{"id":18044,"date":"2014-02-24T00:05:05","date_gmt":"2014-02-24T05:05:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=18044"},"modified":"2014-02-24T00:23:39","modified_gmt":"2014-02-24T05:23:39","slug":"christlife-thirtyone-accepted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/02\/24\/christlife-thirtyone-accepted\/","title":{"rendered":"CHRISTLife — ThirtyOne: Accepted"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cl<\/a><\/p>\n

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, <\/span>
\n that we should be called children of God<\/em>! <\/span>
\n and that is what we are<\/strong>! <\/span>
\n 1 John 3:1<\/span><\/p>\n

We ARE<\/strong>! \u00a0This is one of my oh-so-very-favorite verses in all 66 books of the Bible! \u00a0What comfort…what encouragement…what enablement is communicated in this one sentence! \u00a0And, as His children, He has accepted<\/strong> <\/em><\/span>us through the accomplishments of Jesus Christ!<\/p>\n

According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love:
\nHaving predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
\nTo the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted<\/strong><\/em><\/span> in the beloved.
\nEphesians 1:4-6 KJV<\/p>\n

Now THIS, my friends, THIS should definitely be one of the \u2018images\u2019 in your inner identity album. \u00a0\u201cI am ACCEPTED \u2018cause God says I am!\u201d \u00a0It truly is as simple as that, y\u2019know. \u00a0There is nothing\u2014nada, not one tiny thing, not anything at all\u2014that you (or I) can do to be accepted or make yourself any more accepted by God. \u00a0He has done it all…in Christ. \u00a0There aren\u2019t too many words which communicate God\u2019s love to us than these; they always cause tears to well up in my eyes (if not flow out of)! \u00a0Words which tell of His great love for us: chosen…without blame… adoption… His Will…to the praise of the glory of His grace…accepted in the beloved<\/em>! \u00a0 Amazing, yes…and TRUE!<\/p>\n

Webster\u2019s definition says that to ACCEPT means to \u2018receive willingly, to regard with approval, to value, to esteem, to take pleasure in or to receive with favor.\u2019 Take that and think of yourself, child of God, insert your name<\/em>\u2014\u201cI, _______, am willingly received by God; \u00a0God regards me, _______, with approval; \u00a0God values me, esteems me, takes pleasure in me, and receives me with favor!\u201d<\/p>\n

C.H. Spurgeon wrote, \u201cAre there grander words in any language than these four \u2018…accepted in the beloved<\/em>\u2019? \u00a0There seems to be a sacred poem in these words. \u00a0To my heart, there is more heavenly music in those four words than in any oratorio I ever heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
\nYou know when I sit down and when I rise up;
\nYou discern my thoughts from afar.
\nYou search out my path and my lying down
\nand are acquainted with all my ways.
\nEven before a word is on my tongue,
\nbehold, O Lord, You know it altogether.
\nYou hem me in, behind and before,
\nand lay Your hand upon me.
\nSuch knowledge is too wonderful for me;
\nit is high; I cannot attain it.
\nPsalms 139:1-6<\/p>\n

We\u2014every single human being who ever has been born and who ever will be born\u2014are known by God. \u00a0Truly \u201csuch knowledge…it is high; I cannot attain it!\u201d \u00a0But it is the truth! \u00a0And God\u2019s desire\u2014His love\u2014for all is to be saved through His Son, Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son,
\nthat whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
\nFor God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
\nbut in order that the world might be saved through Him.
\nJohn 3:16 and 17<\/p>\n

When we are saved and brought into a relationship with Almighty God as His children, we receive access to Him. \u00a0He has completely accepted us and made us part of His family, His household. \u00a0Again, nothing we can do or could have done to accomplish this\u2014it is all His gift of love, His doing through Jesus!<\/p>\n

For through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
\nSo then you are no longer strangers and aliens,
\nbut you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
\nEphesians 2:18 and 19<\/p>\n

This was according to the eternal purpose that He has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,
\nin whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in Him.
\nEphesians 3:11 and 12<\/p>\n

* ~ * ~ \u2665\u00a0\u00a0~ * ~ *<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Might I encourage you to take a little bit of time right now and seek your Father\u2019s presence. \u00a0Put everything else aside and thank Him…praise Him…exalt Him…love Him. \u00a0Tell Him how thankful you are to be His child and to be accepted<\/strong><\/em><\/span>\u2014because you are<\/strong><\/span>! \u00a0\u00a0\u2665 \u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! and that is what we are! 1 John 3:1 We ARE! \u00a0This is one of my oh-so-very-favorite verses in all 66 books of the Bible! \u00a0What comfort…what encouragement…what enablement is communicated in this one sentence! \u00a0And, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":18052,"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":[2562,3057,5610,5611,2977,5044,235,3206,5609,5307,1287,425,5095,3375,5612,5608,5068,1141],"class_list":["post-18044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christlife-bible-study","tag-1-john-31","tag-accepted","tag-accepted-in-the-beloved","tag-access","tag-child-of-god","tag-christlife","tag-coleen-hayden","tag-ephesians-14-6","tag-ephesians-218-19","tag-ephesians-311-12","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-inner-identity-album","tag-john-316-17","tag-not-of-our-own-doing","tag-psalms-1391-6","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\/cl-accepted-1.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-4H2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18044","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=18044"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18061,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18044\/revisions\/18061"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}