God has chosen us

We had a great Fellowship day at church worshiping our Lord and a meal afterward. For the last few weeks we have been talking about the call to service.

We are talking about Elisha. God chose Elisha, and God does not make any mistakes when He calls His servants.

He has called us all, every one of us, and we are all small compared to those who have gone before, serving the Lord, but there is something for us all to do in our generation.

"And the Lord said unto [Elijah] ..... Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room." (1 Ki.19:15-16)

Elisha was out in the fields ploughing. Suddenly Elijah appeared.  He strode straight up to Elisha, took off his cloak and laid it on the shoulders of Elisha. 

Nothing appears to have been said.  Nothing needed to be said.  It was a symbolic act and clearly Elisha immediately knew what this act of Elijah involved; it meant he was being called to the service of God. It was God's call to Elisha to leave everything, to go with Elijah.

It was for Elisha the day and the hour for decision.  God's call could brook no delay.  He must decide there and then whether he would obey the call.

Has God chosen us? Without a doubt He has. This is one very important choice that we can all take to our hearts and rejoice in it because before ever time began, before ever the world existed, God chose us in Christ for the greatest possible blessing.

God had chosen Elisha long before this day.  Elijah was called to announce God's decision to Elisha.  Elisha's obedience to the call would cost him much.  It meant his giving up everything, his home, his settled way of life and living a life sometimes of danger but always of service to God.

 "And [Elisha] left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee? And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him." (1 Ki.19:20-21)

How easy it is to say:

'Well, I am not qualified for this kind of thing. I have no credentials to give me the right to take up this service. I am busy tending to my duties, I don’t have the time??  It is very easy to turn away; maybe the sense of sacrifice is too great.’

Elisha showed no hesitation. This does not mean that he set his father and mother aside, the Scriptures are plain that we are to honor our father and mother, we are to respect those natural ties (Ex.20:12, Eph.6:1-2). God honors them and we ought to honor them also.

That is not the point.

Here was a claim that God was placing upon him that was far greater than any earthly tie. God was virtually saying to Elisha 'Now, Elisha, I want your time, I want your service, my claim is paramount, my claim is first'.

Elisha is prepared to face that.

We have to ask ourselves, is this our attitude to the service of the Lord?

We are not all called upon to leave our secular calling, we are not even called upon to actually leave our parents, but we are called upon to answer to the claims of the Lord when He makes a claim upon us. When there is some particular call for some particular service then it is right that this should be listened to and we should serve Him accordingly, and do it without any hesitation or reluctance.

I know it is easy to say that, but it is a right thing to say because the Lord Himself indicated this in Luke 14, "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple" (v.26).

Again, it does not mean that we forsake our mother and father and do not show them the respect that we ought to show them, it does not mean that at all, the Lord is simply saying 'My claims come first'.

What a wonderful position it is to be in at all times and to say 'I have the things of God at heart and His things come first in my life, everything I do is governed by this that I belong to God'.

I am perfectly sure that we would all be strong spiritually if this were true of us in every day of our lives.

God calls, and has called, each one of us.  His call, if we obey it will cost!  It will change our lives forever.  But in answering that call, in obeying him faithfully, we will by God's grace become a blessing in Christ to countless others.

In that I found this prayer for us all to pray then listen to what God has for each of us.

Dear Heavenly Father,

I come before you Lord because you are the God of the Universe and worthy of my every praise. I want to discover Your purpose for my life. I know you have a plan for me and I want to commit to this process God, but I'm afraid of where it might lead. 

God, what if what You want for me isn't what I want for my life? Let it be your will Lord, not mine. 

Help me to submit to your direction, your calling

Thank You Lord, for all you do. Thank You for your love. Fill me with your spirit Lord to show me what to do next.

I ask all things in Jesus' name.

AMEN!

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  More 1000 gifts... 

shopping for school clothes

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Smiles

smells of summer... ending

The rain to cool us

the Sun to warm us

little hands

crayons

coloring books

toy boxes &discovering new Toys

Worship and Fellowship -- Family days

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dishes ..

food to cook

clean home

and the ability to do all these things