Kingship and Lordship | Feeling Led and Our Calling
“I feel led…” We hear this phrase often in Christian circles as a person either tries to explain the leading of the Holy Spirit or discern their overall purpose in life. This comes up when a person feels they should pray for another person, sometimes with a specific word of meaning along side, other times as a simple act of obedience. Other times, this comes with the idea of pursuing our calling in life as to what we should do with our career or what specific gifting we have been given. For all of its uses, the phrase “I feel led…” has become a staple in certain Christian circles. In some ways, this statement comes from a place of humility yet in other ways, this comes from a place of theological arrogance. Depending on how we use this phrase will demonstrate the nature of our heart as we pursue our calling.
Throughout this series, we have been taking an honest look at what it means to practical understand that Jesus Christ is King and Lord of our life. We have looked at what it means to submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ by allowing Him to reign over our actions and our emotions. In short, with Jesus Christ as King and Lord over our lives, we submit every ounce of our being before the rule and reign of God. Nothing remains untouched. While most would not disagree with this as a statement, when it comes to submitting our calling before the Lord, we hesitate. There is something deep within us that resonates with having our purpose called into question. Even though we know God’s purpose or plan is better than anything we might come up with, we hesitate to call our own idea of our calling into question.
Leaving Room To Be Human
To be fully honest, I appreciate this statement and variations of it depending on the heart behind it. Saying “I feel led…” allows for room that we might be wrong in our interpretation. It gives God space to be God and us space to be us. We do not get everything correct 100% of the time but we still must be willing to act on where we feel God directing our steps. “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9, ESV) Proverbs shows us that while we all have plans it is God who directs our every step. There is a humility in allowing room for us to be wrong. We cannot raise up to the standard of perfection that God does. Nor we can expect that our understanding is full and completely. Walking close to God involves a continually processing of prayerfully acting according to the Spirit. But we cannot cease to move or freeze in paralyzed fear.
Submission to the Lord means going where the Lord calls us. For starters, there are the things we are all called to do, such as walking on obedience to God, sharing our faith with the world around us, and allowing the Holy Spirit to live out the effects of His restoration in every aspect of our life. Saying we feel led to do these things can, with absolutely certainty, be correct as they are calls for every Christian to grow and deeper their relationship with our Heavenly Father. Yet, for the specifics of our calling, we must be willing to go and do whatever God says even when it goes against our instinct and feeling. God calls people to do God sized things. This will often lead us to doubt or fear. Don’t worry, these doubts are normal. Trust and faith operate best when placed on the foundation of God’s strength and will to overcome our fear and doubt. For Jesus to be fully King and Lord, wherever God calls us and whatever God calls us to do, we must be willing to follow.
The Excuse of Feeling Led
Yet, in our calling and in our understand of the guidance and direction of God, we cannot forget that none of us arrives at the calling of God with 100% understanding 100% of the time. Too many Christians have used “I feel led…” as the means to do whatever they feel regardless of any contradictions with scripture. We treat feeling as the end all be all of our understanding of faith and move without any prayerful consideration of what we are feeling. In truth, not every feeling we have will be from the Lord. “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. ” (1 John 4:1-3, ESV) Just because we feel called to something does not mean that we are in earnest called to that thing, simply that we had a feeling to that effect.
Our feeling called to something must be filtered through a right understanding of God as revealed in His authoritative word. Throughout history, whenever personal revelation has trumped scriptural authority, the result has been highly problematic for those involved. Prime examples are cults who treat personal revelation as higher than scripture. Yet, just because we are not in a cult does not mean we are rightly understanding and interpreting our feeling correctly. God will never contradict Himself as He is the measure of all truth. Furthermore, with scripture as God’s divine self-revelation, whatever call we might feel will never contradict the word of God. Should we feel we are called to something scripture expressly speaks against, we must be willing to submit to Jesus Christ as King and Lord of our life, even if we are offended in the process. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord . For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9, ESV) Jesus Christ is our King and Lord even if we do not understand Him fully because we know that His will for us will be better for us, even if we do not understand.
