"Called Me Higher"

I heard this song for the first time last year on Pandora.  I ran over to my phone, hit the thumbs up and Googled the artist...All Sons and Daughters.  I played this song on repeat probably 15 times that day.  I fell in love with this song.  The title is "Called Me Higher".  This is sort of the theme song for my season of life.  Here's the lyrics:

I could just sit
I could just sit and wait for all your goodness
Hope to feel your presence
And I could just stay
I could just stay right where I am and hope to feel you
Hope to feel something again

And I could hold on
I could hold on to who I am and never let You change me from the inside
And I could be safe
I could be safe here in Your arms and never leave home
Never let these walls down

But you have called me higher
You have called me deeper
And I will go where you will lead me Lord
You have called me higher
You have called me deeper
And I will go where you lead me Lord
Where you lead me
Where you lead me Lord

And I will be Yours
I will be Yours for all my life
So let Your mercy light the path before me

I have known Jesus since I was 7 years old.  I'm now 30.  God is calling me higher and deeper and I pray He will until the day I die.  I believe He's calling all Christians to a higher and deeper relationship with Him.  Don't hear me wrong, there is not a new truth I need to be taught a part from the Bible and there is not a new answer that needs to be found.  I've known this truth and this mystery since I was seven.  The truth is Jesus and the answer is the gospel.  The higher and the deeper that he's calling me to is actually living out what my lips have been professing since I was a young child.  This calling isn't actually a new one.  I'm just willing to listen and obey now.  And because we serve a very patient God, He is holding my hand and welcoming my obedience with no judgment of the numerous times I have told Him no.  This change in my life actually started about 10 years ago but only in the last few years have I seen, felt and believe that a life of saying yes to God is the only life worth living.  I often look at other Christians in my life and wonder if they wrestle with the same things that I do.  I say I believe in Jesus and I say I believe what the Bible says, so why don't I live it out?    The higher and the deeper is calling me to do just that, live it out.  It's not enough for me to just go to church on Sunday and be involved in women's Bible studies and fill my calendar with 'good' things.  If I don't ever put those times of equipping into practice, what good are they? 

We have a choice. I have a choice.  As the song says, I could just stay right where I'm at waiting, hoping, longing to feel something again.  I could just hold on to the person I am today and never want to change and be stubborn and set in my ways...prideful...self absorbed...self seeking...I could stay safe.  I could never let my walls down...too afraid of the pain I might feel in having to say good-bye to a foster child never once thinking about the pain I'm relieving in their life by giving them a bed and some food and the feeling of being loved.  I could let the fear of people's opinions drive me to say no to God and wonder if I'll lose friendships or even our family because my life doesn't look like theirs.  I could.  I have.  I could be like King Nebeuchadnezzar in Daniel 4 and be "at home in my palace, contented and prosperous." 
 

OR...


 I could allow God to work in me and change me from the inside.  I could allow His Spirit to move in my heart.  I could learn to obey that still small voice.  I could stop pushing that feeling away that I get inside of me when He gently shows me to step out in faith and trust.  I could actually live out the belief that this world and all that's in it will fade away and I'm living for an eternal reward.  I could actually love people enough to care about their salvation.  I could actually fear God more than man.  After all, I say I believe this.

This is the deeper and higher that I am in right now.  Obedience. 

It doesn't matter what, where, why, how God is asking you to do something.  The truth is the God of the universe created you and desires an authentic and personal relationship with YOU.  He wants to take you deeper and higher not because you are so amazing but because He is so amazing.  It's hard for me to put into words what happens when you start living out truth.  You find purpose, you find joy, you find hope, you find fulfillment, you find satisfaction.  All the things this world tells you that you'll find in yourself, money, cars, houses, friendships, relationships, possessions, that strangely enough leave you extremely empty.  Is this a coincidence?  No!  We are created in His image (Gen. 1:27) and we are created by Him and for Him!  Colossians 1:16, "For everything was created by Him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rules or authorites -- all things have been created through Him and for Him."  And later in the verse it says, "so that He might come to have first place in everything." 


In the book "You and Me Forever", Lisa Chan describes it this way:  "I can testify that the mission is far more appealing than the safety of the status quo.  Yes, sometimes I am tempted to pursue an "ordinary" life.  There are moments when I just want to be selfish and not think so hard about what God wants.  But it's too late.  Once you have experienced true life, there's no going back!
David urged us to "taste and see that the Lord is good" (Ps. 34:8), and that's what has happened for me.  I have tasted what it's like to live a life that is more and more surrendered to Him.  I have tasted and seen His love for others, and when He gives you that same love in your heart, it feels shallow and unfulfilling to go back to your old way of doing things.  I have a taste in my mouth for steps of faith that draw you so near to Him you don't want to ever go back, even if He would let you."  THIS is what I've experienced.  Yes, my salvation has been secure since I was seven but I've tasted and seen the fulfillment of a live lived in surrender and all I want is more. 


The things of the world will never satisfy and if you're reading this and have lots of 'things of the world', I'm sure you know exactly what I mean.  People will fail, circumstances will change, life gets messy but God alone is the constant.  God alone is worth living my life for.  And if you're like me and have known Jesus since you were little, I urge you to allow Him to do a deeper work in your life.  I urge you to surrender ALL of yourself to Him and stop being a casual Christian who is of no use in His Kingdom. 


Here's the song...