God's Purposes

 You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. Psalm 139:16  NLT     You made me; you created me. Now give me the sense to follow your commands. Psalm 119:73 NLT      You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. Psalm 56:8 NLT       “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5  NLT                        For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word.   Ephesians 5:25-26  NLT                 

God has been at work in my life for a long time. I didn't wake up the morning after I accepted Christ into my heart and know everything I know today. God has worked on me my whole life. I learned different things as I lived. Early on I wanted to live for God as a 19-year-old I remember thinking to work for God I needed to be a Minister, a Sunday School Teacher, A Deacon, some sort of church work. It seems it took me my whole life to realize that if I was living a Christian life, I was salt and a light to the world around me, even on a secular job. But God had a plan before I was even born for me and each of us. We may not be a prophet to the nations as Jeremiah was, but God still had a purpose. Sometimes we are the only Bible other people read. Some of the worst examples of Christianity are other Christians. There was a long period of my life I lived very carnally. I didn't look that much different from a non-Christian. But God was still working on me. He convicted me of my carnal lifestyle. I love to read books and there were books I read that were probably good books but I was using them not to bless others but to manipulate and get my needs met. One that I think of today was "his Needs, Her Needs".  We are all very naturally selfish. We are born in sin. God forgave all of my sins past, present, and future in January of 1984. But John tells us we all have sinned and if we say we have not sinned we lie and the truth is not in us.  God is still working on me. My purpose in writing these posts is to try and persuade others to follow Christ. When you begin to follow Christ you will not have it all together. You will be forgiven but your learning is just starting. God knows you and from the beginning of following him is shaping you for a future purpose. I believe in these pages I write, I tell of my experiences of my relationship with God and how he has changed me. I started this journey very messed up. And as I lived I made even more messes. God still worked with me. God is not subject to time like we are. He sees the beginning of our life all the way to the end of our life and he is working on us to change us into the image of his Son Jesus Christ. The more I have submitted areas of my life over to God the more he has been able to work on me and in me.  If I were to write the story of my life I would call it "Carved By The Master", because I feel like that is what it is like. It's like an old man carving on a plain old stick of wood and as he carves away he makes something beautiful out of the ordinary old stick.  I believe that is what God is doing in my life and our lives if we have submitted our hearts to him.  God is not worried about what we look like in the beginning, he has a plan and if we submit, he will work his plan in our lives.  Setbacks don't worry God, he already saw it coming, remember God sees from the beginning to the end. If we submit to his chastizing and correction, he will fix us. God uses his word often to clean us up, to correct us, to encourage us. Washing of water by the word as it says in the King James version. I used the NLT version above. He has a purpose for each of us. I believe part of my purpose is to persuade you to put your trust in him as I write on these pages of my experiences, my story. One songwriter wrote: God has a plan, a plan for me and for you. If you walk in the light, the light of his word. Then we shall be creation set free. I am going from memory, I hope I got the words right. I have changed a lot from January of 1984, I've been forgiven of a lot of sins over the years. I am still trusting in God that he will complete the work he began even way back from my childhood. I grew up on a church bench. When I was about 5 and older man Brother Kruchenburg paid me a nickel to sit with him in church.  I thought he liked me, and perhaps he did but he was also trying to help my parents with their stairsteps. I walked away in my twenties, but God went after me and brought me back and has been working and correcting me ever since. Carving on a plain old stick to make something beautiful out of my life. If I will but submit to his washing of water by the word. I need to read his word, I need to pray and ask for his guidance which I do. God will complete the work he started. Someday, only God knows the number of my days. I'm not perfect but am secure in his hands. God is a master carver, his hands don't slip. He is still working on me.  God bless, LVZ.