Known before your birth

Designed by Him for good works

You're the one He wants.

Jeremiah 1: 5 says, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." I read that recently and in the back of my mind excluded myself. I didn't want to be presumptuous. Being known and consecrated from the womb only applied to Jeremiah

NOT SO.

Samson was consecrated before he was conceived. (Judges 13:1-5, 16:17)
David was known fully by God while he was being knit in the womb. (Psalm 139:13-16)
John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit in the womb and consecrated before his conception. (Luke 1:15)
Paul the Apostle was set apart for God before he was born. (Galatians 1:15)

Consecration is not just for the Biblical elite either. Samson had issues. So did David. Paul persecuted believers before he finally succumbed to the call God had for him. You are not beyond redemption. You haven't messed up so badly or procrastinated so long that your good works have been assigned to someone else. Stay on track with God. If you get off track, get right back on.

Ephesians 2:10 says:

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Every one of us has a purpose and God prepared it for us ahead of time. He's always known you and known His purpose for you. We don't have to figure it out; we need to discover our purpose. Get to know your Maker. Become familiar with His voice by reading His word on a daily basis.

Consecrated, chosen and loving it!
-DCP

Who is God?
Can He be known by mere dust?
Can He be understood by me?

What is my need?
Is it so great to get God's attention?
Surely He has mightier things which concern Him.

My need is great.
God is greater
Beyond my comprehension

He far exceeds my thoughts.
He far exceeds my need.
He far exceeds my expectation.

LORD, where can I find You?
In the secret place

LORD, how do I know You?
The still, small voice

LORD, when can I seek You?
When do you need Me?

God is Great.
He sets my soul on fire
With His Word and His Spirit
(Selah)

-Passionate One

Every morning

I lay out the pieces of my life on Your altar

And watch for fire to descend.

-Psalm 5:3 (The MSG)

The Brightness of His Glory (a.k.a God's Excellence)

This blog is a somewhat lengthy quote from a book I'm reading, Living & Praying In Jesus Name by Dick Eastman and Jack Hayford. I wish I could reprint the whole chapter here, but I won't. In Hebrews 1:3 Jesus is called "the radiance of His glory."

"Glory refers to that which exceeds or excels. The glory of a craftsman is in his ability to use the ordinary to create the extraordinary. The glory of an athlete is his ability to use his skill to seize the moment and turn it into the magnificent...

Residing in every human heart are dreams of glory, although the realities of life and the limitations of our flesh tend to quench our desire to attain these dreams.... All of us are tempted to settle for less than the finest (merely 'good' has become the enemy of 'best'). And our own sense of limitation often argues for that settlement. But Christ has called us to glory. He appeals to us to allow His excellence to shine through us until everything that is unworthy of His presence is crowded out."

In every human heart of dreams of glory. God put them there. He intends for us to fulfill them, but not in our own strength. It is Christ in us that is the hope of glory. This time of year most are looking forward to a fresh start. I know I am! All the past year's resolutions can be erased and replaced with new ones. But if we approach the quest for excellence from our humanity, we are destined for disappointment.

"The human approach to a daily quest for excellence is often wearying. It is plagued with perfectionism, criticism, and competition. The divine way, however, is restful, filled with grace, goodness, and mercy."

The divine way boils down to three steps, found in Isaiah 6:1-8.
1st: I saw the Lord...high and lifted up. Exalt the Lord. Lift Him up. This requires a proper view of God. Elevate your view of God by taking time to study His nature as revealed in His word.
2nd: Woe is me for I am a man of unclean lips. Cast aside every pretension. "The real possibility of glory will open only to those who renounce the notion that their flesh can ever attain it." Confess you sin in prayer. Allow God's fire to cleanse you.
3rd: Here am I! Send me. Listen for the commission of God. Spend quiet time saturating in His presence - in Christ - until you hear His still small voice with the orders for the day. Then in Jesus name you can speak "excellence" into all that you do.

Looking forward to excellence!
Della P

"The evil habit of seeking God-and effectively prevents us from finding God in full revelation. In the and lies our great woe. If we omit the and we shall soon find God, and in Him we shall find that for which we have all our lives been secretly longing.

"We need not fear that in seeking God only we may narrow our lives or restrict the motions of our expanding hearts. The opposite is true. We can well afford to make God our All, to concentrate, to sacrifice the many for the One."

-A. W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God

Gut Level Christianity

In John 7:37-38 Jesus says, "If anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'Out of his belly will flow rivers of living water.'" Notice He didn't say from their hearts; He said from their belly. Jesus is talking about gut level Christianity. This Christianity puts you on your face before God in the privacy of your home when no one is watching and the pastor won't know. This Christianity sacrifices sleep in order to meet with the Creator. It refuses to quit when the marriage gets tough or the kids go prodigal on you. It does what the word says, even when it seems contrary to logic.

Gut level Christianity is the reason we have books like Jesus Freaks and Foxe's Book of Martyrs. These men and women didn't love God for what He gave them, but for Who He is. They stood firm in the face of persecution. They refused to back down even when faced with vicious and cruel deaths. They refused to change, compromise, or give up the call of God on their life in deference to the opinion of those around them. They gave it all. That's gut level Christianity.

Gut level Christianity is what the disciples had. Gut level Christianity is what the martyrs of yesterday and today have. Gut level Christianity looks a person in the eye who has spit on you and says, "I love you. You are valuable. You are redeemable. God wants something better for you. You can kill this body, but my spirit will never die!" Is this what your Christianity looks like? When God is not an idea in our head or a feeling in our heart, but a passion that stirs us down to the core of our being then we will see a change in our Christian walk. This is the fire I long to see in myself and in every Christian I meet.

Gut level Christianity doesn't play church and has little tolerance for those that do. This is Christ-like. The hypocrites and false advertisers received Christ's harshest criticism. We must not want the title "Christian" without the commitment and dedication required of a true disciple. God wants every part of you. He says, worship Me with all your "heart and strength and soul and might". In other words: "Pour your guts out for Me!" That's how much He loved us. Our response is just a way of returning that amazing love.

How would your horizon change if you started living a gut level Christian life? What friends would stop calling? What weeds would have to be removed from the garden of your life? Gut level Christianity never leaves you as you are. God loves you too much to leave you the way He found you. What a mess! He won't leave you wallowing in the same mire that sucked down your mama and your daddy and your grand-pappy. He wants to set you free from those bondages. He can and He will. He has done it! He finished the work of redemption at Calvary. It is now in our court. Will we choose to live from our head, our heart or from our guts?