Am I called? Understanding divine calls (1), By Ayo Akerele

Are we all equal in the divine calling? In fact, some have become rebels in the church, challenging the authority of their pastors; we are all the same. The answers vary and differ from context to context. Every believer is called into what I call the “generic call” to preach the gospel and and to be a light for God on earth. The “go ye into the world” mandate as spoken by Jesus in Mark 16:15 is for every believer.

In 1985, the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa held a powerful crusade in Ibadan. I was a young boy, but was there. Something erupted in my spirit when I saw the lame walk. It was the largest gathering of people I had ever seen in my life as a little boy. But the hand of God was certainly on me as His chosen vessel, even though I did not know this at that time. The only thing I knew from 1984, when I first gave my life to Christ, was that I had an unusual thirst for God. I was a marked man for ministry. I would enter public buses and would start preaching. Passengers competed to pay my transport fare. I walked miles and kilometres to conferences and conventions across the city of Ibadan. The distance was not an issue to me. My heart was burning for God. I didn’t know that such burning was the mark of an impending call. I started reading Kenneth Hagin’s books from around 1986, devouring them like food.

Early in the morning, and long before my parents and siblings woke up, I would be awake praying and studying the word. My mum would have to knock the door of my room, yelling at me to get prepared for school. There was such a passion and a hunger to seek God. Something was working on me. I would see sin and run. A lot of strange girls were lurking around me, but there was this supernatural power that made me to lose passion for sexual immorality, even while many young people of my age at that time were swimming in sin. I was never in any sexual relationship with a single girl. It never happened once. I saw myself in my dream preaching to crowds.

From the mid ’80s, my appetite for God’s word spiked. I began to buy tapes and cassettes in dozens, using my little pocket money to fund this lifestyle. I would lock myself up in the room for hours, consuming messages from the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa, Bishop Francis Wale Oke, Kenneth R. Hagin, Bishop David Oyedepo, Zacharias Tanee Fomum, Pastor Kumuyi, Pastor Olubi Johnson, Dr Uma Ukpai, and from God’s generals in the famous book written by Robert Liardon, and a host of others. There was just an insatiable appetite for God. It was the mantle for an impending call, but I never knew this.

When God’s eyes are on a man for an assignment, He will mark out that man with a unique mantle and grace for personal dedication and consecration. No man takes this honour to himself, except those who are called. Like God told Jeremiah, “before you were formed in the womb, I knew you and I separated you” (Jeremiah 1:5). That’s the key word, “separation.” I was separated.

The story I’m telling today spanned more than 25 years of serving God with incredible sacrifices across eight different ministries in Africa, Europe, and North America. It’s impossible to tell the whole story in a single article. But my point is this: When God’s eyes are on a man for an assignment, He will mark out that man with a unique mantle and grace for personal dedication and consecration. No man takes this honour to himself, except those who are called. Like God told Jeremiah, “before you were formed in the womb, I knew you and I separated you” (Jeremiah 1:5). That’s the key word, “separation.” I was separated.

God had an assignment for me, but He needed to carve a pathway for that assignment to be born. He was calling me into the teaching ministry, especially a dimension of teaching that would require a certain level of integrity to make it acceptable and impactful to the body. The assignment was about the teaching and preaching of righteousness, which I never expected nor knew was going to happen.

However, within the confines of the preaching of the gospel, there are specific and unique callings, popularly called the five-fold ministries. You can’t arrogate these offices, their authorities, and their accompanying graces to yourself. They are given at God’s prerogative.

This question has dominated the conversations of many for generations. Is everyone called? Are we all equal in the divine calling? In fact, some have become rebels in the church, challenging the authority of their pastors; we are all the same. The answers vary and differ from context to context. Every believer is called into what I call the “generic call” to preach the gospel and and to be a light for God on earth. The “go ye into the world” mandate as spoken by Jesus in Mark 16:15 is for every believer. Also, ever believer is called into a specific assignment and into a unique office. The gifts and talents that are needed to excel in these offices are determined by God, and are given on the basis of the measure of grace that each person is wired to carry. You must discover that call and run with it.

However, within the confines of the preaching of the gospel, there are specific and unique callings, popularly called the five-fold ministries. You can’t arrogate these offices, their authorities, and their accompanying graces to yourself. They are given at God’s prerogative.

“And no man takes this honor to himself, but he who is called by God, just as Aaron was.” (Hebrews 5:4).

Ayo Akerele is the senior pastor of Rhema Assembly and the founder of the Voice of the Watchmen Ministries in Ontario, Canada. He can be reached through ayoakerele2012@gmail.com