{"id":25935,"date":"2015-05-21T00:20:15","date_gmt":"2015-05-21T04:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=25935"},"modified":"2015-05-20T14:36:51","modified_gmt":"2015-05-20T18:36:51","slug":"living-the-good-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2015\/05\/21\/living-the-good-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Living the Good Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

For we are God\u2019s [own] handiwork (His workmanship),
\nrecreated in Christ Jesus,
\n[born anew] that we may do those good works
\nwhich God predestined (planned beforehand) for us
\n[taking paths which He prepared ahead of time],
\nthat we should walk in them
\n[living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].
\n<\/span>Ephesians 2:10 AMP<\/span><\/p>\n

Did you catch that? \u00a0We are \u2018predestined for…living the good life<\/strong><\/span>\u2019! \u00a0Not only has God prepared us to do<\/strong><\/em> the good works He planned before we were born, He also prearranged a good life for<\/strong><\/em> us. \u00a0Psalm 16:11 HCSB states, \u201cYou reveal the path of life to me.\u201d \u00a0God reveals the paths He has made ready for us. \u00a0We don\u2019t have to earn the good life. \u00a0We don\u2019t have to work for it. \u00a0 It is a gracious gift from God (should we choose to receive it).<\/p>\n

John 10:10 NKJV tells us Christ came so \u201c…that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.\u201d \u00a0In Jeremiah 31:12 NLT it says, \u201cThey will be radiant because of the Lord\u2019s good gifts\u2014the abundant crops of grain, new wine, and olive oil, and the healthy flocks and herds. Their life will be like a watered garden….\u201d \u00a0Not once does it mention that we must work to receive these blessings.<\/p>\n

I love this quote from the Jamieson, Fausset & Brown Bible Commentary:
\n\u201cWorks do not justify, but the justified man works.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Works will not save us. \u00a0Works will not earn us the love of God. \u00a0But works are something we do because we love God. \u00a0When we carry out the good deeds God has predestined for us, it is a way of expressing our gratitude for the good life He has provided for us. \u00a0In turn, God blesses us even more.<\/p>\n

The Lord will open for you His abundant storehouse….
\nDeuteronomy 28:12 HCSB<\/p>\n

I promise this very day that I will repay two blessings for each of your troubles.
\nZephaniah 9:12 NLT<\/p>\n

Job was blessed more in the latter part of His life than in the beginning (Job 42:12<\/a>). \u00a0As if His abundant gift of mercy and grace wasn\u2019t enough, God chooses to bless us even more. \u00a0We cannot outdo God. \u00a0His gifts are never ending!<\/p>\n

\n

Why does God give us gifts we could never earn or hope to repay? \u00a0Because we are His handiwork<\/em>\u2014His masterpiece<\/em>\u2014born anew through the death of Christ on the Cross; which is the greatest gift of all. \u00a0All because God loves each one of us more than we could ever imagine!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For we are God\u2019s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":13840,"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":[3020],"tags":[5889,3367,8891,341,1287,425,8894,8892,559,8893,4073,3174,8890],"class_list":["post-25935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-devotions","tag-cynda-cottrill","tag-daily-devotions-2","tag-deuteronomy-2812","tag-ephesians-210","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-god-has-prepared-good-works-for-us","tag-jeremiah-3112","tag-john-1010","tag-living-the-good-life","tag-psalm-1611","tag-seeking-him-devotional","tag-zephaniah-912","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-6Kj","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25935","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\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25935"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25940,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25935\/revisions\/25940"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}