God chose you. He loves you even when you were unlovable. He adopted you into His kingdom. He desires for all who have been chosen by Him to have the traits of their heavenly Father.
Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.
Ephesians 1:4-5
Furthermore, because of Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us from the beginning, and all things happen just as he decided long ago. God's purpose was that we who were the first to trust in Christ should praise our glorious God. Ephesians 1:11-12
Since God chose you to be the holy people whom he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. You must make allowance for each other's faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. And the most important piece of clothing you must wear is love. Love is what binds us all together in perfect harmony. Colossians 3:12-14
Ask God to give you a heart of compassion, kindness, gentleness, and patience.
Ask God to give you His strength to bear others and to forgive others.
Ask God to let all the members of your church work together in unity to reach those who are the least and those who are lost.
Dear Father,
You are the God of compassion and kindness. You have loving gentleness and patience toward to your children. Your love and forgiveness toward us is amazing. You are holy. Let our lips always praise You. Thank you for choosing us before the foundation of the world. Thank you for forgiving us when we confess any sins we have brought against You. I ask You to give us the strength to turn away from our sins. To repent of all wrongdoing. Give us the will to forgive others just as you have forgiven us. Let us strive for unity with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
In Jesus' name we pray..
Amen.
2 comments:
This post is very comforting. Thanks.
Den,
You have given me both admonishment and comfort. As a minister of the gospel for the deaf, I have encountered a few that has brought harm not only to me but to the church. People don't realize they're exposing a morale-busting attitude that simply takes away the graceful feeling we may have experienced after worship! My prayers are a few:
That the Lord will give me and others strength and wisdom in how to deal with issues like these.
That we, as a church, come together with one purpose: worship and glorify God with gladness in our hearts.
That those, nitpickers, will come to repent of their sins and not only regard others of their sins but their own before our Living Lord Jesus Christ!
And that Jesus will come soon to take us home where there's eternal peace and joy!
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