In Acts 13, we read about the first great missionary movement out of Antioch. Barnabas and Saul who had gone to Jerusalem with the money from Antioch had seen the amazing release of Peter and were challenged. They had gone to Jerusalem to bless the people materially, but got a spiritual blessing in return, by seeing what prayer could do. "He who waters others will be watered himself" (Proverbs 11:25). When they returned to Antioch, they taught the elders there what they had learnt about prayer(Acts 13:1, 2). And they all decided to fast and worship God. They were worshipping God, asking for nothing. It's wonderful to fast and just worship. God spoke to them saying,"Set apart Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have (already)called them"(Acts 13:2). It is not mentioned here how God spoke to them. It must have been by a deep conviction in their spirits that this was what God was saying.

This was not the time that God called Saul and Barnabas. He had already called them earlier. Whenever God calls anyone, it will always be personally and privately. It may be confirmed in public later, as here. But don't ever think God is speaking, when somebody says, "Thus says the Lord, 'Go there', or 'Marry this person' ",etc. You must throw such words into the trash-can, where they belong. If God wants you to do something He will speak to you privately. He may confirm it through other elders publicly. But it will always be to do something that God had already told you earlier. Saul and Barnabas had already heard the call. They were thinking about it, when, in a prayer-meeting, the elders heard God saying, "Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have (already) called them." Saul and Barnabas had patiently waited until their fellow-elders also heard God - and then they went out, sent forth by their fellow-elders. This is how ministry in the Body is under the new covenant - unlike under the old covenant where prophets went forth on their own, wherever they felt God was sending them.

The Lord called me to full-time Christian work on 6 May 1964. I was working in the Indian Navy and was on vacation, having meetings along with an evangelistic team. As I was reading the Scriptures, God called me very clearly from Isaiah 49. But no-one sitting near me heard what God had spoken to me. It was a private and personal call. About an hour later, as I was meditating on God's call and considering resigning from the Navy, a man of God who was traveling with us (and whom I respected more than anyone else in India) came to me and asked me, "When are you thinking of leaving the Navy?" It was a prophetic word that amazed me. But it was an external confirmation of what God had already told me inwardly. If God calls you He will call you personally first. A confirmation will come to you then from other godly men. But you must hear the call yourself first. This is the way we see it in the New Testament.

In Acts 13:36, we read that "David served his own generation in the will of God and then fell asleep". We are all called to serve our own generation by doing the will of God. So make sure that you fulfil all of God's will before you leave this earth. To do that, you must be a man like David, about whom God could say, "I have found David, a man after My own heart who will fulfil all My will" (Acts 13:22).