Chosen by God

A common understanding of many is that WE seek God and find him. Many believe they were always looking for God, trying to fill the spiritual emptiness in themselves.  It takes time as we seek and find.  Something happens, such as a conversion or “hitting rock bottom,” that changes their heart and mind and they come into alignment with the Gospel and God. 

According to Scripture, this is not how God works.  HE chooses who he will, for any reason he wants, to be is followers.  In fact, it says he chose his people before he created the earth.

Ephesians 1:4-5: 4 Long ago, even before he made the world, God chose us to be his very own through what Christ would do for us; he decided then to make us holy in his eyes, without a single fault—we who stand before him covered with his love. 5 His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by sending Jesus Christ to die for us. And he did this because he wanted to!

What we understand to be OUR seeking God is actually God calling US. In Bible language this is called God’s election, being saved or being God’s chosen one(s).  As humans, we do not know why God chooses who he chooses.  God makes the rules and as humans, we don’t have the capacity to understand his plan in its fullness.  We can ask God to explain and we may or may not get an answer we can live with, but Scripture tells us God is sovereign and we take his will on faith.  We take his election of each one of us on faith and in gratitude.  We learn his ways, we talk with God to know his will for us each day and each decision.  That is how God made it.

Following are scriptures that tell us that God is sovereign and does what he pleases. In doing so, he determines who his followers are.  He determines what each life plan is and how it is to be executed. WE are called and respond to his call to be one with him.  

The following scriptures are listed as they appear in the Genesis to Revelation order of the books of the Bible.  

Genesis 21:12 (TLB) 12 But God told Abraham, “Don’t be upset over the boy or your slave-girl wife; do as Sarah says, for Isaac is the son through whom my promise will be fulfilled.

Deuteronomy 7:6 (TLB) 6 “For you are a holy people, dedicated to the Lord your God. He has chosen you from all the people on the face of the whole earth to be his own chosen ones.

Deuteronomy 14:2 (TLB) 2 You belong exclusively to the Lord your God, and he has chosen you to be his own possession, more so than any other nation on the face of the earth.

1 Kings 11:34 (TLB) 34 I will not take the kingdom from him now, however; for the sake of my servant David, my chosen one who obeyed my commandments, I will let Solomon reign for the rest of his life.

 

1 Chronicles 16:13 (KJV) 13 O ye seed of Israel his servant, ye children of Jacob, his chosen ones.

 

Nehemiah 9:7 (TLB) 7 “You are the Lord God who chose Abram and brought him from Ur of the Chaldeans and renamed him Abraham.

Psalm 2:7 (TLB) 7 His chosen one replies, “I will reveal the everlasting purposes of God, for the Lord has said to me, ‘You are my Son. This is your Coronation Day. Today I am giving you your glory.’”

Psalm 28:9 (TLB) 9 Defend your people, Lord; defend and bless your chosen ones. Lead them like a shepherd and carry them forever in your arms.

Psalm 65:4 (TLB) 4 How greatly to be envied are those you have chosen to come and live with you within the holy tabernacle courts! What joys await us among all the good things there.

Psalm 105:5-6 (TLB) 5-6 Think of the mighty deeds he did for us, his chosen ones—descendants of God’s servant Abraham, and of Jacob. Remember how he destroyed our enemies.

Psalm 105:15 (TLB) 15 “Touch not these chosen ones of mine,” he warned, “and do not hurt my prophets.”

Psalm 105:43 (TLB) 43 So he brought his chosen ones singing into the Promised Land.

Psalm 106:5 (TLB) 5 Let me share in your chosen ones’ prosperity and rejoice in all their joys, and receive the glory you give to them.

Psalm 106:23 (TLB) 23 So the Lord declared he would destroy them. But Moses, his chosen one, stepped into the breach between the people and their God and begged him to turn from his wrath and not destroy them.

Psalm 135:4 (TLB)  4 For the Lord has chosen Israel as his personal possession. 

Isaiah 41:8 (TLB) 8 But as for you, O Israel, you are mine, my chosen ones; for you are Abraham’s family, and he was my friend.

Isaiah 42:1 (TLB)  See my servant, whom I uphold; my Chosen One in whom I delight. I have put my Spirit upon him; he will reveal justice to the nations of the world.

Isaiah 43:20 (TLB) 20 The wild animals in the fields will thank me, the jackals and ostriches too, for giving them water in the wilderness, yes, springs in the desert, so that my people, my chosen ones, can be refreshed.

Isaiah 44:1-2 (TLB) Listen to me, O my servant Israel, O my chosen ones:2 The Lord who made you, who will help you, says: O servant of mine, don’t be afraid. O Jerusalem, my chosen ones, don’t be afraid.

Isaiah 46:8-10 (TLB) 8 “Don’t forget this, O guilty ones. 9 And don’t forget the many times I clearly told you what was going to happen in the future. For I am God—I only—and there is no other like me 10 who can tell you what is going to happen. All I say will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish.

Isaiah 48:12 (TLB) 12 Listen to me, my people, my chosen ones! I alone am God. I am the First; I am the Last.

gai 2:23 (TLB) 23 But when that happens, I will take you, O Zerubbabel my servant, and honor you like a signet ring upon my finger; for I have specially chosen you,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

Matthew 12:18 (TLB) “Look at my Servant.  See my Chosen One. He is my Beloved, in whom my soul delights. I will put my Spirit upon him, And he will judge the nations.

Matthew 24:24 (TLB) 24 For false Christs shall arise, and false prophets, and will do wonderful miracles so that if it were possible, even God’s chosen ones would be deceived.

Matthew 24:31 (TLB) 31 And I shall send forth my angels with the sound of a mighty trumpet blast, and they shall gather my chosen ones from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven

Mark 13:20 (TLB) 20 And unless the Lord shortens that time of calamity, not a soul in all the earth will survive. But for the sake of his chosen ones he will limit those days.

Mark 13:27 (TLB) 27 And I will send out the angels to gather together my chosen ones from all over the world—from the farthest bounds of earth and heaven.

Luke 4:18 (TLB) 18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted and to announce that captives shall be released and the blind shall see, that the downtrodden shall be freed from their oppressors, and that God is ready to give blessings to all who come to him.”[a]

 

Luke 9:35 (TLB) 35 And a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him.”

 

Luke 23:35 (TLB) 35 The crowd watched. And the Jewish leaders laughed and scoffed. “He was so good at helping others,” they said, “let’s see him save himself if he is really God’s Chosen One, the Messiah.”

 

John 6:44 (TLB) 44 For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him to me, and at the Last Day I will cause all such to rise again from the dead.

John 15:16 (TLB)  16 “You didn’t choose me! I chose you! I appointed you to go and produce lovely fruit always, so that no matter what you ask for from the Father, using my name, he will give it to you.

John 17:9 (TLB) 9 “My plea is not for the world but for those you have given me because they belong to you.

Acts 15:13-14 (TLB) 13 When they had finished, James took the floor. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. 14 Peter has told you about the time God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people to bring honor to his name.

Romans 3:10-12 (TLB) 10 As the Scriptures say, “No one is good—no one in all the world is innocent.”  11 No one has ever really followed God’s paths or even truly wanted to. 12 Every one has turned away; all have gone wrong. No one anywhere has kept on doing what is right; not one.

Romans 8:33 (TLB ) 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? Will God? No! He is the one who has forgiven us and given us right standing with himself.

Romans 9:10-13 (TLB) 10-13 And years later, when this son Isaac was grown up and married and Rebecca his wife was about to bear him twin children, God told her that Esau, the child born first, would be a servant to Jacob, his twin brother. In the words of the Scripture, “I chose to bless Jacob but not Esau.” And God said this before the children were even born, before they had done anything either good or bad. This proves that God was doing what he had decided from the beginning; it was not because of what the children did but because of what God wanted and chose.

Romans 9:14-16 (TLB) 14 Was God being unfair? Of course not. 15 For God had said to Moses, “If I want to be kind to someone, I will. And I will take pity on anyone I want to.” 16 And so God’s blessings are not given just because someone decides to have them or works hard to get them. They are given because God takes pity on those he wants to.

Romans 11:15 (TLB) 15 And how wonderful it will be when they become Christians! When God turned away from them it meant that he turned to the rest of the world to offer his salvation; and now it is even more wonderful when the Jews come to Christ. It will be like dead people coming back to life.

1 Corinthians 1:9 (TLB) 9 God will surely do this for you, for he always does just what he says, and he is the one who invited you into this wonderful friendship with his Son, even Christ our Lord.

Galatians 1:14 (TLB) 15 But then something happened! For even before I was born, God had chosen me to be his and called me—what kindness and grace—

Galations 4: 8-9 (TLB) 8 Before you Gentiles knew God you were slaves to so-called gods that did not even exist. 9 And now that you have found God (or I should say, now that God has found you), how can it be that you want to go back again and become slaves once more to another poor, weak, useless religion of trying to get to heaven by obeying God’s laws?

Ephesians 1:3-5 (TLB) 3 How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every blessing in heaven because we belong to Christ. 4 Long ago, even before he made the world, God chose us to be his very own through what Christ would do for us; he decided then to make us holy in his eyes, without a single fault—we who stand before him covered with his love. 5 His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by sending Jesus Christ to die for us. And he did this because he wanted to!

Ephesians 2:10 (TLB) 10 It is God himself who has made us what we are and given us new lives from Christ Jesus; and long ages ago he planned that we should spend these lives in helping others.

Colossians 3:12 (TLB) 12 Since you have been chosen by God who has given you this new kind of life, and because of his deep love and concern for you, you should practice tenderhearted mercy and kindness to others. Don’t worry about making a good impression on them, but be ready to suffer quietly and patiently.

1 Thessalonians 1:2-4 (TLB) 2 We always thank God for you and pray for you constantly. 3 We never forget your loving deeds as we talk to our God and Father about you, and your strong faith and steady looking forward to the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 We know that God has chosen you, dear brothers, much beloved of God.

2 Thessalonians 2:13 (TLB) 13 But we must forever give thanks to God for you, our brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose from the very first to give you salvation, cleansing you by the work of the Holy Spirit and by your trusting in the Truth.

2 Timothy 1:8-9 (TLB) 8 If you will stir up this inner power, you will never be afraid to tell others about our Lord or to let them know that I am your friend even though I am here in jail for Christ’s sake. You will be ready to suffer with me for the Lord, for he will give you strength in suffering.9 It is he who saved us and chose us for his holy work not because we deserved it but because that was his plan long before the world began—to show his love and kindness to us through Christ.

2 Timothy 2:10 (TLB) 10 I am more than willing to suffer if that will bring salvation and eternal glory in Christ Jesus to those God has chosen.

Titus 1:1 (TLB) From: Paul, the slave of God and the messenger of Jesus Christ.

I have been sent to bring faith to those God has chosen and to teach them to know God’s truth—the kind of truth that changes lives—so that they can have eternal life, which God promised them before the world began—and he cannot lie.

Hebrews 3:1 (TLB)  3 Therefore, dear brothers whom God has set apart for himself—you who are chosen for heaven—I want you to think now about this Jesus who is God’s Messenger and the High Priest of our faith.

1 Peter 1:2 (TLB)  2 Dear friends, God the Father chose you long ago and knew you would become his children. And the Holy Spirit has been at work in your hearts, cleansing you with the blood of Jesus Christ and making you to please him. May God bless you richly and grant you increasing freedom from all anxiety and fear.

 

 1 Peter 1:14-16 (AMPC) 1 14 Obey God because you are his children; don’t slip back into your old ways—doing evil because you knew no better. 15 But be holy now in everything you do, just as the Lord is holy, who invited you to be his child. 16 He himself has said, “You must be holy, for I am holy.”

 

1 Peter 2:6 (TLB) 6 As the Scriptures express it, “See, I am sending Christ to be the carefully chosen, precious Cornerstone of my church, and I will never disappoint those who trust in him.”

1 Peter 2:9 (TLB) 9 But you are not like that, for you have been chosen by God himself—you are priests of the King, you are holy and pure, you are God’s very own—all this so that you may show to others how God called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. 

Revelation 13:8 (TLB) 8 And all mankind—whose names were not written down before the founding of the world in the slain Lamb’s Book of Life —worshiped the evil Creature.

Revelation 17:14 (TLB) 14 Together they will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them; for he is Lord over all lords, and King of kings, and his people are the called and chosen and faithful ones.