Who God Chooses!

Greetings my brothers and sisters in Christ! I hope and pray that you are blessed, healthy, and happy today. If you are not, petition the throne of grace, and God WILL STEP RIGHT IN! OK! So I am studying the books of Corinthians, I didn't even get past the first chapter before God gave me a word. A few weeks ago I was struggling with my confidence as it pertains to the calling on my life, and who God says that I am! I doubted, felt unworthy, I was really on shaky ground. I stopped believing what God said that I was because I was thinking about who I used to be. I wasn't reading Gods word as much (almost not at all, I was down to just reading the verse of the day on my Bible app), slowly but surely picking up old habits. I lost the peace and joy God had given me, and felt ANXIOUS all the time! Unsure, and hopeless all over again!! I was thinking about how no one believed in the calling on my life (i.e. my mother especially), thinking about how people are talking behind my back, basically cursing who God said I was. You have to be VERY VERY careful who and what you tell people, even if that means family! Most of the time its a family member that will hurt you in this way! It's okay to keep things to yourself, find a close friend and confidant to share with! In 1 Corinthians 1:25-31, Paul touches on the type of people God calls, and it struck me! You see, God will encourage you constantly on this walk! Being an ex-sinner, who has run the gambit on indulging in every whim of the flesh, who has made every foolish and selfish decision there is, who has lied and cheated, stolen, manipulated, abused drugs, fornicated, and everything else in between. The simple breakdown of these verses is, God likes to choose and call foolish and unwise people. In Christ there if NO CONDEMNATION, meaning that He doesn't make you feel bad about what you've done or who you used to be! So if you were an ex-drug dealer or abuser, and God has now called you to preach, BELIEVE HIM! If you were a prostitute, a liar, an adulterer, a thief, a murderer (Paul killed Christians all the time, and then God called him to be an APOSTLE), a drunk, whatever it may be, and God called you in any way to relay His word to other lost souls, WALK BOLDLY! God chooses the low, so that when we are turned around, His saving grace will be evident! God rarely calls high born, or self proclaimed scholars. God chooses the despised, the thrown away, the talked about, the cursed, the lowly! God chooses the weak to shame the strong, He chooses the foolish to despise the wise! God does this so that His name will be glorified above any other! It will be clear that we are not who we are now because of our own deeds, it will be clear that it was nothing but God and God alone! Only God can change the worst of the worst, and make them the best of the best! Do not allow who you used to be, or who you are now (if you haven't made the decision to follow God) keep you from following God. There is nothing to bad, to disgusting, to fowl for God to turn around! People are going to talk about you whether your doing good or bad, and there will be people who say "why him or her", they will constantly try to bring up that old person and throw it right back in your face! REMEMBER WHO GOD SAYS YOU ARE! If you are not saved, please know that God is near to the BROKENHEARTED and saves the CRUSHED IN SPIRIT." (Psalms 34:18) That is really the basis of why we sin isn't it, underneath all sin is heartbreak, and crushed spirits, that goes unchecked and without being dealt with, manifests into self destructive behaviors! THAT'S IT! Just know that broken hearts and crushed spirits are God specialties! You are NEVER ALONE and there is nothing that you have done that is "TOO BAD" for God to forgive!! When God tells you who you are BELIEVE HIM, despite the nay sayers and doubters! Be who God called you to be, and don't let who you used to be trip you up! Boast in the Lord, give Him all the praise for changing who you were into who you are! Let others know that it was because of Him you are saved, free and redeemed! I love you and may God continue to bless and keep you!! Remember, GOD LOVES YOU MORE THAN YOU CAN EVER IMAGINE!!

1 Corinthians 1:26-31 NIV

"Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by HUMAN STANDARDS; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of this world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and things that are not--to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, let the one who boasts boast in the Lord."