2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
When I left off yesterday, I was looking at the Scriptural evidence that before the foundation of the world, each believer was chosen to have faith and be saved. The understanding that the Holy Spirit has given me of what I read in the Bible leaves me with the unequivocal conviction that God has had a plan for mankind since before the Creation. I was once asked why God chooses some people to come to faith and not others. This is a question only He can really answer. I do know that amongst mainline theologians, it is accepted that God has omniscience [knowledge of all things] although there is discussion as to the extent of this knowledge. There are some that believe that God doesn't know what a person is going to decide until the decision is made. I believe He knows what decision a person will make before he makes it. The truth of which position is right won't be known until we are all together in His Kingdom and He tells us. In the meanwhile, I rest on IS 55: 8-9, "My thoughts are not like yours and My ways are different from yours. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are My ways and thoughts above yours." It gives me comfort to know that I don't have to make decisions for which only God is qualified. Instead, I need to understand that since His perspective is so much higher than mine, that I should stretch to as close to His understanding as is possible while still remaining humble enough to know that I can never be God. It is this latter statement that makes it quite impossible for me to ever belong to any faith system that believes we will one day either be equal to or actually be God.
Now, let us return to the remaining Scriptures that will support the concept that God has a plan for us and that we were chosen to come to faith since before the Creation. COL 3: 12-15, "You are the people of God; He loved you and chose you for His own. So then, you must clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Be tolerant with one another and forgive one another whenever any of you has a complaint against someone else. You must forgive one another just as the Lord has forgiven you. And to all these qualities add love, which binds all things together in perfect unity. The peace that Christ gives is to guide you in the decisions you make; or it is to this peace that God has called you together in the one body. And be thankful." These are powerful words, especially with our world at war, for us to spend time upon in meditation. They reflect the profound love our Abba has for us in calling us to come to faith and giving us the faith to accept that call. They also contain enormous wisdom in how to conduct ourselves with others around us. We are so privileged that He loved each of us and chose us to be His own. Remember that He loved us enough to sacrifice His only Son for us, to give us His word-so we would have the discernment to recognize evil when we see it and avoid it. And, He opened prayer to us as a means of staying connected to Him 24 hours a day.
We see more evidence of what we mean to God in 1 PET 2: 9, "But you are the chosen race, the King's priests, the holy nation. God's own people, chosen to proclaim the wonderful acts of God, Who called you out of darkness into His own marvelous light." This applies to both Jewish and Gentile believers alike, for whom the barriers were broken down with Christ's death on the cross and their willingness to repent and come to faith in Him. For us to appreciate how God equipped us to do spiritual warfare successfully, we must not lose sight of what He created us for and what His position is about helping us through it [see EPH 2: 8-9]. In REV 17, the chapter about Mystery Babylon, the prostitute, John speaks about the ten kings who rule for an hour under the beast. REV 17:14, "They will fight against the Lamb, but the Lamb, together with His called, chosen, and faithful followers will defeat them, because He is the Lord of Lords, King of Kings."
In reading all these citations, it is impossible for us to miss that God understands that we will be fighting spiritual warfare, and that He has created us, chosen us, and prepared us to do so to victory. The key reason for that victory is our enduring faith in Jesus Christ and the loving protection that God grants us through His most excellent grace. Think of it as sending well-trained soldiers with smart bombs and the latest technology in warfare into a battle with our enemies. No doubt some soldiers will get hurt or even lose their physical lives. But the protection offered will transcend that and each soldier fighting for righteousness will be given honor and eternal life. Soldiers of God enter the battlefield of spiritual warfare knowing they are fighting for the best cause ever and that their side will emerge victorious in Christ.
PRAYER: O Lord, we recognize that we are Your called and chosen soldiers in Christ. Your plan for us included making this call to us even before we were created. Your plan has never changed. You loved us enough to know that we would be born in sin due to Adam's transgression, and that we would be exposed to the world's sinful ways throughout our physical lives. Yet, Your plan included the decision to send Your only begotten Son to be incarnate and then to die on the cross to provide us a way out of the control over us that sin had. You understood that once we repented and came to faith, that we would need the gift of the Holy Spirit indwelt within us to understand the danger all around us and to wage war against it in Your name. You knew that we would deal with the conflict within us between the human nature with its sinful ways of the old self and the righteousness of the Spirit that is our new self within us. When we endure in faith, that conflict too will be won by the Spirit, so that both our inner conflict and the spiritual conflict outside of us would be won in Christ's name. Through all of that, You are sanctifying us, perfecting us in preparation for eternal life with You. What greater cause can there be than that? We consecrate ourselves to putting our trust in You, Dearest Abba. We take on the war we must fight for You with the confidence of Your presence and guidance in waging it. We offer You praise and adoration for giving us the discernment we get from Your word, the open channel of communication we have with your through prayer, the emotional and spiritual support of our congregations & friends, and the ability to learn Your will and see the strength that You give us from our circumstances. To You belongs all the glory and honor! In Christ's name, amen.
Tomorrow, I am led to begin looking at Satan's arrows, the ways that he wages spiritual warfare against believers fighting for righteousness. While this is a negative subject, it's an important one for us to understand. That way, we can recognize who is at fault for the pain, suffering, and temptation that we must endure in spiritual warfare. We must not lose sight of the big picture. Our Lord commands us to fight spiritual warfare, but He has equipped us to win it in Christ's name. He will never abandoned those who endure in their faith in Him. He is with us, loving and guiding us, every minute of our lives. Peter and I send you our love and prayers too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn