To Those Who Love God

[Christsfreeservant]

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.” (Romans 8:28-30 NASB’95)​

According to the Scriptures, those who love God are those who know God intimately, who are in a faith relationship with him via God-gifted and God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ. And they are those who obey the Lord’s New Covenant commandments, in practice, and for whom sin is not their practice. They are the called according to His purpose, and his purpose for us who believe in him is that we will die with him to sin and now walk in obedience to his commands in holy living, by the grace of God, in the power of God.

For we are the predestined of God to become conformed to the likeness of the Son of God (God the Son), to be like Jesus in thought, attitude, words, and behaviors. But this does not make us perfect. We still live in flesh bodies. But lack of perfection is never to be used as an excuse for deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord or for the ignoring of his commands and for living life for self and for self-pleasure, and not for God and for his will and purpose for our lives. For we were made to be like Jesus, by God’s design.

A life of faith in Jesus Christ should be a life committed to obeying our Lord and to serving him with our lives, for he is to be our Lord (Owner-Master) and we are to be in subjection to him and to his will and purpose for our lives. So we should be following him in his ways, and he should be the one directing our paths. And the Spirit will supply us with Spiritual gifts, and God will assign us our body parts, and then we are to utilize those gifts and body parts within the body of Christ in encouraging one another to live for God.

[Acts 2:42-47; Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; 1 Corinthians 14:1-5; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:1-16; Ephesians 5:15-21; Ephesians 6:10-20; Philippians 2:1-8; Colossians 3:12-16; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 10:23-25; James 5:19-20]

God has a plan and a purpose for each of us who he foreknew and who he predestined to become conformed to the likeness of character of Jesus Christ, who have trusted in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives. And he wants to show us his plan for our lives if we are willing to listen and to receive his instructions to us and to accept his calling upon our lives. For we are not saved from our sins just so that when we die we get to go to heaven. God saved us so that we will now become who he wants us to be.

Now we live in a crazy world. Chaos and upheaval and lies and liars are all over the place. Wars seem to never cease. Hatred abounds. The news stories are “all over the map,” i.e. in a very confused state. Angst is all throughout the news. Fearmongers are everywhere. So many things are blown way out of proportion and things are being threatened which may or may not ever happen. So if our trust is not in the Lord and in his sovereignty we can end up being very fearful people. So our trust has to be in God and in his Word.

And when he says that he causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose, as already mentioned, these are his followers who walk in obedience to his commands, in practice, and for whom sin is not their practice. And “good” is not necessarily what us humans might consider good, for God says that if we follow him with our lives that we will be hated, and persecuted, and even put to death for our walks of faith and testimonies for the Lord Jesus.

But when God says “for good” he is speaking in his terms, not ours, and he is speaking about what is ultimately going to produce in us what is God’s best for us, even if the process is painful and may not look like “good” to us from a human perspective. But God never promised us that a life of faith in Jesus Christ is going to be “smooth sailing.” He promised the opposite of that, in fact. He promised that we will have to suffer for the sake of righteousness. But God will use this suffering to work good in our hearts.

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-39; Matt 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 12:49-53; Luke 21:12-19; John 15:1-21; John 16:33; John 17:14; Acts 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Eph 6:10-20; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]

Walk With Me

By Al Langdon and P.J. Zondervan

Walk with me, walk with me,
Lest mine eyes no longer see
All the glory, all the story of Your love;
Talk to me, talk to me,
Like You spoke so tenderly,
When You talked there,
When You walked there by the sea.

Talk to me, talk to me,
Lest mine ears no longer hear
All the wonder, all the beauty of Your grace;
Walk with me, walk with me,
As You walked so lovingly,
When You walked there,
When You talked there by the sea.

Let me follow in the footsteps
That trod the shore of Galilee,
Let me learn to pray like He did
In the Garden of Gethsemane;
Take my hand, take my hand,
Teach me Lord to understand,
All the duty, all the beauty of Your love.

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To Those Who Love God
An Original Work / April 11, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love