MAY "prayer-starters"

Day 11—Letting the Realization that He Has Chosen Us Burst upon Us

I remember being the last one chosen when sides were being picked for a football team. The first day we went out, I was nearly the first one chosen. It was the second day when I was the last one. You see, I just wasn’t very athletic. I looked the part, but I never learned to throw and catch, and all the other things required of a good athlete. I bore that little bit of pain from rejection in my heart, till the day I discovered I was simply who I was. God gave it to me to be me. When I finally thanked Him for the gift He had given me of being “Ed Corley,” I entered a day of liberation. Finally, I could accept myself, whether or not anyone else ever did.

But, when I was chosen by God for His eternal Kingdom it wasn’t who I was in myself that was the deciding factor. It’s who I was in Christ Jesus.

It was Paul, in Ephesians 1:4, who introduced me to my choosing in Christ. When we see this verse alone, we immediately realize it is part of a larger statement. But, there is still enough Light in it to shine on us, no matter how dark our path has become. Just see it: 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... The important thing for us to see is that God has chosen us in Him. He chose us before we ever were. And, there is a result to being chosen in Him; we become holy and without blame before God. That’s almost too much to take in. We let our hearts accept it, however. Our hearts accept and believe things even when our minds finds them too difficult.

LORD, my heart is ready to run after You and to believe! It’s ready to believe things my mind simply cannot understand. Thank You for giving us all a heart so there will be a place in our beings that can believe, and trust, even when our minds find it too difficult to do so.

The Process by which a Person Can Hear the Gospel, Believe, and Be Saved
—Romans 10:8-17

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Ephesians 3:14-19 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; Tthat ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
Day 11—Letting the Realization that He Has Chosen Us Burst upon Us I remember being the last one chosen when sides were being picked for a football team. The first day we went out, I was nearly the first one chosen. It was the second day when I was the last one. You see, I just wasn’t very athletic. I looked the part, but I never learned to throw and catch, and all the other things required of a good athlete. I bore that little bit of pain from rejection in my heart, till the day I discovered I was simply who I was. God gave it to me to be me. When I finally thanked Him for the gift He had given me of being “Ed Corley,” I entered a day of liberation. Finally, I could accept myself, whether or not anyone else ever did. But, when I was chosen by God for His eternal Kingdom it wasn’t who I was in myself that was the deciding factor. It’s who I was in Christ Jesus. It was Paul, in Ephesians 1:4, who introduced me to my choosing in Christ. When we see this verse alone, we immediately realize it is part of a larger statement. But, there is still enough Light in it to shine on us, no matter how dark our path has become. Just see it: *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...* The important thing for us to see is that God has chosen us in Him. He chose us before we ever were. And, there is a result to being chosen in Him; we become holy and without blame before God. That’s almost too much to take in. We let our hearts accept it, however. Our hearts accept and believe things even when our minds finds them too difficult. LORD, my heart is ready to run after You and to believe! It’s ready to believe things my mind simply cannot understand. Thank You for giving us all a heart so there will be a place in our beings that can believe, and trust, even when our minds find it too difficult to do so. The Process by which a Person Can Hear the Gospel, Believe, and Be Saved —Romans 10:8-17 Top of Page Berean Ministries PO Box 38 Elk Park, NC 28622-0038 © Berean Gospel Fellowship. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Permission to reprint in part or in whole is usually granted.