Do You Know You Were Picked for a Purpose?

Holy Land Picture of the Day

Vegetable market Today's picture is of Israelis buying vegetables for their Sabbath meal at the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem. It reminds us of Proverbs 15:16-17; "Better is a little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and turmoil with it. Better is a dish of vegetables where love is than a fattened ox served with hatred". "In him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will".  (Eph. 1:11) Hey Gang:  Read that verse again and again until it seeps deep into your inner most being.  There was a man by the name of Frank Constantino who was chosen by God to be a very special ambassador for Him but, like Jonah, choose to go his own way.  He became a very bad motor scooter and eventually earn the right to be incarcerated in one of Georgia's most distinguished placed for bad boys. He was one  of those special dudes who proved he was bad enough that the prison officials did not want to deal with him in the open population of the prison, so he was serving his time in solitary confinement.  And then one night in the darkest hour, God spoke to Frank and said, "Frank, I placed you on earth for a very special purpose and you are wasting away here and not fulfilling that mission.  "You have created 'Holes in Time'.   Those who  I have assigned for you to lead to the Lord are not  leading others  to the Lord because you have failed to share MY Good News with them and, they in return, have failed to lead those I have assigned to them because of your failure."   Frank got on his knees that night and committed his life to Christ and miraculously was released from prison shortly thereafter.   Do you realize that when you were born, God's plan for you was already decided?   Notice again Paul's words, "All things happen just as he decided long ago".  Notice the words "all things".  That includes the things we tend to want to run from. When Jonah tried to cut and run from God's will, God said "No way, My word is already established in you.  If I have to create a storm and get you thrown overboard and send a whale to get your attention, so be it."  (Hainley rendition). When Jonah hit the bottom of the sea, in the literal sense, he cried out and God delivered him just in time to complete his assigned task- preaching to the people of Nineveh..   We make choices each and every day whether to go according to God's plan for life or to go your own way.  I suspect David may have been dealing with that very issue when he cried out to God " Your way, O God is holy´(Psa. 77:13). Sooooo, good buddies, Remember, you have been picked for a purpose!  God 's got too much invested in you to let you get away with not fulfilling his mission that only you can fulfill.  The question this morning is- how much heat must He apply to get us to die to self, put off those things that are offensive to Him, fill our hearts with His Word and His will for us and His ways, and let Him have total control of our life. (Col 3 Hainley style).    Now hear this - careful - do not leave a hole in time today! Blessings, Gramps