{"id":13833,"date":"2013-08-06T01:00:07","date_gmt":"2013-08-06T06:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=13833"},"modified":"2013-08-05T19:16:58","modified_gmt":"2013-08-06T00:16:58","slug":"i-am-chapter-5-day-2-i-am-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2013\/08\/06\/i-am-chapter-5-day-2-i-am-family\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI AM\u201d Chapter 5 \u2013 Day 2: I AM Family"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"GFCHmemverse3\"<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n

Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an <\/i>inheritance from God, for he chose<\/span><\/b> us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.\u00a0 <\/i><\/p>\n

Ephesians 1:11<\/strong>
\n<\/i><\/p>\n

******<\/p>\n

Since God chose<\/span><\/b> you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.<\/i><\/p>\n

Colossians 3:12<\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Chose<\/b>. That word says so much. Here are a couple of definitions that I found for<\/span> this word; looking at the definition helps me to better understand the full impact of the meaning of a word.<\/p>\n

    \n
  • To want; desire.<\/li>\n
  • Make a deliberate decision:\u00a0to make a deliberate decision to do something<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    We can\u2019t choose our earthly family, we are gifted (doesn\u2019t always feel like it but yes<\/i>) with them by God; they are genetically ours.\u00a0 We love them for their good characteristics and pray them through their bad; as my son says \u201cyou get what you get and you don\u2019t throw a fit.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0This principle can be easily applied to our earthly families because, like Teresa said, these relationships are tangible, we can see the connections and they are sometimes easier to grasp than the concept of a spiritual family, whose connections we cannot see with our eyes.<\/p>\n

    Our spiritual family is different. It\u2019s a family chosen by God; we\u2019re related by blood,—but not flesh and blood like siblings are related—but by the blood of the Lamb.<\/em><\/p>\n

    We don\u2019t choose our family in this life, but God chose<\/span><\/b> us. \u00a0He picked each and every one of us.\u00a0\u00a0If nothing else this gives us reassurance that we are part of the I AM\u2019s family; take confidence that He wanted us! \u00a0He knew our past, present, and futures and still chose<\/span><\/b> us.<\/p>\n

    He desires to have a relationship with us.\u00a0 He made a deliberate decision to call us into<\/span> His family.<\/p>\n

    There\u2019s something that Teresa wrote that truly touched my heart: \u201cWhen it comes to our spiritual family, we like to pick and choose.\u201d\u00a0 We walk around life looking at those around us, questioning why we have to accept them, and questioning why God chose them.\u00a0 <\/i>They may have hurt us, we may know things about their past, and we may wonder why we have to accept them. \u00a0I know I have been guilty of this.<\/p>\n

    Look at Colossians 3:12 again…and see how we are to interact and love our spiritual family:<\/p>\n

    Tenderhearted –\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Merciful –\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Kind –\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Walking in Humility –\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Gentle –\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Patient<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

    \u00a0<\/i><\/b>Why?<\/p>\n

    Because He chose you.\u00a0\u00a0 Because He chose me.<\/i><\/b><\/i> <\/span>
    \nBecause we are the family of The Great I AM.<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

    __________<\/p>\n

    Let\u2019s Pray:<\/b><\/p>\n

    Dear Heavenly Father,<\/p>\n

    Thank You for choosing me despite my past, despite my present, and despite what my future holds that does not live up to Your word. \u00a0Lord, please give us the hearts to accept our spiritual family as You have accepted and chosen us.\u00a0 Lord, please guide us and give us the opportunities to walk with a tender heart, with mercy, in kindness, with humility, gently, and with patience. Help us to embrace that we are a part of Your family.\u00a0 Thank You, Father.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name we pray.<\/p>\n

    Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.\u00a0 Ephesians 1:11 ****** Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[144,205,218,3158,3157,370,425,436,2881,496,2808,2879,724,2880,1052,1075,2830,1135],"class_list":["post-13833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-womens","tag-bible","tag-chosen","tag-christianity","tag-colossians-312","tag-ephesians-111","tag-family","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-god","tag-god-of-today","tag-hebrews-416","tag-i-am","tag-old-testament","tag-online-bible-study","tag-reminder","tag-teresa-bolme","tag-tonya-ellison","tag-who-i-am","tag-womens-bible-studies","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-3B7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13833"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13833\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13844,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13833\/revisions\/13844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}