What does it mean to be called?...

It means to have the Lord open our spiritual eyes to behold God’s Lamb who was slain for our sins. It refers to the Divine prompting to come out of the world and receive the Lord Jesus Christ.

The concept of being "called" is associated with the idea of foreknowledge, of predestination, of Divine sovereignty. The awareness of the sovereignty of God in salvation is necessary if we are to accept the clear statements of the Scriptures.

For ye see your calling, brothers, how that not many wise men in the appetites of the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called (I Corinthians 1:26).

A study of the Old Testament and New Testament will reveal that God is sovereign in our salvation. A person is called or he is not called. If he is not called, attempts to bring him to Christ must be exercised apart from the Holy Spirit of God.

Saints who labour in the Lord’s vineyard develop a sense of the timing of the Holy Spirit. To those who pray, waiting on the Lord, there is given an awareness of the present will of Christ. If we are serving the Lord in our own wisdom and strength, we are working in the flesh and not in the Spirit of God. We must wait on the Lord to find what He is doing. What He is doing—this is what we are to do.

We see, then, that God is building His own Kingdom. God picks and chooses according to His own purposes in Christ. When God calls an individual, that person is given a desire to do the will of God in Christ. He can refuse to obey the call if he so chooses.

Saints of experience can recount incidences in which people have expressed an awareness of the Lord’s will for themselves. The individuals either have obeyed the Lord’s will or have resisted it.

It indeed is a fearful act to resist the callings of God. Woe to anyone who continues to resist the voice of the Lord God!