Custom Designed Reflection Guide: Ordinary People Hearing God's Call

Be the unique “you” Jesus is calling you to be! Seek, discover and incorporate the Lord’s call into all of life … family, work, neighborhood, community, world and the gathering of believers! Yes, Jesus is calling you—not just pastors, church professionals and foreign missionaries! Miraculously throughout history, Jesus has called ordinary people to transform and heal a broken world. It’s the Lord’s ingenious plan! Jesus has given His power and prepared the places so that you can partner in His plan, accomplishing the Father’s purposes. A multitude of ordinary people hearing Jesus’ call … that’s our hope and prayer!

Custom Designed Reflection Guide is a practical and interactive spiritual journal, integrating Scripture, kingdom teaching, personal reflection exercises, a spiritual gifts inventory, conversation, and prayer. It’s effective for personal reflection, discernment, group study, and as a teaching and training resource for discipleship, mission, and mentoring.

The apostle Paul wrote to ordinary everyday Christians of his time: “I am earnestly calling you to walk in conformity with the calling to which you were called.” (Ephesians 4:1) Paul is saying, already the Lord has called you, now get to it … walk, act and live in a way that matches with the incredible worth and weightiness of this calling that you have been given.

Discover how you can live “worthy” of Jesus and “in conformity” with His call! Recognize His personal and practical voice! Yes, Jesus is still speaking to His children, and desires to speak to you. Uncover how Jesus has already custom designed, empowered and equipped you for His call, giving you His Holy Spirit, power, spiritual gifts and other unique attributes. Identify the places that Jesus has prepared where He desires for you to carry out His call. Pinpoint what distracts and detours you from living worthy of Jesus and His call! Continually, Jesus is still alive, calling, befriending, training and partnering with ordinary people like you to recreate reform and renew people, places and problems with His rule, reign and resurrection power! Find out how! Know your unique and important part in the Lord’s ingenious plan!

Discover how you can be the “church” in action. “Church” in Biblical Greek literally means, “called out ones.” Ordinary people “called out” by Jesus and pressing on in His call is crucial to truly grasping the potential and power of “church.” Mobilize ordinary people “called out” by Jesus to have a transformative impact and influence in the world!

Since Jesus is calling and we all have a call, can there be anything in your life more important than for you to hear, answer, and know the fullness of His call? This alone is reason enough to seek and know His call. It is essential to be who the Lord Jesus desires for you to be. Wherever you are today, we are praying for you to live worthy of Jesus and His dynamic “call” with fresh vision, practical guidance, more optimism, greater hope, less fear, added confidence, wise perspective, needed healing, miraculous power and new expectancy. Jesus is calling! So, press on!

Custom Designed Reflection Guide can be probed alone or in tandem with its companion volume, Custom Designed: A Life Worthy of the Call. Its companion volume offers many real-life illustrations, and additional scriptural insights.

Wendy A. W. Berthelsen: With over thirty years of experience teaching about God’s call, Wendy is cofounder and president of Call Inc. (www.callinc.org), a non-profit teaching mission dedicated to mobilizing ordinary people called by Jesus to incorporate His call into all of life. Wendy is blessed to be a Lutheran pastor, wife and mother of four children. Previously, she was a biomedical engineer with three U.S. Patents.

Steven A. Harr: Cofounder and teacher for Call Inc., Steve is founding partner and attorney at Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr, P.C., husband, and father of two children.