The Invitation

1 Samuel 3:^9-10 “So he said to Samuel, “Go and lie down again, and if someone calls again, say, ‘Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went back to bed. And the Lord came and called as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel replied, “Speak, your servant is listening.”

Growth has two components, similar to when you are raising a child or children. You feed them, shield them, protect them, and nurture them. But the growth comes from God. In your personal life same thing, you have to do your bit, but guess what? God must bring the growth. If you do not do your bit, then it is dead on arrival, there can be no growth. If you do your bit, then God has to do His bit because if He does not, there can be no growth. However, God has promised that He will do His bit. And that is why Paul would say to the Corinthian church, who is Paul and who is Apollos? Paul plants, Apollo’s waters, but the increase is of God (1 Corinthians 3:6).

It is God who brings the growth. Yet, Paul has to plant, and Apollos has to water for God to bring the growth. So, man’s part, the planting and the watering, have to be done. But the increase also has to be done. You cannot bring the increase. You can only plant and water. Only God can bring the increase. For growth to happen, there is a God part and there is a man part. 1 Corinthians 3:⁹ “For we are labourers together with God…” (KJV, emphasis added). We work with God on this matter. For you to grow personally, because it affects everything else in your life, there is a part you have to own. And there is a God part—the part only God can own. Together we are co-labourers, we are partners in growth.

Next, we are going to look at God’s part and our part in three things. The first one is, God’s part is He invites (God invites). Our part is to respond. You cannot invite yourself; you can only respond. Listen, everyone who is spiritual and has engaged with God knows this. Even when you fast, pray, and seek God, you have to wait. They need to call you up. If they do not invite you, nothing will happen. John, the beloved, writes in Revelation 4:¹ “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.” (KJV). Only God can give that invitation. And we must respond.

I will give you a classic example. Earlier on in my walk with God, I will be in the living room with my siblings talking or watching television. Then I feel an invitation, I feel God calling me. So I will withdraw from my siblings, go into the room, get on my knees, or lie on my face and worship. For some reading this, God has been inviting you, but you are not responding.

Prayer (song): I worship You, Almighty God, there is none like You. I worship You, O Prince of Peace, that is what I want to do. I give You praise, for You are my righteousness… Amen!