October 31, 2015

Chosen By God

I am preparing the initial stages of having my devotional, Listen To The Vinedresser: 31 Declarations of Who You Are In The Vine, be ready for publication. In the process, I find little gems I wrote months and months ago. This word from the Vinedresser is one of them.
 
I pray you are being blessed by His intimate love for you as I share these. (Let me know!)
 
Here is a gem of a truth for you today.
You are chosen and dearly loved (Colossians 3:12) Chosen. As a young athletic tomboy kid, I was always chosen first or second when we divided up to play football at recess. Yes, my friends were mostly guys and my value was in how I could throw and catch a football. (Talk about performance based acceptance learned at an early age!) I guess there was something about having four brothers and being the only girl that put me in a sports circle early in life. I later found the game of golf and excelled to a level that my dear oldest brother had to face.  Mike was not embarrassed, but proud, when I played on the same High School golf team! I was chosen to play on the varsity squad and I'd beat him as a freshman golfer, he as a senior. Bless his heart. He really was precious to me. Encouraging me in my pursuit to lose weight, listening to me ramble about my favorite golf players, and taking me on his "short" LONG runs in the winter times.
Ok. Back to you. You are chosen by God... And you are dearly loved. You are Christ's friend. Think on that. He loved you so much that He laid down His life for you. When God orchestrates the game of your life, you are always picked and on His team, the God squad. He doesn’t place a value for His team by your performance, your achievements and certainly not by how much is in your bank account. He looks at you, smiles, and with open arms says, “You are mine, child. Come on over to the winning side!” It’s simply this. God longs for you to embrace the majesty of His adoring affection. You, loved by God, are on an unbeatable team friend. He upgrades your DNA to always be a star shining off HIS love in you for others to see.
Declaration: I am chosen by God and dearly loved. Listen to the Vinedresser: "I will always love you. You are dear to Me. Did you know I chose you before the creation of time and had you on my mind. You are divinely chosen to be called my holy lover with an unstained innocence, joined to Me in the Vine. You are selected and ordained to be a part of My goodness, partake of My inheritance as you are joined to the Vine. “I gave you your destiny. It's stamped into the very core of who you are in Me. Even while you were formed in your mother’s womb, I was shaping you for your divine destiny. I watched you like an open book, all the pages of your life were spread out before me. I dropped a warrior spirit in you, which lines up with the core of My DNA , with its fire and passion for excellence. “You can trust me to perfect it through the times of momentary messes and strange circumstances . I am not moved by these moments beloved. Your times are in My Hands, in the Vine. For you are wonderfully and marvelously made. You take my breath away. “My plans are for you to prosper, be healthy, enthused with the purpose of My heart for you. As you walk in this destiny, you are My vessel to bring heaven to earth with all its glory and power. You are accepted My dear child. No rejection here. You are on My winning team. So walk in this calling with confidence. No striving, simply abiding, in the Vine.” Love the Vinedresser So get this. You are on a winning team for a reason.  Now is the time for you to take a step in faith and fulfill what the Vinedresser has put in your heart. It's really not about you, but about the people God has called you to impact. God has woven his love and greatness in you. You are not out of it. He's asking you to jump in the river (Holy Spirit) and trust Him amidst the process. It's easier to flow with the river than try to control it. Try as you may to direct this river, fear traps you, the banks get mushy, and the river becomes a stagnant swamp. But, if you're trusting God and flowing with Holy Spirit, you are going to see amazing things. Yes, you will have to find the right strategies that create the winning results. Yes, you have this stamped in your DNA and you can do it! And yes, you are chosen to be on the winning team

In The Vine, Theresa