<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chosen. Does the word bring back memories of a childhood\ngame\u2014being chosen for a particular team? Nobody wanted to be chosen last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The word took on special meaning in my adult years as I\nbegan to understand the honor of being chosen by God to serve him in a\ndistinctive way. Stories throughout the Bible confirm this is the way he works,\nchoosing people for a specific task and empowering them to complete the\nassignment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I read I kept a folder of every reference to chosen<\/em> or called<\/em> or created<\/em> or formed<\/em> for a purpose. My folder included people whose lives illustrated a calling from God\u2014Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Jeremiah\u2026to name a few.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the\nearth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil\ncontinually\u2026And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the\nface of the earth\u2026But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord\u2026Noah was a just\nman and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God\u2026And God said unto\nNoah\u2026Make thee an ark\u2026\u201d (see Genesis 6:4-14).<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNow the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy\ncountry, and from thy kindred, and from thy father\u2019s house, unto a land that I\nwill shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee,\nand make thy name great; and thou shalt\nbe a blessing\u201d (Genesis 12:1-2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Joseph told his brothers who had sold him into slavery, \u201cBut\nas for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to\npass, as it is this day, to save much people alive\u201d (Genesis 50:20).<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNow Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush\u2026God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses\u2026I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry\u2026I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt\u201d (see Exodus 3:1-10).<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the death of Moses, the Lord said to Joshua, \u201carise,\ngo over this Jordan, thou and all this people, unto the land which I do give to\nthem, even to the children of Israel\u201d (Joshua 1:2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress. \u201cAnd the angel of\nthe Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou\nmighty man of valor\u2026And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy\nmight, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have I not\nsent thee?\u201d (see Judges 6:12-14).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Lord said to Jeremiah, \u201cBefore I formed thee in the\nbelly I knew thee; and before thou cameth forth out of the womb I sanctified\nthee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations\u201d (Jeremiah 1:5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Could it also be true that before he formed me, he knew me\nand had a purpose for my life? I\u2019m certain he did! The same is true for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you know how awesome it is that God has chosen you for a\npurpose? Maybe you\u2019ve never considered that or discovered your calling. Listen\nto this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth\nmy praise\u201d (Isaiah 43:21).<\/p>\n\n\n\n You are chosen\u2026called\u2026created\u2026formed to show forth his praise! That\u2019s a mighty purpose! So get going. You have work to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you remember a time when the Lord spoke in your heart\nrevealing a special calling? I\u2019d love to hear about it. And please share this\nwith your friends!<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a9 Dianne Barker 2019 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chosen. Does the word bring back memories of a childhood game\u2014being chosen for a particular team? Nobody wanted to be chosen last. The word took on special meaning in my adult years as I began to understand the honor of being chosen by God to serve him in a distinctive way. Stories throughout the Bible […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[90,401,399,403,9,405,400,330,261,113,404],"class_list":["post-1105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-abraham","tag-called","tag-chosen-god-has-a-purpose-for-your-life","tag-created-on-purpose","tag-dianne-barker","tag-gideon","tag-jeremiah-15","tag-joseph","tag-joshua","tag-moses","tag-noah"],"yoast_head":"\n