Calling VS Commissioning

For the past few weeks this thought has been very strong in my spirit: “There is a vast difference between being ‪#‎Called by God & being ‪#‎Commissioned by God.” It has come out in several ministry engagements. It first came out about three weeks ago in my Advanced Prophetic Training Class, then a couple of weeks ago I devoted a whole radio broadcast to it when I was a guest on Prophetess Elaine Salit’s radio program, then this past Sunday during my Father’s Day message: “Show Us The Father” it came out again; now last night I took to Twitter tweeting several bullet points along this line.

It seems I can’t get away from this thought, so now I will devote a Blog to it. We are living in a day when so many have a genuine Call of God on their life; but unfortunately they are confusing a Call of God with walking in the fullness of that Call or being Commissioned to walk in that Call. I want to share with you some of my own experience as well as experiences from some in Scripture to show that there is a time period between the Call of God and the Commission of God called PROCESS. So many want to avoid the Process and move straight from Call to Commission; BUT IT JUST DOESN’T WORK THAT WAY!

It seems we have many immature “Title Grabbers” in our day, more so than any time in my time in the Church; who recognize that they are called and immediately run out to get Business Cards with the Title of whatever they feel they are called to be, without undergoing any kind of ‪#‎Mentorship, ‪#‎Apprenticeship or ‪#‎Sonship. This just ought not to be. Unfortunately many of these are an accident going somewhere to happen and there is shipwreck ahead for them and those they have influence over.

I know that in the past we have had many leaders in the Church who have not been willing to be #‎Mentors and ‪#‎Fathers, but that is changing in our day. We are living in the fulfillment of Malachi’s Prophecy:

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.” Malachi 4: 5 & 6 NKJV

Beloved because God restored the Prophetic Office and anointing back to the Church from the late 80’s to the late 90’s (I will send Elijah the prophet…the prophetic came first paving the way for the apostolic fathering anointing) it paved the way for the Apostolic Office and anointing (Fathering, Mentoring) to be released from the late 90’s to the mid 2000’s. We are now living in a time where many Fathers are being raised up more so than anytime throughout Church History.

In my own development I recognized the Call of God on my life to preach when I was about 16 or 17 years old. I immediately began a mentorship and fathering process with my Parents; Apostles Leo & Edith Fram to be trained for ministry. In my early days as a teenager I was not very good and did not have much mercy or grace; I was a bull in the china shop that did not care; thank God He has softened me over the years. After getting married and moving to Tulsa, OK I continued my training and development at Rhema Bible training center at the feet of Rev. Kenneth E. (Dad) Hagin. In 1987 at 25 years of age I began to actually begin to flow in the elementary stages of my first Office of Evangelist some 8 or 9 years after I first knew I was called to preach. But my full Commissioning did not occur until 1992 when I was 30 years old after I went through some more developing and training serving in just about every are of ministry you could think of at Victory Christian Center in Tulsa, OK under Rev. Billy Joe Daugherty.

Around 1999 or 2000 history repeated itself, as God began to deal with me about changing my Office from that of Evangelist to Prophet; which initially I argued with Him about because I didn’t want to do it. But after I accepted the call, I did not run out and go get new cards that said Prophet on them; I went back into a mentorship, development process for several years until I as well as others recognized that the transition from Evangelist to prophet was complete; which was about a 4 or 5 year time period. Then and only then did I begin to start referring to myself as a Prophet.

This process that I went through twice in my life is also one we see in Scripture in the life of several Bible heroes. King David was anointed to be King over Israel as a teenager, (His Calling) but as we study his story in the Old Testament we see that it took years, around 20 or so, before he was actually walking in the fullness of that Call as King (His Commission). David endured a long Process of development on his road from Calling to Commissioning.

Elisha was another great example of this same Process. When Elijah was sent to him to anoint him to be prophet in his room or place; Elijah threw his mantle (symbolizing his office and anointing as Prophet) over Elisha (His Call). This occurred in 1 Kings 19. As we follow their story we find that Elisha served Elijah, if you will went through an apprenticeship or mentorship season with the senior prophet while he was the prophet in training, until 2 Kings 2 when Elijah is taken up from Elisha in the whirlwind. Elisha cried out: “My Father, My Father.” At this occurrence the mantle of Elijah fell and Elisha picked it up and all the sons of the prophets who watched said surely the spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha (His Commission).

Just as David and Elisha went through a Process from Calling to Commissioning, so did the Apostle Paul. We first meet the Apostle Paul as Saul of Tarsus, a persecutor of the church, who has a divine encounter the Resurrected Christ on the road to Damascus. When Ananias is sent to Saul after his conversion in Acts 9 the Lord said to Ananias:

“Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.” Acts 9:15 & 16 NKJV

Saul was shown what he was called to do and be (His Call), but yet he did not get to walk in the fullness of that call until many years later in Acts 13 as one of the Prophets and Teachers in the church in Antioch who was ministering to the Lord and fasting; was singled out by the Holy Spirit who said separate unto Me Barnabas and Saul for the work I have called them to (His Commission).

If David had to go through a Process from Calling to Commissioning; If Elisha had to go through a Process from calling to Commissioning; If Paul had to go through a Process from Calling from Commissioning; If I had to go through a Process from Calling to Commissioning…Don’t you think everyone does? I have not even covered our Prime Example the Lord Jesus Christ, who believe it or not went through a similar process, but I am sure many of your religious minds are going tilt like a pinball machine over that thought, or can’t even dare compare yourself in your development to Him.

The point is clear; There are no short cuts on the way to your ‪#‎Calling. Stop looking for them. Yield to the ‪#‎Process. It is the Process that we must all go through on the road from CALLING to COMMISSIONING. Thank God it is easier today than ever before because #‎Mentors & ‪#‎Fathers serve a purpose...learn from their wisdom & experience...they will aide you in your ‪#‎Process to your ‪#‎Calling.