer and study” is another statement often used. And for most people, this is not true – they come to a decision first, and then try to validate that pre-made decision through “prayer and study“.
“God is calling me” is mere emotionalism in 98% of cases.
The claim that a person is being singled out by God in order to do something is silly. The only way God speaks to anyone in this modern day is through the scripture. No one is getting a special message. There is not a man alive receiving a new revelation of any kind.
Therefore, unless a position is rooted in scripture, it cannot objectively be said to come from the mind of God.
And that is the case with these statements. They cannot objectively be said to have originated with God.
But the average religious person doesn’t let a lack of empirical evidence stop them from having their opinion!
And understand, unless one is engaging in tactical prayer, the ability to definitely know God’s answer is reduced. Therefore most people are left with their own subjective interpretations of God’s answer to their prayer.
“God, should I take this job or not?” After this question, they wait but hear no answer. Then they feel some kind of emotional feeling telling them “Yes, you should take the job”. And from that they assume “That must have been God”. But the reality is they engaged in a subjective interpretation of a prayer they offered.
That is an example of a personal bias affecting the interpretation of prayer. The person already knew they wanted to take the job. They had the desire ahead of time [“I wanted to do this anyways, so lemme just slap a ‘God is calling me’ on there to justify it”].
If you want to know how to ask a specific prayer and know without a doubt if it was answered, look no further than the example in Genesis 24.
III. The Subconscious Mind at Work
A. Much of what we learn and think goes below the surface of our minds into the unconscious areas. Much of our behavior is automatic – we call this habit. So during prayer, it may be that we already have a thought or a desire that we want to have fulfilled and it dives below the surface of our mind.
During or after prayer, when we ask God to “tell us what to do”, emotions bubble up. But these emotions are not from God, they are the results of thoughts and desires that already exist in the recesses of the mind – and they are the perfect tool for an individual to justify his own decision to himself.
But note that in that example, there was no interference or action from God. All of it happened within the mind of the individual. But he will be more than happy to attribute it to God because that “Locks the decision down” and “God agrees with me” – who is going to argue with God? Especially when He is agreeing with me!
Avoid letting personal desires, wants, fears or motivations influence the interpretation of prayer. There is nothing tactical or objective about that behavior.
IV. The Temptations of the Devil
Most Christians understand that one possible source of temptation is the Devil. Most people are not tempted by the devil, they are tempted by their own desires [James 1:13-15].
Understand that one of the best tools the devil has in his arsenal is our own personal desires. He does not have to waste time directly tempting each one of us. He has set up “investments” of sorts within most people that allow those people to continually sin because they are at war with desires and often lose.
The Devil can, directly or indirectly, tempt people using the tool of desires and wants.
So tell me, based on that information, if you cannot prove objectively that God is the one calling you, then how do you know that “calling” is not the devil?
And the answer is that most people will never know. They do not know if God or the devil is talking to them. That is the severe downside of lacking objective measures when speaking about what God is or is not calling one to do.
And because of the subjective nature of the interpretation of prayer for most people, the Adversary can exploit this and turn it to his advantage.
If some desires come from the devil, and you make a decision based on some of those desires that you mistake for “God’s answer” to your prayer, you mistake God’s calling for “The Devil’s Calling” and you lack any objective way to distinguish between the two.
And some may try to argue that “Well God’s calling me to be a preacher/minister! How can you say that is from the devil?” I happen to know that the devil can turn anything to his advantage. He may be more than happy for you to be a minister because now you will be in the perfect position to cause division in a church, fragment it, alienate people, cause a lack of growth in the church, or a plethora of other options. To severely damage the spiritual growth of a church, the devil just needs weak people in leadership positions.
1 John 4:1 – “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world”.
V. Lack of Concrete Evidence
As we continue to mention, confusing God’s calling with personal emotions is the key way that people become confused about what God is or is not calling someone to do. It’s confusing because for most people, “God’s calling” lacks concrete evidence. You may say “Well, there is never any way to know for certain what God’s answer is”, but I think that is also untrue. Go back and look at the example in Genesis 24 – that is a highly specific prayer. It guarantees that there will be no confusion about the answer due to its specificity.
The problem is most people do not want to pray this way because it means you will know for certain what the answer to the prayer is. It crystalizes God’s answer, making it perfectly clear. If you pray in a specific manner, then you know what “No” looks like. And that is scary. We would rather keep it vague so we can try to interpret the answer to prayer based on our emotions.
Therefore, prayer has to be approached specifically, with critical thought, and then we need to analyze what we believe is the response to the prayer by cross-referencing the Word of God.
Why is that important?
Because if “God is calling me to do something”, and that ‘something’ goes against the teachings of the Bible, I can quite effectively rule out God as the source of my answered prayer and information.
God will never call an individual to sin.
For example, God doesn’t call people to leave their spouse for any reason other than that which is authorized in Matt 19.
If a biblical position cannot be backed up with scripture, it is likely an incorrect position.
By mistaking internal thoughts, feelings, and desires for God’s word, you get the Catholic Pope initiating the Crusades. That wasn’t a win for the “God is calling me” team. Nor was it a win for Christianity as a whole, because people still love to point that out as a “horrible thing Christians did in the name of God [even though the Pope and catholicism shouldn’t be confused with Christianity – they are different]. God did not initiate the Crusades – it was the choice of a flawed man.
VI. NKJV Bible Verses as Cautionary Guidance
Ephesians 5:15-17 ~ “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is”.
The Bible is a book encouraging discernment among people. Random decisions and choices made on emotional bases are not wise. Most people approach God, approach His word, and pray without discernment of what the will of God is. God’s will is clearly outlined in scripture, and He has one main objective: “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” [2 Peter 3:9]. All of His actions, His complete will converges on this very statement.
And therefore, objective measures and rational discernment are required rather than internal emotional sensations when attempting to understand the will of God.
