{"id":24969,"date":"2015-03-18T00:15:44","date_gmt":"2015-03-18T04:15:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=24969"},"modified":"2015-03-17T13:04:45","modified_gmt":"2015-03-17T17:04:45","slug":"i-choose-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2015\/03\/18\/i-choose-jesus\/","title":{"rendered":"I Choose Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/psalmshymnsspiritualsongskjv.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-16629\" src=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/psalmshymnsspiritualsongskjv.jpg\" alt=\"psalmshymnsspiritualsongskjv\" width=\"341\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/psalmshymnsspiritualsongskjv.jpg 341w, https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/psalmshymnsspiritualsongskjv-300x175.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 341px) 100vw, 341px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800080;\">I have searched to find the meaning of this life<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">Something that would fill my empty soul<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">Some believe a lie, choose darkness over light<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">But I will stand and let the whole world know<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><em>I choose Jesus, I choose Jesus<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\"><em>The One who first chose me<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800080;\">I stand unashamed trusting in one Name<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">\u2018Cause I have seen the Cross and I believe<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">This choice comes at cost, all other things are lost<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">No other love could mean so much to me<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><em>I choose Jesus, I choose Jesus<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\"><em>The One who first chose me<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\"><em>I choose Jesus, I choose Jesus<\/em><\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\"><em>For now and eternity<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800080;\">He chose to love me when I felt unlovable<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">He chose to reach me when I felt unreachable<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">He carried me out of my fear and doubt<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #800080;\">How I want the world to know\u2014I choose Jesus<\/span><\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rL2bZfHmsDs?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Moriah Peters<br \/>\nalong with songwriters: Tony Wood, Chuck Butler, Ed Cash<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #800080;\">* ~ \u2665 ~ \u271e ~ \u2665 ~ *\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Have you searched to find meaning and SOMEthing that would fill the emptiness of your soul? \u00a0I have\u2026. \u00a0Oh, how I have yearned to KNOW I was l-o-v-e-d! \u00a0Probably for most of the first quarter century of my \u00a0life, I attempted to fill that void. But nothing\u2026not accomplishments, not approval, not food, not inappropriate relationships\u2026nothing was able to fill that hole in my heart. \u00a0And, assuredly, there is nothing which COULD fill that hole in my heart\u2026<em>only Jesus<\/em>. \u00a0Perhaps you have heard this quote,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThere is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person,<br \/>\nand it can never be filled by any created thing.<br \/>\nIt can only be filled by God, made known through Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">(Blaise Pascal)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>I think that describes it so well\u2014a \u2018<em><strong>God-shaped<\/strong> vacuum in the heart<\/em>.\u2019 \u00a0I believe God created man (and woman) with that need. \u00a0And I know He perfectly provided for the filling of that vacuum when He made Adam and Eve and gave them the opportunity to have perfect fellowship with Him every moment of every day. \u00a0And I trust He would have always supplied their need\u2026but they were deceived. \u00a0 They chose to think that something else\u2014being equal and alike to God Almighty\u2014was the true answer to their needs.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">But the serpent said to the woman,<br \/>\nYou shall not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing the difference between good and evil and blessing and calamity.<br \/>\nAnd when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was delightful to look at, and a tree to be desired in order to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she gave some also to her husband, and he ate.<br \/>\nGenesis 3:4-6<\/p>\n<p>And, because they chose the deception of the enemy of their souls and disobeyed the One Who truly DID love them, they lost that fellowship and perfect connection and the fulfillment that a relationship with their God gave them.<\/p>\n<p>And mankind has suffered under the sin of Adam since. \u00a0But God would not allow His plan, His desire to fail. \u00a0And He provided so that all of humanity could have that \u2018God-shaped vacuum\u2019 filled in the way He has originally planned.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">By this the love of God was manifested in us,<br \/>\nthat God has sent His only begotten Son<br \/>\ninto the world so that we might live through Him.<br \/>\nIn this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us<br \/>\nand sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.<br \/>\n1 John 4:9 and 10<\/p>\n<p>Jesus IS the perfect and complete filling of that vacuum! \u00a0We do not need to search or attempt to fill the void inside\u2026we need to accept God\u2019s perfect provision making Jesus our Lord and Master and live our lives in obedience to Him.<\/p>\n<p>In this beautiful song, Moriah Peters sings, \u201c<span style=\"color: #800080;\"><em>He chose to love me when I felt unlovable\u2026He chose to reach me when I felt unreachable\u2026He carried me out of my fear and doubt.<\/em><\/span>\u201d \u00a0No longer do I (nor you either!) have to search for something to fulfill the emptiness, the void. \u00a0We need to choose Jesus! \u00a0He has chosen me (you, too)!<\/p>\n<p>Would you sing and praise along with me\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>I choose Jesus, I choose Jesus<\/strong><\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>The One who first chose me<\/strong><\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>I choose Jesus, I choose Jesus<\/strong><\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em><span style=\"color: #800080;\"><strong>For now and eternity<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have searched to find the meaning of this life Something that would fill my empty soul Some believe a lie, choose darkness over light But I will stand and let the whole world know I choose Jesus, I choose Jesus The One who first chose me I stand unashamed trusting in one Name \u2018Cause [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":16629,"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":[4937],"tags":[5222,235,1287,6524,425,6523,6521,566,6522,4932],"class_list":["post-24969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psalms-hymns-and-spiritual-songs","tag-1-john-49-10","tag-coleen-hayden","tag-gch","tag-genesis-34-6","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-god-shaped-vacuum","tag-i-choose-jesus","tag-john-316","tag-moriah-peters","tag-psalms-hymns-spiritual-songs","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/psalmshymnsspiritualsongskjv.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-6uJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24969","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=24969"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24972,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24969\/revisions\/24972"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}