“I do not choose Him. He chooses me, loves me, and reveals His eternal purposes for my life”
p.63
Share to the group a statement or scripture that resonates with you from today’s reading and a responding prayer…
“I do not choose Him. He chooses me, loves me, and reveals His eternal purposes for my life”
p.63
Share to the group a statement or scripture that resonates with you from today’s reading and a responding prayer…
God always takes the initiative in the relationship with me. This is not something new I learn. I know this but it never get to my heart. Do I actually believe that God loves me? I don’t feel it sometimes or I am not sure I can really say I believe it. Oh God, I pray that I would experience your love flooding to my soul. I want my soul to be filled with your love.
It’s common church knowledge that God takes the initiative with everyone, and it makes sense. Honestly if it weren’t for God everyone would just cruise through life. I’d even say it’s against our nature to pursue God. And the best thing is how he uses so many different methods to call us. Whether it be hardship, a friend, or even a joint devotional like this, there’s always an invitation to join into this relationship w him. And if we wanna go back to the other days reading, and God wants a love relationship with you, honestly who are we to refuse? That’s beyond arrogant to think we’re better off without him. I’m definitely going off topic here, but it’s a such a blessing that God is the one to pursue, unlike other religions. There’s no way we could make it to Him on our own, which I guess is essentially the Gospel. God help me respond correctly to your pursuit. There’s nothing in this world that’s better than having a relationship with you. Help me prioritize that and love you more.
In our love relationship with God, he always takes the initiative. The Bible as a whole testifies to God’s pursuing of us and orchestration of paths for us to experience Him. He chooses us, loves us, and reveals his everlasting purposes for our lives to us. The love that God has for us is an endless love. We must be fully convinced of God’s love for us in order to completely anchor our experiencing God and knowing His plan. We cannot know what God is working on until he takes the initiative to reveal it to us. We must obey Him and seek His direction in prayer. He will then open our minds and draw us to Himself.
The line that stood out to me in the reading today stated: “in our natural human state, we do not seek God on our own initiative.” It reminded me that I have a relationship with God solely on his choosing and not because I had some good in me or something else. I am grateful and thankful for God pursuing me and enabling me to have a love relationship with Him. I pray that I can release my own will and allow God to do as He pleases with my life.
From Charlie: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me” (Rev 3:20). God reaches out and knock at the door but we must still hear the knock and open the door and invite Him in. In my cynical days, I questioned the existence of God but in fact He was already at work in my life and now when I know Him and can feel Him, I can see evidence of it in my entire life. He was there all the time waiting for me to open the door and invite Him in. For once you hear His call, his existence is self evident. You feel Him and you KNOW with certainty that He’s acting in your life. The evidence is there if you but acknowledge it. Before you hear Him and feel Him, you will question His existence. No amount of earthly evidence would be enough because You cannot Hear him no matter how insistent He is standing next to you. For those who heard and invited God in, there is no doubt that He is. For those who cannot hear, or for those who hear but won’t open the door, there is no convincing them. How do you describe colors to one who never open their eyes to see.
The reason for this rant is that I read another apologetic vs atheist debate and I just see the frustration of trying to debate a point between two people who have no common frame of reference. There is no way to convince someone to see if they don’t want to see. I think we just pray for them and thank God for his patience cultivation of all His lost children because if He has given up on any of us, we would NOT have come to Him now.
Thank you Father for not giving up on me all those years and to patiently guide me and cultivate me until the day I can hear You clearly and open the door. I strive now to remind myself each day of Your presence and to Hear you and to obey so that I won’t let temptation cause me to stray from you and forget You are there. It is too easy to be distracted by things off the path You led us. It is too easy to walk away in pursuit of human desires. Too easy to be lost if I don’t hold on tight to Your hand and to feel Your presence all the time. Perhaps that is the main purpose of prayers and the “walk with God” exercise is to remind me of Your presence and my promise to obey. Thank you Father for your eternal faithfulness, patience, love and guidance.