^{3A)" class="xref">(A)" class="xref">AA)" class="xref">)}Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in ^{B)" class="xref">(B)" class="xref">BB)" class="xref">)}the heavenly places in Christ, ⁴just as ^{C)" class="xref">(C)" class="xref">CC)" class="xref">)}He chose us in Him before ^{D)" class="xref">(D)" class="xref">DD)" class="xref">)}the foundation of the world, that we would be ^{E)" class="xref">(E)" class="xref">EE)" class="xref">)}holy and blameless before ^{a]" class="footnote">[a]" class="footnote">aa]" class="footnote">]}Him ^{F)" class="xref">(F)" class="xref">FF)" class="xref">)}In love ⁵He ^{G)" class="xref">(G)" class="xref">GG)" class="xref">)}predestined us to ^{H)" class="xref">(H)" class="xref">HH)" class="xref">)}adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, ^{I)" class="xref">(I)" class="xref">II)" class="xref">)}according to the kind intention of His will, ^{6J)" class="xref">(J)" class="xref">JJ)" class="xref">)}to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in ^{K)" class="xref">(K)" class="xref">KK)" class="xref">)}the Beloved. ^{7L)" class="xref">(L)" class="xref">LL)" class="xref">)}In Him we have ^{M)" class="xref">(M)" class="xref">MM)" class="xref">)}redemption ^{N)" class="xref">(N)" class="xref">NN)" class="xref">)}through His blood, the ^{O)" class="xref">(O)" class="xref">OO)" class="xref">)}forgiveness of our trespasses, according to ^{P)" class="xref">(P)" class="xref">PP)" class="xref">)}the riches of His grace ⁸which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight .  Ephesians 1:3-8

I gave birth to three wonderful children.  I did not choose them, the Lord chose them to be my children.  My daughter recently gave birth to my grandson, and he is loved and cherished beyond words.  She planned both of her pregnancies, but did not choose the gender, nor any other particular aspect of either of her children.

Yet, God CHOSE me.  He adopted me.  He says I am holy and blameless.  No matter what I have done, or will do, because HE adopted me, I am to be considered holy and blameless.  Holiness is something I must work toward, as I am constantly getting myself tangled up in the world's business.  But, blameless is something that I have no control over.  I sin, and the enemy wants to remind me of it constantly.  Yet, the Lord says I am blameless, because I am HIS Child.  
Trish

Hi, Everyone.
I hope you had a great weekend. Please pray for my OH friend, Sandy, who is having RNY surgery today.
Today's devotion caused me to say, "Ouch! I needed that, Lord." Maybe you'll say that, too.

Life Plan Devotion #135 [Delayed obedience]

Haggai 1:5-6 "Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it'" (NIV).

     In my quiet time last week, in reading through the Bible chronologically, I came to the book of Haggai. It is a short book--only two chapters. Do not let that make you think that this book is unimportant. On the contrary, it is powerful and timely.
     The children of Israel had returned from Babylonian captivity. They were told to build a temple. No doubt, had you asked them what was going on, why the temple had not been built, they would have said something like, "It's not that we are saying 'No' to God; we are just saying 'Not yet.'" God had to get tough with them, to make it clear that delayed obedience is disobedience. 
     God says (and says repeatedly in chapters 1 and 2), "Give careful thought to your ways." Through this suggestion of self-examination, God was trying to get His people to understand that they would do well to think carefully about how they were living. By "giving careful thought," perhaps they would conclude that their ways are not serving them.
     God points out that the people had planted much but harvested little. God points out that the people ate and drank but were never satisfied. God points out that the people put on clothes but could not get warm. Finally, God points out that the people were earning wages but losing their pay, because they were putting their money in a bag full of holes. The reader senses a holy pause and seems to hear God saying, "How's that working for you?"
     Delayed obedience is disobedience and will usher in a dissatisfaction and endless cycle of lack. The lack may be physical, emotional, and/or spiritual. It is the experience of dis-ease.
     The children of Israel delayed building the temple, but they lived in "paneled houses" (Haggai 1:4). How often do we say that we cannot afford to follow God's leading, whether it's to tithe or to give to a building project or some other kingdom work, yet we think nothing of spending ten times that amount on acquiring something for ourselves or our family.
     This is not meant to bring you to condemnation, dear reader, but to encourage you to examine yourself. Perhaps there is an area where God has been dealing with you (whether it involves finances or something else), but you have been saying, "Not yet, God. Not yet." I plead with you to say "Yes" to God, for anything else will result in dissatisfaction in the temple of your heart.
     Will there be a "cost" to saying "Yes" to God? Probably. Will it be easy to do what He has asked you to do? Probably not. The purpose of difficulties, of trials, is to strengthen one's faith and reliance on the Lord. It is not an excuse to say "Not yet" or, worse yet, to say "No" to God.

What this has to do with weight loss: When I talk to someone who is experiencing frustration in their weight-loss journey (and even when I talk to myself about the same thing), almost every time, when it comes down to it, the issue is delayed obedience to what one knows one should be doing. As in everything, delayed obedience is disobedience. One cannot expect to see the scale show a lower number if one is not willing to follow the diet and exercise plan one has decided on. The result is frustration and a waste of time. When the Lord gives you a nudge about the problem area (and He will), pay attention and make obedience a priority. You'll be glad you did.

Confession:
I examine my heart, to see if there are things that God has asked me to do, that I have left undone. I turn every "Not yet, God" into "Yes, Lord."

Blessings,
Mary  

You can add my prayers also! I've had so many young people recently commit suicide and it's just so sad that these young  folks feel life isn't worth living at such a tender age, they should have so much to look forward to. Just know that God is watching over all of this and will have His perfect will.

Hi, Karyn.
I'm sorry about your friend's sister-in-law. I will be praying for her.
Please hear a most loving tone in this: Keep in mind that God does not promise that we will not go through difficult times, but He promises never to leave us nor forsake us. That is a promise for His children. I don't know if she is a believer. Even believers have hardships and difficult cir****tances. Jesus said, "In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world." Our part is to turn to Him and lean on Him and His Word, to get through every difficult cir****tance.
The Lord could have kept me from being chloroformed and raped at the age of 15, I guess, but He didn't. He did keep me from getting pregnant, He did preserve my life, and He did give me holy amnesia until the time that I could handle remembering everything. God gave us dominion over the earth. It's not His fault that 1) bad people have dominion, too, and do things that hurt good people, 2) believers tend to forget the help we have in God's Word, all the promises at our disposal, for our taking and claiming through our obedience in living for Him, and 3) we tend to try to solve our own problems, in ways that do not involve God.
I'll be praying for Ayden and Dee Dee, too. Thank you for bringing all 3 prayer requests to our attention. I'm sure others will log on, see them, and will pray, too. Yes, God's peace is wonderful and available. I'm so grateful for it. :)
Blessings,
Mary

I'm so happy that today's devotion spoke to you. You are definitely praying in the will of God, because 1) He ordained marriage, and 2) "God is not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ." :)
Blessings,
Mary