Cling to Your Calling

I remember the moment I felt called by the Lord to write songs for the benefit of His Church. I was in a worship service and we sang the old Delirious song, “Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble.”

“Songs that bring Your hope, songs that bring Your joy…”

As we sang that line, the Lord planted those words in my heart. I knew that He was calling me to pen songs for the Church, songs that carry His hope and joy to the hearts of His people.

When the Lord calls you to do something, you can be confident that the enemy will follow very closely behind, looking for ways to steal and destroy what the Lord has placed in your heart. This is precisely why knowing your calling is so important. Your calling is to be like a stake that you drive into the ground. When the attacks come, you hang on to this firmly planted conviction, refusing to be swayed from what you know the Lord has called you to do.

As a songwriter, there are a handful of pitfalls that are easy to fall into: the desire to be recognized, the desire for fame, for your song to be sung at church or to be recorded on an album…it goes on and on. You must realize that these temptations will come your way, that they are strategically put in your path to interrupt your joy and peace, designed to steal from you the dream that the Lord has placed in your heart.

I have felt this attack. I have lost my joy in writing on many occasions, as my focus has been in the wrong place.

And so, in those moments, I drive that stake into the ground.

I am called to write. I write not to be on albums, to be noticed, or for my songs to be played in church. I write because the Lord has asked me to write. I write for Him and Him alone — to lift up His name and to proclaim the excellencies of Him who called me out of darkness into His marvelous light.

So, as I am faithful to what the Lord has called me to do, I trust that He will guide those songs for the building of His kingdom and not my own. My calling is not swayed by the size of the audience, for my audience will forever be an audience of ONE. It is in this place that I have found freedom and joy in songwriting.

In your calling, do you feel your heart being drawn toward ulterior motives? Have you lost the joy that once surrounded this dream? Settle it now. Remember your calling, drive that stake in the ground, and hang on to what the Lord has placed in your heart.