Called To Preach... ?

[TheGloryLand]

How do you know that you are called to preach? Gut feeling, someone told you should, your dad is a preacher, so keep it in the family. It's easy and pays well, I studied for so many years too, It is not a physical job, You like to control people. You had a dream to become one. Finally, God has called you to preach.

[BrotherTony]

2 Timothy 4.  The primary application of this chapter was to Timothy. He was being told to "preach the Word." The practical for today could be applied to all Christians. But as for the call to preach... vocationally? I believe the Holy Spirit touches a person's heart and life so that they, as the Apostle says, "Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel!." 

[Jerry]

The Lord impressed this calling upon my heart. It is a certainty, not a feeling - and it was a calling I submitted wholeheartedly to (ie. not just a maybe I’m called and maybe it might happen someday). There is a restlessness and at times an emptiness when I am not preaching or pursuing the call to preach, and there is a joy and a peace of mind when I am actively pursuing this calling - whether preaching, preparing the messages to preach, praying about the message, the people who will be listening, and other aspects of it.

There is a certainty there, not just an impression. It is also a holy calling (this is impressed upon my heart and mind) - I can’t sincerely pursue this calling and be carnal or worldly. To be adequately prepared and filled with God’s Spirit, to get the most out of the Bible and the spiritual resources I have, I need to be submitted to the Lord to the best of my ability. Then the message comes together, I have boldness and peace, yea and even excitement as I prepare for it.

Others may have different thoughts or a different mindset about this, but this is what comes to mind when I think about the Lord and how He called me to preach, how I know it, how it affects me. It’s not just an activity I can do, it’s an inner compulsion that I want to do out of obedience to my Lord and out of love for His people (and even for the lost).