{"id":17530,"date":"2014-02-03T00:01:03","date_gmt":"2014-02-03T05:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=17530"},"modified":"2014-02-02T22:54:04","modified_gmt":"2014-02-03T03:54:04","slug":"christlife-sixteen-called-chosen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/02\/03\/christlife-sixteen-called-chosen\/","title":{"rendered":"CHRISTLife &#8212; Sixteen: Called and Chosen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/christlife-graphic-wk4_1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-17534\" alt=\"christlife graphic wk4_1\" src=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/christlife-graphic-wk4_1.jpg\" width=\"483\" height=\"359\" srcset=\"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/christlife-graphic-wk4_1.jpg 483w, https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/christlife-graphic-wk4_1-300x222.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 483px) 100vw, 483px\" \/><\/a>Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,<br \/>\nwho has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,<br \/>\njust as He <span style=\"color: #3295ae;\">chose<\/span> us in Him before the foundation of the world,<br \/>\nthat we would be holy and blameless before Him.<br \/>\nIn love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself,<br \/>\naccording to the kind intention of His will,<br \/>\nto the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.<br \/>\nEphesians 1:3-6<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #3295ae;\"><em>Called<\/em> and Chosen<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Is that not amazing? \u00a0And it is true. \u00a0God chose you (me, too!) in His infinite wisdom and sovereign knowledge. \u00a0What truly amazes me is ALL that His calling and choice have placed into our lives. \u00a0As I have been meditating on these verses that Mrs. Myers so abundantly has sprinkled throughout this chapter, I see how these are definitely images that we should have in our inner identity albums:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>blessed<\/li>\n<li>chosen in Him<\/li>\n<li>holy<\/li>\n<li>blameless<\/li>\n<li>adopted<\/li>\n<li>sons<\/li>\n<li>God\u2019s heritage<\/li>\n<li>His portion<\/li>\n<li>foreordained<\/li>\n<li>saved<\/li>\n<li>purposed<\/li>\n<li>treasured possession<\/li>\n<li>not rejected<\/li>\n<li>eternally loved<\/li>\n<li>without blame<\/li>\n<li>justified<\/li>\n<li>glorified<\/li>\n<li>worthy<\/li>\n<li>beloved<\/li>\n<li>known by God<\/li>\n<li>approved<\/li>\n<li>saved<\/li>\n<li>sanctified<\/li>\n<li>God\u2019s elect<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p>Consider this statement from Pastor John Piper:<br \/>\n\u201cYour salvation did not begin with your choice to believe in Christ\u2014a choice which was real and necessary. \u00a0Your salvation began before the creation of the universe when God planned the history of redemption, ordained the death and the resurrection of his Son, and chose you to be his own through Christ. \u00a0This is a great objective ground for assurance. And we should consider it deeply.\u201d *<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">In Him we also were made [God\u2019s] heritage (portion) and we obtained an inheritance;<br \/>\nfor we had been foreordained (chosen and appointed beforehand)<br \/>\nin accordance with His purpose,<br \/>\nWho works out everything in agreement with the counsel and design of His [own] will,<br \/>\nSo that we who first hoped in Christ [who first put our confidence in Him have been destined and appointed to] live for the praise of His glory!<br \/>\nVerses 11 and 12<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">He has saved us and called us to a holy life\u2014<br \/>\nnot because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace.<br \/>\nThis grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time,<br \/>\nbut it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus,<br \/>\nWho has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.<br \/>\n2 Timothy 1:9 and 10<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re CALLED. You\u2019ve been called personally by God and to God. That\u2019s an in-Christ fact about you that can help erase any sense of alienation or lack of purpose that you may at times feel\u201d (Mrs. Myers, page 68).<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">In light of all of this, sisters, may we daily fulfill the joy and honor and privilege of being called and chosen by Almighty God. \u00a0The Apostle Paul encourages everyone who is called to,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">&#8230;live a life worthy of the calling you have received.<br \/>\nBe completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.<br \/>\nMake every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.<br \/>\nEphesians 4:1-3<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #3295ae;\"><strong>* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Dear Lord, how awesomely wonderful and gracious You are to us! \u00a0We struggle, Lord, (You know that) endeavoring to hold the Truth of who You say we are in our minds and hearts. \u00a0But we want to&#8230;please help us through the empowering of Your Holy Spirit! \u00a0I pray for each person who reads this little blog today, Lord, asking that You cause the Truth of Your Word to sink into their depth of their hearts. \u00a0I pray that each will remember that Your ways and Your thoughts are high above our own. \u00a0I pray that each will recognize Grace and Mercy for all that they are. \u00a0I pray that each will remember that Your power and strength are made perfect in their weakness. \u00a0And I pray that each will believe more and more that \u2018I AM who God says I am!\u2019 \u00a0Thank You for calling us and chosing us to be Your own. \u00a0Praying and asking these things in Jesus\u2019 name. Amen.<\/p>\n<p>* From a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.desiringgod.org\/sermons\/god-has-chosen-us-in-him-before-the-foundation-of-the-earth\" target=\"_blank\">wonderful series<\/a> that Pastor Piper did on having assurance of just who we are because of God\u2019s chosing and calling!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":17534,"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":[5040],"tags":[5311,5312,205,5044,235,5155,5310,4450,1287,425,5068,1141],"class_list":["post-17530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christlife-bible-study","tag-2-timothy-19-10","tag-called","tag-chosen","tag-christlife","tag-coleen-hayden","tag-ephesians-111-12","tag-ephesians-13-6","tag-ephesians-41-3","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-ruth-myers","tag-womens-online-bible-study","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/christlife-graphic-wk4_1.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-4yK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17530","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\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17530"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17549,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17530\/revisions\/17549"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}