If each grain of sand were numbered,
And the sum labeled “Chosen of God,”
They’d be numbers still, not names.
Salvation comes by personal selection!
God doesn’t count us,
He calls us by name!
Romans 9:27-28 Message
“Woman,” He said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking He was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have put Him, and I will get Him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward Him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said, “Do not hold on to Me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to My brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God,” John 20:15-17.
Prayerfully, these few verses help us to grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life God has for those who call themselves a Christian (Ephesians 1:18b Message). That theses verses will help us grasp the awesomeness of our God. That we would personally come to know the vastness of the love He pours out to each one of us. For the Lord created us! The One Who formed us says, “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name! You are mine! Listen!” Isaiah 43:1 NLT.
Insert your name ____________, the Lord calls you by name! His only request, just listen! “Come, let’s talk this over. No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can take it out and make you as clean as freshly fallen snow (Isaiah 1:18 TLB). And know, whatever does not originate and proceed from faith is sin. Whatever is done without a conviction of its approval by God – is sinful (Romans 14:23 AMP).
Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you white as wool! If only you will let Me help you! If only you would heed My Word! I would make you rich (Isaiah 1:19 TLB). Rich in faith! For there is an inheritance – My kingdom – to be received by those who love Me,” James 2:5.
We must all try not just to realize but to internalize what this means – the Lord is God! He made us – we are His people, the sheep of His pasture (Psalm 100:3 TLB). Those who turn to face God as Moses did, then He removes the veil that blinds us, preventing us from recognizing God is a living, personal presence.
When God becomes personally present in our all our daily activities, the old constricting and unrealistic demands and expectations become obsolete. We’re free of them! Free to become who God originally designed us to be. Free to enjoy a personal and intimate relationship with our heavenly Father. Nothing between us and God. Our faces shining with the brightness of His face.
Our lives become brighter and more beautiful when God enters them, and we become more like Him (2 Corinthians 3:16-18 Message). As God shared His Word personally with Moses, so too does He share of Himself with us, “I am the Lord, I will bring you out of darkness. I will bring you out from under the burdens of the world. I will free you from the bondage of evil, of negativity, of fear and sin and pridefulness. I will rescue you with an outstretched arm and by mighty acts of judgment,” Exodus 6:6 AMP.
There was a time when I was guilty of seeking the judgments, the opinions and counsel of others. I can’t say when, but at some point, of listening to God’s Word I acknowledged to myself ‘I am a child of God.’ A switched was flipped and the Light of God’s love shone on me. I knew as a parent how much I loved my children. How much I would help them to succeed. How essential this relationship we share with God as ‘Father and child.’
We are loved! Mistakes, sins, guilt, shame, regret – none of this stops God from loving us. However, it can prevent us from acknowledging, believing, receiving His love. God wants us to be in health – physical, emotional, intellectual, social, financial, sexual – whole and healthy! God wants us to succeed – bear fruit, thrive, flourish, prosper, excel, prevail, triumph…
In my case because I was not God-dependent and instead co-dependent, many times over the years circumstances were very bleak. So much loss was experienced. So much confusion because of the incongruity – difference, disunity, variance – between words and actions.
I had ample reason to do as Adam did – point fingers at others and at God. With Holy Spirit’s help to understand and acknowledge and accept God’s Word as Truth, I came to realize my words and actions were motivated by self-interest. I discovered there was a great deal of error in my system of beliefs. For one thing, I thought pleasing others was being unselfish. But a people-pleaser is actually – very selfish. Doing and saying and manipulating people to make things more pleasing for one’s self.
Only God can untwist the thoughts and feelings that bring us into bondage with attitudes and behaviors and beliefs that are really – very self-destructive. The key to entering the freedom, the rest that God bestows is to trust in and cling tightly to His Word. For then we become personally aware of the Truth, Jesus is all we need because He gives us everything we need.
Yes, the going through is challenging, at times even overwhelming, but when we get to the other side what we gain from God and His Word fills one with awe, gratitude, gratefulness, and thanksgiving.
Though difficulties are not welcomed occurrences, the experience helps us to truly comprehend at a heart level – the huge out-stretched arms of the Lord will be protecting us. Under them we are perfectly safe. His arms fend off all harm (Psalm 91:4 Message). We can believe this and proclaim it because God’s Word helps us to think differently and therefore, we are behaving differently.
We are all too familiar with choices we would have made if we were not aware of the Truth about ourselves and God and His Word, for this is how the error in our life is identified. And what’s truly amazing, God doesn’t identify us as our errors do – sinners. He says we are His chosen ones. His children. His treasured possessions. His saints.
We are God’s workmanship! We are created in Jesus to know the Truth, to follow this glorious way of living as the Christian God has called us should. We no longer have to feel, to think, to believe we are condemned, guilty, shameful, rejects, failures…Holy Spirit helps us to clothe ourselves with heaven’s most precious possession — God’s Word – Christ Jesus (Romans 13:14). For the Lord is the Bestower of Hope and Truth and Life and Grace and Compassion and Joy.
The Lord calls us to demonstrate His righteousness. He will take us by the hand and guard us. We will be a light to guide the nations. To open the eyes of the blind, to free captives from their personal prison of negativity. To release those who sit in dark dungeons so they can dwell in the glorious chambers of the Lord. To be taught personally by God.
Anyone who wants to spend time at all listening to the Father, really listening, and therefore learning, comes to God’s Word to be personally taught. To see it with their own eyes, to hear with their own ears from the Lord, Who receives firsthand from the Father (John 6:45 Message).
God made a personal call to a man named Cyrus saying, “I called you by name when you didn’t know Me. I am Jehovah! There is no other God! I will strengthen you and send you out to victory even though you don’t know Me.”
“I am Jehovah and there is no one else. I alone am God. Woe to those who fight with their Creator!” Isaiah 45:4-9 TLB. Yes, how terrible it will be for those who argue with the God Who made them (Isaiah 45:9 NCV). God so loves the world; He calls to those who do not know Him. “Listen! I gave My one and only Son to save the world through Him. Whoever believes Me, whoever places their faith in My Son shall not perish but have eternal life,” John 3:16.
So, even if you don’t know the Lord, if there has been a time when you experienced the unexplainable, then think of God. For the unusual that occurs among us, is a call for you to answer and think to ask of God to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing Him personally. With eyes focused and clear, you can see exactly what it is He is calling you to experience – the utter extravagance of His work in those who trust Him (Ephesians 1:15-19 Message).
The fulfillment of God’s promise depends entirely
On trusting Him and His Word and His Way
Christ Jesus
And then simply embracing Him and what He does
God’s promise arrives as pure gift!
Romans 4:15 Message