"Taken Into Account" -2

"Thou visitest the earth, and watereth it: Thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: Thou preparest them corn, when Thou hast so provided for it." (Psalms 65:9) I love hearing confirmation from the Lord; it is what keeps me going, day after day. Yesterday I heard a message from Pastor Jack, which was pretty much right in line with what God was speaking into my heart yesterday morning. He said something that pretty much put everything into perfect perspective, which was something along these lines: "Predestination doctrine is for the believer, for their edification; those that are unsaved are not moved by it whatsoever." That is exactly right! God chose Jacob over Esau, and guess what, Jacob responded and Esau did not; Jacob became the man chosen of God, while Esau became a man of the world. Pastor Jack added a little something else, by saying, "I imagine that when we get to heaven, the front of the door will say, 'Whomsoever Come" after going through and see the backside, it will say, 'Chosen of God'. It's God's way of letting us know that it is all about Him and His purposes; He has the plans for us, He get's to build His church and prepare His bride; we get to be a part of something spectacular, not because we are anything special on our own, but because He has called us into His family; He chose you, long before you were even thought of in this world, He already knew your name. That blows my mind! Why "Taken into account"? It is quite simple really, because it has got to be! We are special, you and I; not because of anything that we have done on our own, but because of what God has done for us, in us, and to us. He has prepared the way for us; He has made the change in us; and He is completing His plan to our lives... "Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not! For God said to Moses, "I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose." So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it. For the Scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, "I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying My power in you and to spread My fame throughout the earth." So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and He chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen. Well then, you might say, "Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven't they simply done what He makes them do?" No, don't say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, "Why have you made me like this?" When the potter makes jars out of clay, doesn't he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar of decoration and another to throw garbage into? In the same way, even though God has the right to show His anger and His power, He is very patient with those on whom His anger falls, who are destined for destruction. He does this to make the riches of His glory shine even brighter on those to whom He shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory. And we are among those whom He has selected, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles." (Romans 9:14-24)