Unworthy, But Chosen

Today’s item here at C201 is part testimony, part inspiration and part Bible study. I hope you’ll enjoy this piece from the blog Saint in Training. Click through to read at source and discover more from this blog’s two authors.

I am a living witness that God can and will save the worst of sinners.

I once saw myself as being beyond redemption, having no understanding that our Heavenly Father sees us all the same and that through His son Jesus Christ, he made a way of escape for us. Although our sins may differ we stand in danger of facing the same penalty for unrepentant sin: eternal damnation. Thank God for Jesus! It’s because of Him that every sinner is promised a future and thus once we become Christians it behooves us to remember that every saint has a past.

Dear hearts let us not forget that it was the mercies of God that brought us out of sin. We should be careful not to become self-righteous, thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to in Christ. Our awesome God, blessed be His name, is the only one worthy of praise.

The saying, “I don’t look like what I’ve been through,” is true. If I were to write a book, it couldn’t express the immensity of the love, grace and mercy God has showered upon me! Growing up in the streets of New York City shaped my thoughts and molded my life into a vehicle for sin. Loneliness was my best friend, distrust taught me to fear the night while hunger gave me the strength to beg and the will to live. I learned how to survive that kind of life. God wasn’t in my thoughts; he wasn’t a part of my life at all – or so I thought. I didn’t realize that it was he who was keeping me alive! His ever watchful eyes saw every step I took and protected my every move. He didn’t allow the devil to fulfill his desire to have my soul, nor did he let the demons of hell drive me to a point of no return. God kept my mind!

Oh! The unexplainable love of God. His love can’t be measured. It is deeper than the sea and as solid as a rock! We are so unworthy of his love, of his grace and of his mercy – yet, God still chose us to be his sons and daughters in Christ! He chose us to spend eternity with him in his heavenly kingdom. So those of you who have a feeling of unworthiness that overshadows you, I encourage you today to lift up your hands unto the Lord and bless his holy name – you are blessed. Yes, you are blessed! Why? Because he chose you to love and favored you by calling you to be his son, his daughter!

I’ll never find myself worthy of God’s love but I am grateful. I praise him for seeing me as being worth loving – that’s more than enough for me.

I am like that publican who prayed the prayer that touched God’s heart:

Luke 18:13-14 KJV

And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Dear hearts, it was for the unworthy that Jesus died!

Mark 2:17 KJV

When Jesus heard it, he said to them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

It’s the unworthy that Jesus loves! It is the unworthy he embraces! Why? Because it is they who love him the most. They know that they are just that, unworthy. They are grateful and humble before him. God can use them to give hope to the hopeless. He shows his love toward them who desperately need the one and only true living God in their lives!

What does God see in us?

You know yourself as a drug dealer – God sees you as a preacher.
You know yourself as a prostitute – God sees you as a missionary.
You know yourself as an alcoholic – God sees you as an evangelist.
You know yourself as a liar and a thief – God sees you as a prayer warrior.
You see yourself as a nobody – God sees you as the apple of his eye.
You know yourself as a sinner – God sees you as a saint!

Where man has counted you out, God has already counted you as a winner! Where some may see us as being worthless, God sees us as being worth it! Man and Satan took us to the courtroom at Calvary dear hearts; they charged us and found us to be guilty. Oh! But God dropped the charges and He found us guiltless through the death of his son Jesus Christ!

He did this for me! He did this for you!

Forget what Satan says about you precious one, he’s a liar. Forget what you say about you, you’re only flesh. Look to God and receive what he said:

Isaiah 55:7-8 NIV

Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.

Isaiah 1:18-20 NIV

“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.  If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

God has called you by name, he has chosen you for his own – receive his word, believe and watch your life change!

Three types of Captive Thoughts

When someone tells you they want to talk to you about your thought life, you probably think you know what’s coming. But actually, some types of thoughts are positive and helpful; it’s only the destructive type you want to avoid. Ohio’s Scott Couchenour blogged this at Serving Strong under the title, The Triology of Captive Thoughts.

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God,and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10.5)

Thoughts. At the level of our thoughts, the trajectory of our ministry is determined. No one ever morally fails or succeeds overnight. Just as the bucket tips over after filling full of water one droplet at a time, our lives are a result of how we handle each thought one at a time. Here is a related post on the “little monkeys”.

In this effort of ours to avoid burnout as a pastor, clergy, ministry leader, church staff person, volunteer …whoever you are with the call of God on your life related to things eternal… we must grip every thought (every thought) that enters our mind. We hold the keys to the cell – let’s use ‘em. Here are 3 categories of thoughts:

Destructive Thoughts

This is what I typically think of when I read 2 Corinthians 10.5. The little shapely thing on the TV ad for GoDaddy, the suggestive, bikini-clad female on the magazine at the [grocery store] check-out line, or any type of trigger starts a line of thinking that, left un-captive, leads to disaster. And sex isn’t the only thing. There are people who make us feel inferior, unappreciated, unworthy. We even provide these thoughts ourselves. Take them captive and lay them at the feet of Jesus. Let HIM deal with these before they get bigger.

Instructive Thoughts

Heard of mentors? They’ve been where you are going. They learned lessons the hard way. Request to have coffee with them. Listen to them. But more than listen, take the thoughts captive by writing down in your personal development journal (you have one of those, don’t you?) Revisit the journal regularly. Don’t let the words of a mentor (or a conference speaker, or an author in a book) pass in one ear and out the other. Take them captive and lay them at the feet of Jesus. Let HIM filter and weave these truths into your personal experience.

Constructive Thoughts

Got a “win folder”? This is a file where you put those little notes of appreciation, those short tweets of encouragement, those comments in the foyer after church about the quality of your sermon. Your win folder may be a paper file in a desk drawer. I use Evernote. However you do it, take captive the positive things, those little confirmations, you hear as a result of what God is doing through you. Take them captive and lay them at the feet of Jesus. Let HIM take the glory and be blessed while keeping you the humble messenger.

Scott Couchenour

Trouble The Water

Just two weeks ago I introduced you to the writing of Robert Moon, but I’m enjoying his blog and wanted to share another piece with you.  I chose to title this based on the phrasing I think I remember from the KJV, but it appeared on his blog as The Moving of the Water.

John 5: 6-8 (NKJV) When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.”

On the one hand this is a very sad story, a “Winner Take all” proposition. While one man recovered his health, the rest were still laying around the pool waiting for the moving of the water. If Jesus ministered to anyone else it isn’t mentioned.

One might conclude that the people were looking to the water instead of Jesus for help. Notwithstanding the fact that they had not yet heard of Jesus but after he healed the impotent man they should have then changed their focus.

If we are still standing around the same old water hole hoping for help, and getting none, maybe its time to change the way we think, pray and conduct ourselves.

The pool was a place where misery was flourishing where people were speaking out about their problems, and receiving sympathy from one another. We, the church are not living in the age of sympathy but rather the age of grace where we should build each other up rather than to commiserate with the problem.

There are times when we must endure some hard knocks, for we don’t control the forces aligned against us.

1Corinthians 16:13 encourages us to; Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.

There are times when we can pray and encourage one another but sometimes we have to go through the valley all alone because our closest friend can’t help. It is in a time like this when we need to be reinforced by GOD’S word and remember

Joel 3:10 Let the weak say I am strong and, Ephesians 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

Being strong in the LORD is simply walking and talking according to the demands of His Word any thing less than that is sin. Going against GOD’S word saps our spiritual strength and affects our fellowship with GOD.

1 John 1:6-9 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

So there you have it, if you are weak, say I am strong in the Lord, if you sin, confess it to GOD along with repentance.

Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Are You a Builder?

…Or a wrecker?

I’m not the kind of guy who does heavy construction projects, but a few years back while “wrecking” the premises at a former real estate office and getting ready to “build” a new bookstore, I was reminded of this poem.    As we each try to find our place in the Body of Christ, this poem reminds us all (me included) of the importance of keeping our attitude right.    The comments following the poem itself were on one of the websites where we located this version of it.

I watched them tearing a building down,
A gang of men in a busy town.
With a ho, heave, ho and a lusty yell
They swung a beam and a wall fell.

I asked the foreman, “Are these men skilled?
Like the men you’d hire if you had to build?”
He laughed as he replied, “No, indeed,
Just common labor is all I need.

I can easily wreck in a day or two
What builders have taken years to do.”
I asked myself as I went away
Which of these roles have I tried to play?

Am I a builder who works with care,
Measuring life by rule and square?
Or am I a wrecker who walks the town
Content with the labor of tearing down?

Oh Lord, let my life and labors be
That which build for eternity.

Why do so many of us find it gratifying to be sideline cynics smothering ideas in a relentless barrage of “what ifs” and warnings? As the poem points out, it’s much easier to be a wrecker than a builder.

Of course it’s wise and necessary to challenge assumptions, test theories and predict problems, but that should be the beginning not an end. We should measure our value by the number of balloons we helped launch, not the number we deflated.

A builder sees problems as challenges and seeks solutions; a dismantler sees problems in every solution. A builder sees flaws and tries to fix them; a dismantler sees flaws in every fix.

This is one of three “think” pieces today at C201

Discouragement: A Subtle Tactic in Spiritual Warfare

But God, who encourages those who are discouraged, encouraged us by the arrival of Titus.  (II  Cor 7:6)

Now, however, it is time to forgive and comfort him. Otherwise he may be overcome by discouragement.  (II Cor 2: 7)

“Why do you want to discourage the rest of the people of Israel from going across to the land the Lord has given them?  (Num 32:7)

Then the local residents tried to discourage and frighten the people of Judah to keep them from their work. (Ezra 4:4)

They were just trying to intimidate us, imagining that they could discourage us and stop the work. So I continued the work with even greater determination. (Neh. 6:9)

So Moses told the people of Israel what the Lord had said, but they refused to listen anymore. They had become too discouraged by the brutality of their slavery. (Ex. 6:9)

After they went up to the valley of Eshcol and explored the land, they discouraged the people of Israel from entering the land the Lord was giving them. (Num. 32:9)

Look! He has placed the land in front of you. Go and occupy it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you. Don’t be afraid! Don’t be discouraged!’ (Deut. 1:21)

Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.”  (Deut 31:8)

This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Josh 1:9)

Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take all your fighting men and attack Ai, for I have given you the king of Ai, his people, his town, and his land. (Josh 8:1)

“Don’t ever be afraid or discouraged,” Joshua told his men. “Be strong and courageous, for the Lord is going to do this to all of your enemies.” (Josh 10:25)

Then David continued, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Don’t be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. He will see to it that all the work related to the Temple of the Lord is finished correctly.  (I Chr. 28:20)

He said, “Listen, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Listen, King Jehoshaphat! This is what the Lord says: Do not be afraid! Don’t be discouraged by this mighty army, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.  (II Chr.20:15)

“Be strong and courageous! Don’t be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria or his mighty army, for there is a power far greater on our side! (II Chr. 32:7)

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.I will strengthen you and help you.I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.  (Is. 41:10)

Why am I discouraged?
Why is my heart so sad?
I will put my hope in God!
I will praise him again—
my Savior and my God!  (Ps: 42:11 and Ps. 43:5; same lyric)

Fathers, do not aggravate your children, or they will become discouraged. (Col 3:21)

I am convinced that one of the subtle schemes of the enemy is to bring discouragement to God’s people.  Most of us are familiar with the many “Do not be afraid” or “fear not” verses, but there are many scriptures — 28 in the New Living Translation (NLT) reference discouragement in one way or another, the translation used for the above verses.  (18 in the new NIV, 6 in the ESV, 5 in the NASB.)

I also wonder if much of our modern-day depression is really spiritual-warfare.  Depression and discouragement seem to go hand-in-hand.  The word depression is used sparingly in the above-mentioned translations…

After that, whenever the bad depression from God tormented Saul, David got out his harp and played. That would calm Saul down, and he would feel better as the moodiness lifted. (I Sam. 16:23, The Message)

…though the Bible being more literary and poetic than most other books, often refers to a broken heart:

I have cried until the tears no longer come; my heart is broken.My spirit is poured out in agony as I see the desperate plight of my people.Little children and tiny babies are fainting and dying in the streets.  (Lamentations 2:11, NLT)

A glad heart makes a happy face;a broken heart crushes the spirit. (Prov 15:30 NLT)

Their insults have broken my heart,and I am in despair.If only one person would show some pity;if only one would turn and comfort me.  (Ps. 69:20 NLT)

My heart is broken because of the false prophets,and my bones tremble.I stagger like a drunkard,like someone overcome by wine,because of the holy wordsthe Lord has spoken against them.  (Jer. 23:9 NLT)

For myself, today an element of spiritual warfare to it which was more overt, but the feeling I was left with — or the thing that my emotions connected the dots to, the way you attribute someone in a dream to someone you know — was that of discouragement.

It can really eat away at you if you let it.

So don’t.

A Personal Note from the Author

Most people reading this are familiar with the term “minister” as a verb, describing the way we can aid and encourage others, as in “ministering health” and “ministering wholeness” to people.    Of course, to qualify, it is God who brings healing and wholeness; and it is also is requisite that you have the spiritual gifts necessary to “minister” to others.

In the last six months, my other blog has fallen victim to a guy who, for lack of a better term, sees his mission to “minister discouragement” to me and try to “minister dissension.”   I base the choice of terminology on the strong evidence that this is his “chosen ministry” for the time being.   His particular strategy is to attack that blog where any blog is at its most vulnerable; that is, where the author is describing, subjectively, his or her own story.   His revisionist version is one which basically takes away any credit for anything I ever did in the years 1975-1990, a formative era in my life that I refer to somewhat frequently.

Needless to say I simply delete the comments.

The discouragement is so severe that I frequently meet the comments with the thought, “Maybe I should just discontinue writing each day.”

That is exactly what the enemy of our souls would have us do.  Bloggers who are not making an impact — and I’m not trying to exalt myself in this — probably don’t have detractors.   Bloggers who are making a truly significant spiritual impact (far more than I) probably have dozens of them.

If asked, this person would probably tell you in rather self-righteous tones that what they are doing is just and noble and truthful.    This individual would probably maintain that knocking me down a peg or two is simply trying to set the record straight.   But in fact, this person knows nothing of my story, because he was too busy at the time building his own personal empire which, as it turned out, was a house of cards.

I know that a lot of people who read C201 have blogs of their own, and I want to encourage you:  Keep telling your story.    If you write about something that is doctrinally or theologically controversial, expect the usual disagreement or debate.   But if you are telling your own story — unless you are suffering from amnesia or false-memory syndrome — and it is the veracity of that story that is being challenged, remember that Satan appears as an angel of light, and is bent on “ministering” confusion and discouragement and even destruction. He will attack where you are most likely to be knocked off balance.  His attacks will be relentless, trying to get to you with each passing jab.

The servants of the devil can take away your house or your car or whatever else may seem valuable, but don’t let them take away your story; don’t let them take away your name.

As Iron Sharpens Iron

I’m getting today’s post on with about an hour to spare.  Tonight,  I spent two hours on the phone with someone I knew well a few decades ago, but haven’t seen since.    It was great to be reconnected and talk about similar interests and days gone by, but the thing I appreciated most was to have a quality time of spiritual fellowship with another believer.   That we had known each other a lifetime ago was an added dimension.

A lot of guys aren’t “phoners” or talkers.   I like to talk, I love to converse, but it’s actually a rare thing for me to be on the phone with a friend in the evening.   Most of my calls are business related or task related.  They usually come to a screeching halt at suppertime.   And I never go two hours.

Here’s how The Message puts that “iron sharpens iron” verse:

^{Proverbs 27:17} You use steel to sharpen steel,
and one friend sharpens another.