We Are Predestined Instruments

Now there was in Damascus a disciple named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. And he answered, Here am I, Lord. And the Lord said to him, Get up and go to the street called Straight and ask at the house of Judas for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying [there]. And he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias enter and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight. But Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard many people tell about this man, especially how much evil and what great suffering he has brought on Your saints at Jerusalem; Now he is here and has authority from the high priests to put in chains all who call upon Your name. But the Lord said to him, Go, for this man is a chosen instrument of Mine to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the descendants of Israel; For I will make clear to him how much he will be afflicted and must endure and suffer for My name's sake. Acts 9:10-16

Each and every one of us, just as Paul, was chosen by our Father, before the foundation of this world, to be used to serve the Kingdom, Ephesians 1:4. Our Father knows what He is doing. He had a plan and a purpose before He ever created this world and you and I are a glorious part of it.

I know that for a lot of people that the idea of predestination is hard to grasp. But the scriptures just plainly teach us that we are. I suggest that when our Father leads you to deal with a person who is struggling with predestination that you begin with simple Truths that most of us agree on. Share the Truth that our Father knows the beginning and the end with them. Share that He is our Gardener, that Jesus is our Shepherd, that God is the Potter and we are the clay. When you put these Truths in the context of predestination it makes it very clear that we are predestined and when this is realized life gets a whole lot easier and glorious.

But when He, Who had chosen and set me apart [even] before I was born and had called me by His grace (His undeserved favor and blessing), saw fit and was pleased Galatians 1:15

Even as [in His love] He chose us [actually picked us out for Himself as His own] in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy (consecrated and set apart for Him) and blameless in His sight, even above reproach, before Him in love. Ephesians 1:4

Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days [of my life] were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them. Psalm 139:16