He chose you!!

Hello sweet Friend, 
I'd like to share some things we've been learning in our walk through Romans. The section of the passage is chapter 8, verses 28-39.
1. God will use everything for your good(v.28)
2. God will finish what He started(v.29-30)
3. God will not allow anything to separate you from Him(v.31-39)
    - No enemy(v.31-32) can separate you because God is for us; He has already given us what's most precious to Him. He already paid the ultimate, infinite price for you. 
    - No accusation(v.33-34). "For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down." Revelation 12:10. The Judge, your Father has already decided in your favor...the verdict has already been delivered. Your Attorney, the Son, has already paid your penalty...He pleads on His own merit. "It's done! I already paid for it." -Jesus. No accusation of sin can prosecute or convict. 
     - No persecution(v.35-37) "That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2Corinthians 12:10; "In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." 2Timothy 3:12
     - Nor any other created thing(v.38-39) This covers everything else! "For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him." Colossians 1:16


You could not save yourself; therefore there is nothing you can do to forfeit your salvation, because it has always belonged to Jesus. You are eternally secure because Jesus Christ chose you!! Does the purchased item have the right or ability to argue with the One that purchased it?! 
Eternal salvation means your salvation is:
1. Beyond your power to give up(Rom.8:39)
2. An irrevocable change of nature. 1Peter 1:3 - "New birth into a living hope"(you can't undo birth); "NEW creation. The old is gone!" 2 Corinthians 5:17
3. Sealed by the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1:13-14 - "when you believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession - to the praise of His glory." You bear His tattoo! 
4. Based on His choice; not ours. John 10:27-29 - "no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father has given them to me..." God our Father gave you to Jesus. "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10. "For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ in accordance with His pleasure and will." Ephesians 1:4-5. 
What a Joy it is to know that we can never walk away because we are eternally embraced by Emmanuel! 

Find Joy in Him, Beloved!!

Much needed encouragement!

I apologize for my absence, Friend. April was quite the blur for my family; birthdays, illness, travel... Phew! Well, now I'm back & in need of some uplifting!

FEEBLE PRAYER

Then Jesus told His disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. Luke 18:1

Our Lord warns us against feeble prayer. This means that we must possess enough enthusiasm to carry us through the severe and long periods of pleading prayer. Fire makes one alert, vigilant, and brings one out as more than a conqueror. 

The atmosphere about us is too heavily charged with resisting forces for lifeless prayers to make any progress. It takes heat, fervency and fire to push through to the heavens where God dwells with His saints. 

Fervency before God counts in the hour of prayer and finds a speedy and rich reward at God's hands. 

- The Power of Prayer

UNLIMITED RESOURCES

He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. Matthew 14:19

As you look around, the needs that you see are often great and overwhelming. Your own resources seem so small, and your own abilities seem so limited to meet such great needs. 

If you tried to quench the thirst of others out of your own fountain, no one would be satisfied; if you tried to feed the hungry with your own bread, no one would be made full; if you tried to reassure others with your own thoughts, no one would be comforted; if you tried to bring meaning to the lives of others with your own plans, no one would be fulfilled. 

Jesus asks you to give all that you have to Him. As you place your life in His hands, He will break you as bread, multiply you, and use you to meet the needs of others with His unlimited resources. 

- His Footsteps, My Pathway

Both excerpts are so insightful and helpful. I made bold the words that are sinking in deep for me. I confess that I am guilty of thinking I can do these things within my limited means and it's just not so. All we know is our own small way of thinking. It is natural to think that offering all we can to others will be sufficient, but crucial to understand that it will never be enough if Jesus Christ is not the source. Philippians 4:13 says "we can do all things through Christ". Give yourself to Him and He will use you for His glory! 

Find Joy in Him Beloved!