GOD MADE THE DECISION TO CHOOSE YOU

WEDNESDAY 11 AUGUST 2021

God's love for us moved us from a position of being lost and exalted us to the position of being His treasured possession. Just like Simon Peter and His brother, Andrew, were transformed by Jesus from fishermen to Apostles, our salvation was planned and initiated by God Himself to translate us from being ordinary to partnering with Him, and from the dominion of darkness into His glorious Kingdom.

Reference: Matthew 4:18-19 English Standard Version (ESV) 'While walking by the Sea of Galilee, [Jesus] saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."'

When Jesus called Peter and Andrew to come and follow Him, He had a plan far beyond what they could imagine. Though they were professional fishermen, I'm sure they never expected to be world-changers. Who knows what was going through their minds? Someone said, "Maybe they followed Jesus because they believed He was a special prophet, or because they sensed He was powerful. Whatever was going on in their minds, it was God reaching out to them and not really their own decision. No wonder the Bible says, 'You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you...' (John 15:16 NIV). In other words, nobody can come to Christ, unless the Father made a decision to choose and call Him.

Your salvation did not happen because you woke up one day and decided to give your life to Christ; it was God that chose and called you even before your response in the natural. According to Romans 8:30, this is God's plan for salvation: "having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory" (NLT). Paraphrasing it, we didn't plan our salvation; God planned it and made the decision ahead of our existence, before we eventually followed or responded.

This can also explain the reason the very instant Jesus looked at Peter and Andrew and said, 'Follow me', they responded without any argument because it was preordained or predestined to be so, right from the beginning or before the world began. Subsequently, the results of the disciples were tremendous in a few short years; God used those two and few other disciples to spread the gospel of Christ to countless number of people.

Ephesians 1:4 (NLT) says, "Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes." This means that when a born again Christian or an Evangelist is preaching - Give your life to Christ, it is God calling people to Himself in Christ. The very time people are receiving the message of the gospel is the very time God is calling them because He had already chosen them before the world began. Simply put, if you've ever witnessed the time a sinner had a conviction to give their life to Christ, its because God called them. And just like the disciples willingly followed Jesus, the sinner responded to God's decision and call at that point.

Romans 5:8 (NKJV) reads, 'But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.' Did you know what that means? It means that God already executed His plan for salvation by sending His Son to die for the sin of mankind, even when we were still messing up and wallowing in sin. He didn't wait for us to first come to Him. He demonstrated His love towards us before we knew it. That's why 1st John 4:19 (NIV) says, "We love because he first loved us."

Furthermore, the Bible makes it clear that we are exceptional to God, designed or created with the purpose of doing exceptional things for His kingdom (see Ephesians 2:10). Since God transformed the lives of fishermen and turned them into powerful and effective missionaries for His glory, imagine what He can do with you today. Therefore, go forth with excitement, in His power, and get ready to be exceptional today and always, because God has chosen and appointed you to do good works. Shalom!

Scripture Reading - John 15:16,19; 1 Corinthians 9:16-18; Galatians 1:15; 1 John 4:10, 19.

Guided Prayer: Heavenly Father, I thank you for your divinely preordained plan for my salvation. Choosing me and making me anything but ordinary is showing forth your glory in my world. By your Spirit, I go forth and about, carrying out the duties of exceptional kingdom work and bearing precious fruit. And I'm forever grateful because my fruit remains, in Jesus' Name, Amen!