“I press on toward the goal
for the prize of the upward call
of God in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 3:14 (ESV)
The Call of God is an inexorable one. It is the eternal quest of Love itself to draw His creation to the unfathomable, unsearchable and indescribable wonders of Himself. The Love of God is filled with the necessity to share and expend itself in selfless giving to His creation.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
John 3:16
The gift of His Son was precipitated by love. The Son, the personification of the Godhead, “made Himself of no reputation” but “humbled Himself” so that we might begin to comprehend the nature of the Kingdom of God to which we have been called.
The nature of this “upward Call” is eternal and uncompromising. As we partake of Him, we begin to feel the NEED of the Divine to search out, to press into the Holy, and to express all that He is becoming to us.
Paul cried out:
“For though I preach the gospel,
I have nothing to glory of:
for necessity is laid upon me…”
1 Corinthians 9:16
Necessity is the offspring of Divine Love. It is a compulsion borne in a heart that God has captured. Stagnation and apathy are foreign elements: teachings and doctrines whereby we become satiated with knowing about God rather than the pursuit of God Himself.
The “upward Call,” like magnetism, exerts a pull upon those things that are of a corresponding nature. Wood, hay and stubble do not feel its wonder. Nature determines the power of its influence; as in the natural, so also in the Spirit. In receiving Christ and His nature, we are implanted with a Divine enablement to feel and respond to this miraculous influence.
Human energies cannot manufacture this “upward Call.” The only thing we can offer is to surrender ourselves to its appeal. As with a magnet, nearness to Him strengthens its power while distance lessens its pull.
“But it is good for me to draw near to God…”
Psalm 73:28
And again:
“Draw nigh to God,
and He will draw nigh to you…”
James 4:8
His Love abiding in our hearts is the impetus for a deeper relationship with Him. The pursuit of an individual reveals the heart’s true treasure.
“For where your treasure is,
there will your heart be also.”
Matthew 6:21
The Shulamite Bride in the Song of Songs cries out to her Beloved:
“Draw me, we will run after Thee…”
Song of Songs 1:4
They who feel the draw of His Love and allow His Spirit to embrace and capture their hearts will influence those around them to also “run after” Him; this is the true ministry of the Spirit.
Who He is to each of us will produce a unique expression born of relationship.
“A bundle of myrrh is my Beloved to me.…”
Song of Songs 1:13 (LITV)
Revelation 22:17
†
The invitation of God “to come” flows from lives “who hear” and who are “thirsty” for HIM. A satiated life speaks of God without the corresponding NEED to drink of Him the “water of Life.”
Related Post: Desire: The Sign of Life
Praying for a restored new year for all of us. Thanks for your inspirational words.
Yes, amen. May we allow His love to be the power and the source of all good in us.
To Him be glory.
Blessings to you both!
BT
The One Ineffably Wondrous Triune God, the Holy Trinity of Absolute Infinity, our marvelous Maker and merciful, masterful Master, with Whom we magnificently, munificently have to do, Is Himself Love (1 John 4:8,16), unoriginated, unformed Love, omnibenevolent, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, the uncreated Creator, all triumphant Truth, all great and all glorious always, eternally unfailing wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, immutably, everlastingly undiminished in all of His Sovereign attributes, nature, and characteristics.
Let all that has breath ceaselessly, extravagantly, limitlessly, eternally praise and thank, savor and serve, revel and rejoice, worship and honor our God of all grace and all glory in His superscendent Spirit of Truth and the beneficent beauty of His happy holiness as the One and only true and living God Who Is as King of kings and Lord of lords infinitely more splendorous than the grand sum of all created existence from everlasting past to everlasting future.
Of our Bright and Morningstar for our every morning and our Dayspring from on high throughout all our days, we are His winning worth of wondrous workmanship, mercifully, marvelously more intensely involved than the waves are with the sea and than I am even with me (wonky, wily, weak and wayward as betimes I am), in His passionately purifying process of our being patiently, persistently, proficiently perfected for the perfect Day of complete conformity to the character of the Christ. Alleluia! Alleluia!! Alleluia!!!
That God Is Love, our Forever First Love and All Magnificent Obsession, our Champion and Chief of celestial certainty, is the blazing, inextinguishable, rapturous Fire of Shulamite undeserved, unearned, holy, heavenly bridal Desire.
Ephesians 3:16-21 AMP
16 May He grant you out of the riches of His glory, to be strengthened and spiritually energized with power through His Spirit in your inner self, [indwelling your innermost being and personality], 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through your faith. And may you, having been [deeply] rooted and [securely] grounded in love, 18 be fully capable of comprehending with all the saints (God’s people) the width and length and height and depth of His love [fully experiencing that amazing, endless love]; 19 and [that you may come] to know [practically, through personal experience] the love of Christ which far surpasses [mere] knowledge [without experience], that you may be filled up [throughout your being] to all the fullness of God [so that you may have the richest experience of God’s presence in your lives, completely filled and flooded with God Himself]. 20 Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams], according to His power that is at work within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen.