The Gift Of God On Your Life

THE GIFT OF GOD ON YOUR LIFE

NEW LIFE CHURCH

Pro 18:16 A man’s gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men.

Romans 8 tells us that we were chosen by God before we ever had the opportunity to choose. What a great blessing to know that God set it up for us. We were chosen for the ‘praise of His glory’.

Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

Eph 1:12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

1. YOU WERE CHOSEN TO BELONG TO GOD

Can’t you look back over your life and see how God’s hand has always been there for you?

Paul said that he was ‘separated from his mother’s womb’ to belong to God.

You aren’t your own. God owns your life. Now let me ask you, would you rather have ownership of your life or would you rather God have ownership of your life? To answer that question, you might want to ask yourself, how did you do when you were in charge? Were you happier, more hopeful, more excited, more full of faith, more wise, more discerning when you were on your own?

2. YOU WERE ACCEPTED BY GOD TO LOVE AND BE LOVED

Listen to the way that the apostle stated it. It is very important that you hear it exactly the way that he expressed it.

Eph 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

God chose you to be a part of the body of Christ. Apart from being connected and submitted to the body of Christ, the likelihood of seeing God’s total will worked in your life is very slim.

Zig Ziglar said, “I have been a member of two churches in my life. My first church sent me out to bring my teaching gift to my second church. I went, not only with their blessing, but by their calling. Not the calling of the second church, but by the calling of the first church. Let me explain. Dr. Criswell, at First Baptist Church of Dallas, told me that Dr. Jack Graham at Prestonwood Baptist in Plano, needed my ministry. I resisted at first but then relented. I reasoned that Dr. Criswell wasn’t trying to get rid of me. We were great friends, expressed our love for each other and had never had even the slightest hint of a disagreement. I was submitted to him as my pastor and to the other leaders of the church. They sent me to Prestonwood and I finally realized that God wanted to use me there in a greater capacity than at FBC Dallas. I believe in commitment. I believe that you don’t allow upset, disagreement, jealousy, discouragement or selfishness be the guiding light of your life. People who allow these things to guide their life, serve the lordship of disappointment, smallness and unending failure. Jesus is my guiding light. He knows better than me. He makes the best choices for the direction of my life.”

This scripture hit me hard last Sunday night.

It hit me two ways. God has accepted us into the beloved. He has accepted us into ‘agapao’, God’s love.

He has accepted us into a place to ‘be loved’ and to ’be loving.’

I want you to turn to the person next to you and do something. Now if you are a ‘real guy’ and you’re sitting next to another ‘real guy’, here is how you do it. You slap on the knee or on the arm and say, ‘Hey buddy, love you man’. Now if it is a woman to a woman or a woman to a man, well you don’t need any instruction.

3. YOU WERE GIVEN A GIFT

Getting saved isn’t hard. That is the easy part. What Jesus did on the cross was the hard part. It took the hard part to make it easy on you. Being love and giving love isn’t so hard either. That is one of huge benefits and blessings of being a believer.

What is more difficult, you feel that you have a gift, but most people don’t feel that they are going to get to express their gift.

I know that the feeling that we all have is that we are unique and someway special. I believe that feeling comes from God. When it comes from God, then we know that it is truth.

Did you know that God is interested in everything from your electric bill to the realization of your ultimate destiny?

Have you ever been around someone who constantly had to inform you of all their great qualifications? I mean it is like they are ready to ‘read their resume’ to you five times in a row in order for you to understand how blessed you are that they walked into your life.