What Does Being "chosen" By God Mean

I never " felt" God's love...i know its possible but only for those HE allows, I can't make Him do that for me.. and it just makes me feel less than when He does it for others and skips over me.( like playing duck,duck,goose- im the duck every time)

I remember reading Longing To Hear His Voice by Stormie Omartian, and how God did something wonderful for her. She woke up one morning, it waswinter season, and saw red birds on every leafless branch on the tree in front of her window. For a while, she didnt know what it meant...months later , her pastor told her it symbolized his love just for her.
Yet, when I did serve God by helping my pastor and my two brothers set up and give away clothes, while it rained, I heard nothing and felt nothing.

Yet the members that didnt stay with us, God comforts them with his assuring voice,presence etc.

Idk, i come to the conclusion God just doesnt like or care for me that much, like esau I guess.
 
Jewish apocrypha indicates that Esau tried to kill his mother and Jacob in the womb. Scripture tells us 2 nations struggled in Rebekah's womb. Esau and his descendants rejected God. Islam claims thru Mohammad, descent from Esau. In this life, we are not promised "vacation" lives and we do not understand, really, from the outside other people's troubles whatever it seems like. If we blame God for our troubles and bad things that happen on our journey because the grass looks greener on someone else's lawn - we build up bitterness, anger, and hate that stops us off from the light and the good. And hope. It's cliche - but true. God loves you enough to have died for you. In accepting this grace - you, Pancakes, will have eternal love and life that no amount of riches and cushy living will get kings, presidents and prime ministers or rock stars. That makes you pretty special. And I will pray for you. And if I can help you any other way - click start a conversation. As my sister in Christ, I love and value you and want to help.
 
Yes, i know we aren't promised cushy lives,i just wish something special,like a tree full of birds showing God's love just for me, happaned to me.
 
pancakes said:
Yes, i know we aren't promised cushy lives,i just wish something special,like a tree full of birds showing God's love just for me, happaned to me.
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When I was young, I was driving my first car, too fast on a wintry upstate NY road. I was going too fast for the weather and went into a terrible skid and flipped the car into first a utility pole and then crashed into a service station cum used car sales place. The guy driving behind me was a viet nam vet and told me he had been afraid to stop because of what he might find. I totalled the car (sob) but I had not a scratch on me. Musta been a slow news day, because my totalled car was on the front page next morning. My parents almost had a heart attack. Everyone at work was sure I was dead. God has some strange ways of letting us know He loves us - so keep looking ;)
 
pancakes said:
I never " felt" God's love...i know its possible but only for those HE allows, I can't make Him do that for me.. and it just makes me feel less than when He does it for others and skips over me.( like playing duck,duck,goose- im the duck every time)

I remember reading Longing To Hear His Voice by Stormie Omartian, and how God did something wonderful for her. She woke up one morning, it waswinter season, and saw red birds on every leafless branch on the tree in front of her window. For a while, she didnt know what it meant...months later , her pastor told her it symbolized his love just for her.
Yet, when I did serve God by helping my pastor and my two brothers set up and give away clothes, while it rained, I heard nothing and felt nothing.

Yet the members that didnt stay with us, God comforts them with his assuring voice,presence etc.

Idk, i come to the conclusion God just doesnt like or care for me that much, like esau I guess.
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I say this will all honest desire that you be free, but if you have that kind of attitude then you'll never experience His love though He died for you. God replies to you all the time, but because of you're blindness to the truth you cannot see what He's doing. If you don't listen to what the word of God says, you will never be free.

Romans 8:31-32 (KJV)
What shall we then say to these things? If God [be] for us, who [can be] against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

Do you know what the meaning of self-righteousness is? Self-love. It's the fault of Job.

Job 40:6-8 (KJV)
Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

When these thoughts of self-pity come along you must reject them. Here's what you must do, just like all the rest of us:

2 Corinthians 10:5-6 (KJV)
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

When you do this and substitute self-pity for the truth of the word of God, you'll begin to see. Faith is not what I do to get God to respond to me, faith is when I respond to God in trust. In other words, I have already received all the tools I need to live a life in Godliness, Matthew 10:8, John 1:12.

I hope you see this as hope and not judgement. God has already paid for all our sins, it's up to us to believe.
 
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pancakes said:
I'm going to be honest, I do not love him 100%

and I did seek opportunities to serve him but...idk I guess it didn't mean much to him, I don't know what else to do other than give up.
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So....
First thing.....

Be 100% open and honest with God.... That's the first lesson.... DO not lie to God... Do not gloss things over... Do not put on a happy face or try to "Look" more faithful.... Don't force yourself to think happy thoughts thinking that somehow, it "Honors" God....
Lay all the blood and guts out in front of Him.....

And I mean ALL of it!

Open up your heart to God.... Just let it flow....
Your frustrations, your anger, your doubts, your weaknesses, your sins, etc....

Here's a BIG thing to come to grips with.... You didn't get here in 1 day... God won't resolve it in 1 day either....

You cannot expect any sort of resolution until you are comfortable being 100% Honest with God....

If you haven't yet... Suggestions for Bible stuff.... Psalms, Lamentations, and Job... Esther is another good one.... There's a LOT of unhappy feelings in those.. But.. there are the little glimmers of light... The times that God shows you - Hey, hang in there... Don't give up...

There are times that you have to know that even when it feels like you are going through a "Night season"... Everything is dark... and God is hidden from you - that God is still there.... He may be hidden, but his hand is still very active in your life....

Thanks
 
Don't the Calvinists view the "chosen" as part of what defines Calvinism? That God "chooses" who is to be saved. That we will never know if we are truly "in" until we either reach Heaven or not. That no matter how much we love God, pray, that we have surrendered our heart and lives to Him, that we feel so incredibly close to God, etc.....that we will never 100% know until we end up where we end up. Because HE chooses who will be saved and we have no say in the matter.

Just askin'. :D
 
Titus 1:15-16 (KJV)
Unto the pure all things [are] pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving [is] nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God; but in works they deny [him], being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.

You can indeed know:

1 John 5:13-15 (KJV)
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

It's all about faith and trust in God.
 
@Abdicate , I appreciate your answer... I do admit I don't have the right attitude, I do get weighed down with a lot of
stinking thinking, but honestly I'm a bit bitter so its just gonna take me a minute to get that happy go lucky outlook ... but I appreciate everyone's answers... you all help so much. thank you.♥
 
pancakes said:
@Abdicate , I appreciate your answer... I do admit I don't have the right attitude, I do get weighed down with a lot of
stinking thinking, but honestly I'm a bit bitter so its just gonna take me a minute to get that happy go lucky outlook ... but I appreciate everyone's answers... you all help so much. thank you.♥
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And that is exactly why we must always be willing to forgive (send away) those feelings so they can't affect us. You either need to settle in your heart the truth to the word of God or nothing will change. It's only a matter of choice for us all. Be of good cheer, as Paul said to those on a ship that was about to become shipwrecked.

Acts 27:25 (KJV)
Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.

He believed God. That's it. Simple. Bold. Effective. So be of good cheer Pancakes, God loves you.
 
Abdicate said:
And that is exactly why we must always be willing to forgive (send away) those feelings so they can't affect us. You either need to settle in your heart the truth to the word of God or nothing will change. It's only a matter of choice for us all. Be of good cheer, as Paul said to those on a ship that was about to become shipwrecked.

Acts 27:25 (KJV)
Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.

He believed God. That's it. Simple. Bold. Effective. So be of good cheer Pancakes, God loves you.
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Not trying to hijack the thread here, but I gotta say this. Ok so, I have faith in God, but the problem I have is that idk what to trust him on other than his word. What I mean is that if I was about to get into a shipwreck I would have faith God is going to do the right thing, but idk maybe the right thing is to shipwreck me!? I know that might sound mad, but i've noticed God works in ways that sometimes aren't what we want to happen. Let me clarify though, if God wanted me to be in a shipwreck then so be it, but it scares me at the same time which is why I have so much unrest. I'm trying to convince myself that I don't need to worried because God knows me and is good and so I shouldn't be worried, but there's still that part of me that is scared of death, persecution, etc... Any advice?
 
You wouldn't be human if you didn't fear persecution, torture, painful death. In any of these situations, you are not in control. As Christians, we are promised new bodies, eternal life and eternal love. Trust in God because He doesn't break His promises. It doesn't mean you should go looking to lose your physical body but as mortals - we all die.
 
Feel free to ask any question you want God is love :) youre not hijacking or interrupting anything.

But in respone to abdicates last post... to be honest Im quite wary of fully trusting God... bc its like the bit I did do... despite it, i rarly felt reassured, comforted by him..and I feel like im losing it.
I could only imagine completely trusting Him, i feel Id be worse off than I am now.
 
It takes time, prayer and bible reading to relax into God's hands. I gather you have had some hard times, Pancakes, but you strike me as a survivor. And these are skills you are going to dearly need in these times. So many don't have them Choosing Christ puts you on the winning team and unbeatable no matter what comes your way.
 
my hard times are miniscule compared to many esp the little flower of Lisieux. Ihave both parents, am sheltered, iI have the necessities... but Im not gonna drag this on, I thank everyone for their perspective especially yours abdicate, I do need to change my attitude.
thanks for your honest and sincerity.
 
John Bunyan, in his spiritual autobiography, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, struggled with worry about if he was one of the elect (i.e. chosen). But then he read what Jesus said, "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out" (John 6:37), and that settled it for him. If you have come to Him for salvation, then you are chosen, otherwise you would not have come.

On a side note, being chosen is tied with the Jesus being the Christ. "Christ" means Anointed One, which is another way of saying Jesus is the One God chose to rule and to bring salvation. If we are "in Christ", then we are also chosen in Him.
 
pancakes said:
Yes, i know we aren't promised cushy lives,i just wish something special,like a tree full of birds showing God's love just for me, happaned to me.
Click to expand...
I just feel like I have to say this. Jesus died for you pancakes, is that not love? In effect you're saying that isn't enough.. If he knew a tree full of birds was what you needed it would be done. You need to have faith in God, this won't come naturally but through God's grace. Realize that you don't understand everything but that you trust God because he is good and loving. Once you come to terms with that then you will want whatever his will may be because you know who God is and you are happy he is in control. It is hard to comprehend how great God is, but that will eventually just make your faith stronger too, knowing that you can't even fully understand how awesome he is. I notice that you have been talking about Thérèse of Lisieux a lot (had to look up who you were talking about), and I just would like to point out to be careful of idolatry at this point, because it sounds like you are getting a little obsessed. God made her you know, you've got to remember we are all sinners. Read Isaiah 64:6. None of us earned God's grace.
 
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