Chosen for Christ by Heather Holleman

Author:Heather Holleman [Holleman, Heather]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Published: 2018-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

A fruitless Christian life is an impossibility.

As you move into your day, think of these words to summarize your chosen identity. Paul writes in Philippians 1:25–26: “I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again” (ESV). Imagine your friends and family saying that your presence causes their joy in Jesus to increase. Imagine your purpose as a chosen person includes aiding the progress and joy of the faith journeys of those around you.

Chosen people cause others to rejoice in Jesus. They help others progress in their faith and add to their joy in the Lord.

Chosen men and women lead the way into the life of Christ by journeying alongside others and inviting them into this chosen life they’ve been missing. And I can give you a physical, if rather awkward, image of what we do as chosen people.

I was speaking at a women’s retreat in the South, and the ministry director wanted to create a special moment for women to come kneel before the Lord at the altar. She hoped they would enjoy a moment of prayer to offer themselves afresh to Jesus. But we feared that nobody would ever do this. It’s too public, too embarrassing, and too awkward to walk down the aisle in front of everyone, then kneel down and pray.

“What if I went first?” I offered. “What if I told the women that I would kneel down before the Lord, offer myself anew, and pray about my children, work, and neighbors? What if I told them to come along—that they wouldn’t be alone—and that I would show them how?”

As I ended my presentation and the worship leader strummed her guitar, I told the women what I was going to do. I said, “I know it’s hard to make a public declaration before the Lord, to surrender to Him in a significant way that others witness, but I will do it first. You can follow me.”

I hobbled down the steps to the platform, turned around, and flung my body down to kneel—only to remember my bad knee doesn’t allow me to kneel. So in a half bent position, I rolled over onto my side like a beached whale with my rear end pointing out. Or picture a great ship keeling over.

There I was.

And there, spread out in front of all those women, I closed my eyes and silently prayed that God would take over every part of my life for His purposes. At first I thought the plan had failed; I was a beached whale, a ship keeled over, a woman with bad knees making a fool of herself. But then I began to hear movement as woman after woman came forward to kneel before the Lord. They all knelt down beside me—too many to count—as they talked to Jesus themselves, some for the very first time. They prayed. They wept.

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