Such an important message of assurance from my friend JAP today.
Romans 8:28-31 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified He also glorified. What then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?”
It may be impossible for us to understand with our intellect—because it is a spiritual affair—but God knew from the foundation of the world that one day each of us would be born and that we would eventually either accept the priceless gift of His only Son’s death and resurrection to save us from a world destined for judgment and ruin, or we would refuse.
Those that He foreknew would receive, He predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, to be made righteous in His eyes and to be held close to His heart through every circumstance. But it was not by accident that we were chosen, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will—to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves” (Ephesians 1:3-6).
No, it was not by accident each of us made the personal decision to surrender to our Lord Jesus Christ to become His believers, “heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17). Having become part of His family we know that even as an earthly Father speaks to his children, our Heavenly Father speaks to us, but how? He speaks to us through His word, His Spirit who has come to dwell in us, and through circumstances.
Events may be God clearly answering with a yes or no, as when in a vision Paul saw a man begging him to come to Macedonia, he believed that God was calling him to come to preach the Gospel to them but received a definite “no” when Jesus blocked Paul’s way and would not allow them to enter. (Acts 16:6,7).
But circumstances will never mean that God is rewarding us from His pleasure or punishing us from His displeasure. “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet My unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor My covenant of peace be removed says the Lord, who has compassion on you” (Isaiah 54:10).
God promises that He will never stop loving us—yet, blessings come from our obedience to His call on our lives, when we hear His voice. “We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does His will” (John 9:31).
As we “walk in the Spirit”—that presence of the Holy Spirit who now lives in us to radiate God’s perfect will—we will know that He is speaking to our spirits (Romans 8:4).
But there is always that evil voice from our enemy, the devil, who tries to speak failure and fear into our minds – “you are not good enough, you will never be able to please that unreasonable God!” But his deceit will never cause us to lose faith in our perfectly reasonable God, as we remember that “If God is for us, who can be against us,” along with his assurance: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1).
Never forget, “God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose,” but it is still our choice. Will we bring our minds into compliance with His Spirit or will we allow the flesh to lead us away from His glorious grace?
Also remember, Jesus died on that cross for EVERYONE!