His Treasured Possession

I was overwhelmed by Truth this morning in my time with the Lord, and wanted to share it with you all.

"For the sake of his great name the LORD will not reject his people, because the LORD was pleased to make you his own."
1 Samuel 12:22

Ah! Such beautiful truth. It is for His sake, His glory, by His nature, character and goodness that the Lord does this. He does not reject, but rescues. He does not abandon, but redeems.

Three treasures of gold finish this verse. I'll work backwards. First, I am His. I belong to Him. He calls me His own. I am His daughter. Second, He made me His own. It was intentional, full of purpose and grace. It required thought, decision and work on His part. It was by choice. And third, He was pleased by this. It delighted Him, brought Him pleasure.

How do I know this? Because my Heavenly Father supports this, repeats it over and over again in His word. He knew we would need the reminder. I do.

He says in Ephesians 1:5,

"He predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will"

Predestined. Adopted. Son. Daughter. Pleasure. Will. Truth. There is no mistaking, no misunderstanding this, no reading between the lines. He planned this before time started ticking, before it even existed. Adoption is a choice; there are no accidental adoptions. And all this is in accordance with His pleasure and will.

Elsewhere in 1 Peter 2:9 He says,

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."

Chosen. Royal. Holy. Belonging. Not only adopted, chosen. Not into just any family, but a royal one. Made holy and belonging to God. And our response? If only it would always be to declare His praises! For He has called us out of darkness and into His wonderful light!

"For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves"
Colossians 1:13

And again, in Deuteronomy 7:6

"For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. "

Holy. Chosen. His. Treasured. Possession. I needn't go on. Let that sink in.

Why do I doubt? Why do I question? Why do I fear? Why do I live out of anything other than the identity given to me through the blood, sweat and tears of Jesus Christ?

Because I have a selfish enemy.

"Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."

This is no suggestion, it is a command. Be self-controlled and alert. Be on guard. We have been given a precious identity, adopted into the royal family as sons and daughters of the King of Kings. It cannot be taken away, but it sure can be assaulted. But our God has provided protection and defense for this, if only we would choose to put on the full armor of God. It is with the shield of faith we "extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one" (Ephesians 6:16).

The Word of the Lord stands forever. Amen.