Predestined for a purpose

Ex cert  from my latest book “Picking up the Pieces”

We must look through the eyes of God and his Word because it is where we see the plans and purposes he has for us.  “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5, KJV). Before we were ever thought of or conceived in our mother’s womb God had a plan for us. That plan was in eternity before we ever stepped into time. When we stepped into time after being born out of your mother’s womb is when the dreams and purposes of God have the potential for our dreams to be fulfilled. We must begin to believe what Jeremiah spoke when he penned these words, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV). It is a wonderful thing to discover that there truly is a plan and a purpose for all of our lives, and these plans and purposes are not to lead us to failure and hopelessness and destruction but to prosper and to a hope and future. Paul says, “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified” (Romans 8:29-30, KJV). These verses above show us that God foreknew and predestined us to be like his Son Jesus Christ and that he has already called all individuals to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. It is and always has been the plan of God for all to come to know him and to accept Jesus Christ through repentance of sins and to be baptized for the remission of sins and to be filled with the Holy Spirit. All of these things are available to every person; this is what God dreamed and planned from the beginning. We arrive at this place with the Lord by doing what Peter spoke when he said, “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38, KJV).

Let us now begin to step into our God-given potential and move forward and not allow the many faces of life to keep us in a state of fear. Fear is what paralyzes us and keeps us from moving into the place of greatness. “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:6, KJV). The Word of God tells us that we have not received this spirit of fear for it carries with it anxiety. In this verse fear can also mean timidity, cowardice, of craven and cringing and is never used in a good sense. In other words when anyone allows fear to take over we give it permission to cancel out whatever it is that we are in pursuit of. I think that we have allowed too many things that have happened to control our destiny. We all have dreams but have been too afraid to stomp out fear and turn away from the faces of failure. We must determine to say to ourselves enough is enough and begin to pick up the pieces in our lives and begin to move forward and forget those that are behind.