Predestiny

                A major problem that I’ve been hearing lately is the idea of predestination. So many people I know, including Christians, believe that people are chosen before they are born to go to heaven or hell. This keeps people from having a relationship with God because they feel that no matter what, they can’t help where they end up after death. They believe that salvation is given only to chosen people and that the elect will come to have faith and believe until the end.

“In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan

of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order

 that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.”

-Ephesians 1:11-12

                A lot of people take this verse as confirmation that there is undoubtedly predestination. However, what God means is that He chose them to have certain spiritual gifts. He chose the disciples and He chose the apostles. He has a plan for each and every one of us to do His works; we just need to accept the duty and responsibility. Also, the next verse contradicts the idea of predestination.

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word

of the truth, the gospel of your salvation.”

-Ephesians 1:13

                This verse declares that those who hear the Word and believe in it will receive salvation and a place in heaven. Deuteronomy 7:6-8 talks about the people of Israel being the chosen people. This doesn’t mean that they are the only ones permitted in heaven. What this means is that they have a special ranking in Heaven (see Revelation 7).

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever

believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. For God

did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does

not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed

in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

John 3:16-18

                No one is excluded from having everlasting life in heaven. All who believe will see the kingdom and reside in it! God loves each and every person that has ever walked this earth. He does not choose to send anyone to hell; He did everything to save us. He sent His only Son to perish for us. He became like us to be a sacrifice for us. He remained compassionate while Israel was arrogant and judgmental. The Bible tells us that whoever confesses with their mouth that Jesus is Christ and commits their life to God will receive life in heaven. We are told that we have our own will. Therefore, we are not predestined.

                Don’t be convinced that you can’t help set the way for where you will end up after death. One thing is, you are on a predetermined course. But you don’t have a predetermined destination. The course that you take, can have detours based on your decisions and if you stray from God's will, and so does your destination. Satan is not omnipotent or omnipresent. He can only attack you every now and then, putting thoughts in your head for short moments, hoping that those thoughts will turn you from God. So don’t let him convince you that you’re either set to go to heaven or hell. YOU make your own decisions and if you love God and live by His word than you are going to heaven. If you disobey God, then you are on a wide path to the lake of fire. You are not Satan’s to have-you are God’s. So live your life for Him and know that your destination is not predestined.

The Potter of Our Lives

“This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ‘Go down to the potter’s house, and there

I will give you my message.’ So I went to the potter’s house, and I saw him

working on the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his

hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.”

-Jeremiah 18:1-4

                Just as a potter shapes the clay, God shapes our lives. In the end, He makes the decisions and helps control the outcome. He can destroy us if we commit sins against Him or He can pour blessings upon us if we are righteous. We may see darkness in a certain time of our lives, but He sees the beauty that will come out of it and He never leaves us. We may mess up and make mistakes, but in the end, His plan prevails.

“You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.”

-Psalm 18:27

                Some people say that God does not exist. But that does not remove Him from their lives. Instead of continually pouring out blessings on them, He will eventually cause some sort of tragedy or unpleasing event to occur in their lives. If someone has many riches on this earth, and not in heaven, He can take all of their possessions away from them so they can experience what poverty is. He can make an atheist experience a disaster, so that they turn to Him and come to have faith in Him.

                But not all bad things occur because of sin. Maybe God wants you to change your job or workplace but you don’t want that change. He might make you lose that job or cause drama at the workplace so that you will want to get that job change. It’s not because He’s trying to control your life; it’s because He knows what’s best for you and needs you at certain places to do His work. He wants you to aim high so that you have an effect on others. Each person is called to their own mountain to be a light. When someone takes their part on that mountain and line up with God, they are the priesthood that God has chosen to change that environment to line up with God’s work.

“He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
    he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
    from my foes, who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
    but the Lord was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place;
    he rescued me because he delighted in me.”

-Psalm 18:16-19

                Maybe you recently broke up with a boyfriend or girlfriend, someone you thought you would spend the rest of your life with. God didn’t cause this to happen to break your heart or bring depression. Maybe He did it because maybe they weren’t really the person and He has someone out there that He needs you to be with. There could be someone who doesn’t believe in Him or has a wavering faith and He needs you to be there for them and support them; show them God’s love and maybe be an answer to a lonely person’s prayer. Maybe He did it because God wasn’t at the center of the relationship and He wants you to grow your relationship with Him first. Whatever the reason, it wasn’t meant to bring harm upon you. God never brings harm or destruction to those He loves just get pleasure out of it; He does it to teach a lesson or use them for His plans. It is God shaping your life.

                Sometimes God wants us to experience a certain hardship so that when we prevail and win victory over it, we can witness to others and maybe help someone who is or will be experiencing that same hardship. For instance, when I first ended a relationship with my ex-boyfriend, I was devastated felt it was a punishment. Sure, maybe it was because God wasn’t at the center of the relationship. But three months later, a friend of mine suffered the same thing, with almost the same exact details and events. I was able to be there and lift her up in the Lord. God used me to keep peace in her heart.

                Sure, we do have the freedom to do what we want, but we need to know the consequences for certain actions and we need to live according to God’s will for us. Each person’s will is different and we shouldn’t try to live like anyone besides Jesus.

Are You Committed?

“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the

one and love the other, or he will be devoted

to the one and despise the other.”

-Matthew 6:24

                In our relationship with God we need to be 100% committed to Him. We cannot say that we live for Him if we only go to him when we need something and then continually sin or forget about God when we are financially stable or feel that things are going good for us. We can’t maintain a strong relationship with the Lord if we don’t do his will for us. He won’t let his grace rain down on us if we turn our backs.We will be punished when the time for His judgment comes. We cannot wait and delay our confession of Christ until we are on our death bed so we can live rebelliously either because we do not know when we are going to die. We could die instantly in a car accident and never receive the opportunity again to be saved.

               

“But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless

and in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.”

-Hebrews 6:8

                We need to be careful not to backslide into our old ways. God is a jealous god and will not let His kingdom be a divided one.  If we confess Jesus as our savior but then don’t live according to His law and His will then we are not useful to Him and we bear bad fruit. We bear bad fruit because we are not being righteous. When we bear bad fruit we are not drawing people to Christ; we are turning them away or not even letting them see who Jesus is. What is fruit in biblical terms? It is the manifestation of God’s works. And the only way to bear good fruit is through Him. You can say that you are a follower of Christ but that won’t save you; how do you live your life? Are you just a wolf in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15)?

“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain

 in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”

-John 15:4

                How do we remain in Him? Through Christ’s words. We must take up our own cross so that our sinful life can be cut off and we can be made alive in the Spirit. In Luke, when it says that we are to lose our life to save it, it means that we are to give up our own free will to perform God’s will so that we may bring others to Him and have Jesus as our savior. Therefore, we do save our life but it’s not our earthly life we save. Instead, we are saving our everlasting life so we aren’t cast into the lake of fire. The things on this earth are not as important as the promise of new life that we will have in Heaven after the Son of Man returns to harvest his people during the Rapture.

“Then he said to them all, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his

 cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses

his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole

world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?”

-Luke 9:23-25

“And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”

-Luke 14:27