This post is based on a message by Pastor Todd Cosenza.
If you know Jesus personally, you have a high calling from God on your life. That is not reserved for pastors, apostles, prophets, evangelists, or teachers. It is not determined by your age, your income, your background, your personality, or what other people think you are capable of doing.
Every person in the body of Christ has been marked by God with a calling that matters.
For many believers, the problem is not that they lack a calling. The problem is that they do not realize they have one. And when we do not understand the high calling of God on our lives, we can easily drift into a lack of purpose, importance, identity, joy, and spiritual power.
God did not save us simply to leave us where we were. He saved us, made us alive in Christ, and called us forward into a life that reflects His love, holiness, and authority.
The Prize of the High Calling
Philippians 3:13-14 gives us a powerful picture of what it means to walk in the calling of God. Paul describes releasing what is behind and stretching toward what is ahead, pressing on toward the goal for the prize of God’s high calling in Christ Jesus.
That calling is high because it comes from heaven. It is not a small, ordinary assignment built around survival, regret, or merely getting through the day. It is a calling that lifts our eyes, gives our lives direction, and moves us into what God has prepared.
The day you received Jesus, heaven rejoiced. But that was not the end of the story. God also marked your life with purpose. He gave you a destiny that is meant to be walked out with Him.
Start With These Two Foundational Beliefs
There are two beliefs that must be settled if we are going to walk spiritually healthy and strong.
1. Who do you believe Jesus is?
Jesus is not merely a historical figure or a religious idea. He is the Son of God who came to save and set people free. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. He rules and reigns over all creation.
Our faith begins with seeing Jesus rightly.
2. Who do you believe you are?
The second question is just as important: Who do you believe you are?
Does your view of yourself line up with what God says about you? Or is it shaped mostly by failure, fear, the opinions of people, past sin, disappointment, or insecurity?
If our beliefs about Jesus and our beliefs about ourselves do not agree with the Word of God, we will struggle. But when we begin to receive God’s truth, we can recognize that He has placed a high calling on our lives.
That calling gives us purpose. It establishes identity. It gives us something meaningful to contribute as part of the bigger work God is doing in the earth.
What Comes With Your High Calling
God does not call us and then leave us unequipped. He gives us what we need to fulfill what He has asked us to do.
Three major realities come with the high calling of every believer.
Love Through Intimacy With Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:9)
First, we are called into an intimate relationship with Jesus Himself. This is where we continually experience His love.
Love is the deepest cry of the human heart. The love of the Lord heals us, grows us, and moves us forward. It is not a small trickle. It is an overwhelming, ongoing flow of love that meets the needs of our hearts and fills us with joy.
A high calling is never meant to pull us away from Jesus. It is meant to draw us closer to Him.
Holiness Through Participation in God’s Divine Nature (2 Peter 1:4)
2 Peter 1:4 teaches that we are invited to participate in the divine nature. That is an incredible invitation.
Holiness is not merely a list of things we do or avoid doing. Holiness is a gift of God’s own life at work in us. Through Christ, we are welcomed into the holiness of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We are called to live differently because God has made us different.
Power Through Throne Room Authority (Luke 10:19)
Third, we have power through the authority of heaven. Jesus said that He gives His people authority over the power of the enemy. This is not a weak or limited authority. It is authority that comes from His throne room.
When the Holy Spirit leads us to bring change, we can speak and act in faith. God has equipped His people with spiritual power to overcome the works of the enemy and to advance His kingdom.
Love, holiness, and power are the essentials every believer needs to walk out their high calling from God. He has provided everything we need. There are no excuses.
A High Calling Requires a Forward Flow
Paul’s words in Philippians 3:13-14 make it clear that the high calling is about advancement. It is about moving forward.
To walk in the calling of God, we have to release what is behind us and reach for what is ahead. That does not mean only letting go of painful memories. It means releasing the good and the bad, the parts of our story we enjoy and the parts we wish had never happened.
We cannot afford to hold on to the past when God is calling us forward.
Maybe there are things you regret. Maybe you keep replaying old decisions, old failures, old hurts, or missed opportunities. The Lord is able to redeem all of it. Even the worst places in your life can become stepping stones that take you higher in Him.
But regret cannot be allowed to become your permanent home.
Paul’s language about forgetting does not mean pretending something never happened. The word “forget” in the Greek means to neglect something. Stop feeding it. Stop dwelling on it. Stop giving it the attention that belongs to God’s future for your life.
- If there is something in your life that you want to grow, feed it.
- If there is something the enemy keeps using to drag you backward, forget it by neglecting it.
- Forgive where you need to forgive.
- Release what needs to be released in God’s grace and mercy.
- Refuse to let yesterday define what God is doing today or tomorrow.
The enemy would love to keep believers trapped in regret, complaint, and self-condemnation. But there comes a moment when we have to say, “Not today.” We turn our backs on those thoughts, neglect what the enemy is bringing to our minds, and choose to move forward.
Your high calling is about advancement in your personal life, your family, your workplace, and the church. See yourself as someone God can use to press things forward for Jesus, but you must let go of the past.
Fix Your Thoughts on Jesus
Hebrews 3:1 speaks to holy brothers and sisters who share in a heavenly calling, urging them to fix their thoughts on Jesus.
This calling is for all of us. We share in it together. And the instruction is simple but powerful: keep Jesus in front of you.
When you came to Christ, your spirit was made alive. Before Christ, spiritual things could not be fully understood or discerned. But salvation brought resurrection life. You were not raised into an improved version of the old you. You became new, with a spirit alive and connected to God.
Because your spirit is alive in Christ, you now can know Him, perceive Him, and recognize that He is with you. You can fix your thoughts on Him.
Sometimes we are not spiritually dead. We are just asleep. But Jesus is faithful to wake us up.
Psalm 16:8 gives us a beautiful example through David, who set the Lord continually before him and therefore was not shaken. David faced enemies, trouble, family struggles, and circumstances that seemed to go the wrong way. Yet he kept his eyes and thoughts on the Lord. This was his key to victorious living while having many battles in life.
There are seasons when we want a long list of answers. But sometimes the first and most important thing is simply to see Jesus. He is there. He is walking with you, speaking to you, loving you, and leading you out. Our confidence in life comes from the knowledge that he is with us, in front of us.
Do not let success become your focus. Do not let results become your focus. Keep Jesus Himself in front of you.
Live Worthy of the Calling You Have Received
Ephesians 4:1 urges believers to live in a way that is worthy of the high calling they have received.
This is a call to step up. Every day, remember what Jesus has done for you and remember that His high calling is on your life. Let that calling shape your decisions.
A helpful question is this: Does this choice move me forward into what Jesus has called me to, or does it pull me backward?
If it pulls you backward, do not feed it. If it moves you forward in Christ, it is worth paying attention to.
Get up in the morning with expectancy. Jesus has important things for you to do. He has greater levels of His glory, presence, blessing, and service for you to experience. God’s people ought to carry joy. We should have a little pep in our step because we know we belong to Him and are called by Him.
Your Calling Is Individual, but It Is Not Isolated
The thought continues in Ephesians 4:2-3, which tells us to walk in humility, gentleness, patience, and love, making every effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
Every believer has a specific and individual high calling. Age does not disqualify you. Your appearance does not disqualify you. Your weaknesses do not disqualify you.
We are not defined by shortcomings. We are not defined by sin. We are defined by what Jesus says about us and by the calling He has placed on our lives.
That means we need to build a church culture where we see the calling in one another. We call it out. We encourage it. We refuse to look only at people through the flesh, measuring them by their faults and failures.
Division begins when we forget who we are in Christ. We start complaining, blaming, and focusing on weaknesses instead of recognizing God’s call. That is an opening for the enemy.
But humility, gentleness, patience, love, and peace protect unity.
Your calling is like a puzzle piece. It fits with the callings of other believers. God did not give you your piece to hide it away. He gave it to you for this moment, with this people, in this time.
Your calling matters right now.
It is a right now calling with right now equipping, right now power, right now fruit, and right now glory. As individual callings come together in unity, the body of Christ becomes strong enough to shake the world for Jesus.
Three Requirements for Walking in Your High Calling
In summary, these are the three simple anchors to remember about your high calling:
1. A Forward Flow
God’s calling is for advancement. Think forward. Move forward. Believe for God to bring progress in your life, family, workplace, and church community. We are given a high calling to move things forward for God’s Kingdom.
2. A Fixed Focus
Keep your thoughts on Jesus. See Him before you with the eyes of your heart. Do not make success, fruit, or recognition the center. Keep Jesus at the center.
3. An Undivided Unity
Encourage one another. Recognize the high calling in others. Help create a culture where people are strengthened in what God has spoken over their lives.
God has already given His people what they need to walk in this calling. The question is whether we will receive it.
Say Yes and Take the Next Step
Knowing that you have a high calling is not enough. You have to say yes to it.
You may not understand every detail. You may not know exactly what the whole journey will look like. That is okay. Most people God called in Scripture did not receive the entire picture at once. They were asked to trust Him one step at a time.
God is looking for the first step, which is agreement in our hearts to the call.
Say, “Lord, I do not know everything involved, but I know this is for me. I say yes to You.”
Take a step in faith. Trust that as you move in obedience, God will make a way. He is faithful to meet you as you walk forward into the calling He has placed on your life.
Application Questions
- Do I truly believe that God has placed a high calling on my life?
- What past regrets, successes, hurts, or failures do I need to release so I can move forward?
- Where have I been feeding thoughts that God is asking me to neglect?
- What would it look like for me to fix my thoughts on Jesus this week?
- Is there a decision in front of me that would move me forward into God’s calling rather than pull me backward?
- How can I encourage someone else in the calling God has placed on their life?
- What is my yes to the Lord today?
