We Call On Him

We Call On Him is a gospel song written by Fred Karger, Sid Wayne, and Ben Weisman, recorded and published by Elvis Presley in 1967 by Gladys Music, Presley’s publishing company. Elvis was very fond of gospel music, and according to his close friends, if it were up to him only, he would’ve sung just gospel music. The central theme of We Call on Him is to call on Jesus before we encounter problems: “We call on Him / Whenever storm clouds gather / We call on Him to light our darkest day / Why must it be that only when we’re lonely / And hopes are dim, we call on Him / Why don’t we call on Him before we lose our way / To count our blessings and thank Him while we may“.

The apparent reason why we come to Jesus is our personal needs. Something becomes almost unbearable in our life, and we must act. Where should we go? To whom it may concern our petition? After playing out all available options, we eventually concluded that only God might do something for us.

The theme for this Spring edition of the Communicator is The Power of Believing. In a world full of discontent, troubles, anxiety, instability and uncertainty, it is easy to find yourself lost and alone, unable to locate the way forward. The gospel’s very definition is not confined only to its denotative aspect, the good news, but mainly toward its existential meaning, to live by faith, to believe in something greater than us. That belief generates a specific type of power (according to the Greek word used in Romans 1,16, power means authority), a transforming force. About that power of believing, our dedicated writers volunteered to share with you some perspectives on the meaning of faith in the 21st century, experiences involving personal faith, following your dreams, believing in God in times of crisis, “transmitting” faith to the next generation, overcoming obstacles and following Jesus by faith.

The lesson from the song is clear: we must call on Him before we take any action or decision. Jesus must be our first and only option. Not that we shouldn’t do anything else like prayer, planning, consulting etc., but every subsequent step should spring from that moment. This should be our challenge: to get there, call on Jesus, and trust Him anytime, anywhere.

Sorin Petrof is the Executive Editor of the Communicator Magazine