God calls to Abraham both before and after the test of tests involving his son Isaac. Each time, Abraham replies, “Here I am.”

God calls to Jacob in a dream to transfer Abraham’s blessing onto him. Jacob replies, “Here I am.”

God calls to Moses from a burning bush to tell him to lead a nation out of slavery. Moses replies, “Here I am.”

God calls to Samuel as a young boy to deliver the first of many prophetic messages. Samuel replies, “Here I am.”

God calls to Isaiah seeking a messenger to stand in the gap of a wayward nation. Isaiah replies, “Here I am.”

I don’t know about you, but I want to lead a significant and consequential life. I want to dare mighty things. It keeps me up at night and drives me on in the daytime. Normal isn’t good enough. Easy isn’t adventurous enough. Good isn’t satisfying enough. There’s only one scale that’s big enough to live on – and that’s God’s. All others pale in comparison.

The only problem is, I can’t write my own script.

In almost every story in the Bible, it was God who instigated, orchestrated and demonstrated His power and faithfulness in incredible ways. So how do we “coax” God to let us in on the action?

I’ve come to learn we can’t preempt a calling, a word or a miracle from God because at the end of the day, it’s “thy will” not “my will” be done. But we can be available. And there are some really good reasons to be. Turns out, I’m not the only one saying, “Here I am.”

In Isaiah 65, God laments through Isaiah the prophet, “I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help. I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am!’ to a nation that did not call my name.”

Maybe I’m waiting on God when He’s actually waiting on me.

Let’s pause on that. We want God to get us to the next big thing. I know I do. I can’t stand the status quo. I want more. I want it all. But God says, “Here I am, want ME!”

In a world where instant gratification is a realistic expectation, turns out fast is slow and slow is fast. We spin our wheels trying to get to the next destination, physically and spiritually, before we realize that we’re back where we started. And all along God has been saying, “Here I am.” What’s our response?

I still want more. That probably won’t change. But I realize I don’t need to wait. I’m not always sure what God is saying to me or when the next move will come. But that doesn’t stop me from being part of the spiritual conversation. Like the “places” marker on social media, I want my profile to stand out when God looks my way. Here I am.

Here I am means I surrender.

Here I am means I’m available.

Here I am means I’m all in.

Here I am means that regardless of circumstances, I want a relationship with God.

And like icing on the cake, when Jesus shows up, it really gets personal. Check out Revelations 3:20, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in…”

God is calling my name. Am I calling His?

Dear God,

Give me faith, but don’t put me in situations that require it.

Give me hope, but don’t disappoint me.

Give me contentment, but give me everything I want.

Give me grace, but don’t put me around people who need it.

Give me patience, but don’t make me wait.

Give me forbearance, but don’t let people hurt me.

Give me compassion, but don’t let people bother me.

Give me comfort, but don’t let me experience grief.

Give me character, but don’t give me trials.

Give me answers, but don’t give me cause to question.

Give me discernment, but don’t let me experience uncertainty.

Give me self-control, but don’t let me be tempted.

Give me purpose, but don’t make me work to find it.

Give me perseverance, but don’t let me fail.

Give me peace, but don’t make me sacrifice.

Give me love, but don’t let me experience loss.

Give me success and I’ll give you credit.

Give me fame and I’ll share it with You.

Give me an easy life and I’ll follow You.

Your good and faithful servant,

Amen.

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, speaker, and thought leader. To learn more about his services, visit NathanMagnuson.com/consulting or follow him on Twitter.

In fact I know He does. At least I know He did. I’ve been reading Jason Clark’s book Surrendered and Untamed lately and thinking about Peter. Jason makes a great point that sometimes God’s favor means fishing all night without catching a thing to prepare you for the catch of a lifetime in the morning. That one stuck with me for a while. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Jesus not only went out of His way to be dramatic, but He did it in the way Peter would have appreciated most as a fisherman.

I’ve always loved to work and what I do for a living ranks extremely high on my priority and attention scale. In fact, I like work so much that I started my first blog just to help others be more effective in their work as well. I’ve also noticed that God gets my attention the fastest when things at work are either going incredibly well or not so well at all. He’s used these times to teach me, to direct and re-direct me, to correct me, to inspire me with new ideas, and sometimes just to show off. I can honestly say that what I do consumes the majority of my thoughts, passion, and prayers.

For this reason, I think it’s really unfortunate when folks assume they can only find God’s will by going out and doing something crazy. One of my pastor’s mantras is that “a change of pace + a change of place = a change of perspective, which I can really appreciate, especially when I get stuck in the rut of routine or need a chance to clear my head. At the same time, Peter got quite a change of perspective, but he didn’t need to take the initiative to change his pace or his place. Jesus took the initiative to find him.

Let’s start looking out for the God who goes out of His way to reach us. That’s what Jesus has been doing since the day He arrived on our planet. And I’m not talking just about “appreciating the beautiful sunsets” and “smelling the flowers” that He gives us each day. I’m talking in about the details of our normal lives. I think it’s a sign of faithfulness on our part to just dig in and not get fancy and over-complicate things. If we follow the natural bent God puts inside of us, make the most of the assignments He gives us, and in all our ways acknowledge Him, it shouldn’t be any wonder when He shows up along the way – in dramatic fashion.

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, speaker, and thought leader. To learn more about his services, visit NathanMagnuson.com/consulting or follow him on Twitter.

“Lord, accept my thanks.”

I’m afraid the first mistake we make when we think about gratitude is to assume that God owes it to us to accept our thanks.  But one of the first stories in the Bible tells us this is not the case.  Both Cain and Abel presented gifts to God.  One was accepted and the other was not.  In the Old Testament law there were countless rules about how sacrifices ought to be offered, so that they would be accepted.  In Psalm 51, King David mentions, “The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit.  You will not reject a broken and repentant heart” (Ps 51:17, NLT).

Let’s not assume so quickly that expressing gratitude to God is a right.  In reality, it is a privilege.  With humility and an awareness of God’s glory and my complete dependency, let’s begin with the entreaty, “Lord, accept my thanks.”

The Four Components of Gratitude

Gratitude means more than simply saying “thank you.”  Here are four different expressions that we all ought to incorporate into both our mindsets and behaviors.

Thankfulness: Giving thanks for all I’ve been given.  The key words here are “all” and “given.”  All means that “apart from you I have no good thing” (Ps 16:2, NIV), and also “every good and perfect gift is from above” (James 1:17, NIV).  It’s true that a lot of what we have and enjoy is precipitated by the hard work and decisions we’ve made at prior points in our lives.  But when it comes down to it, the will and strength to work, and ability to make good decisions, and the opportunities that come our way are all gifts from God.  And for many of us, the simple timing and placement of our birth set many of these things in motion – something we had absolutely no control over.  Realizing that all I have has been given to me ought to be enough reason to express my thanks in and for all things.

Generosity: Giving away some of what I’ve been given.  It’s amazing how hard it is to give away the things we have.  Unfortunately, it can be even harder the more we have.  Sometimes the most generous people are the ones who have the least.  Take a tip from Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-fil-A.  In his most recent book Wealth: Is It Worth It? he answers the question by saying that wealth is worth it only if we give it away.  And in the end, the Bible tells us “whoever sows generously will also reap generously” (2 Cor 9:16, NIV).  Let’s take some of what we’ve been given keep the cycle going.

Sharing: Sharing some of the things that are mine to keep.  Most of us do not give 100% of everything we have away.  We usually keep the majority of it.  There’s nothing wrong with that, but just because I keep something doesn’t mean it cannot still be an object of gratitude.  The first thing we try to teach our kids about playing with others is to share.  Then why is it so hard for us?  We double (or triple or quadruple, etc.) the usefulness of our resources when we employ the things that are ours to keep in ways that also bless others.

Contentment: Being content with what I have.  One of the observations by the wisest man who ever lived, King Solomon, was that “most people are motivated to success because they envy their neighbors.  But this, too, is meaningless – like chasing the wind” (Eccl 4:4, NLT).  This is the same man who claimed “those who love money will never have enough.  How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness!” (Eccl 5:10, NLT).  Most of us won’t be able to have everything we could ever want.  There will always be more out there than what we currently have. A lot of it may remain within reach, provided we sacrifice a little more or work a little harder.   It is a beautiful thing to work, wait, sacrifice, and save for what we want.  But at some point we each have to decide when enough is enough.  Many of the things we have are either good enough for now or good enough period.  Let’s follow Solomon’s advice, “Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich.  Be wise enough to know when to quit” (Prov 23:4, NLT), realizing at the same time that “godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Tim 6:6, NIV).

So as we enter the Thanksgiving season, I’d like to challenge each of you to do two things with me:

First, get in a posture of gratitude and ask God to accept our thanks.  If there is anything that repels our offering, let’s get rid of that thing!

Second, let’s come up with at least one way to demonstrate gratitude in each of these four categories.  Think of something we are thankful for and content with as well as something we can give away or share.