He has called us personally and we are His
Isaiah 43:1 "Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine."
It is reassuring to remember that Jesus Christ knows us all by name - every soul is fully known by Him - all our circumstances are fully known by Him - our going out and our coming in is fully know by Him. Jesus knows all about us.
From the approximately 7 billion people in this world that He has created, He is able to pick us out individually. In Acts Chapter 10: 5-6, where an angel of God instructs Cornelius:
"And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter: he lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side."
Thus the angel spoke to Cornelius, who was called "a centurion of the band called the Italian band."
Notice the specifics of how God identified this disciple. He knew his "given name", He knew his "surname", He knew "where he lived" and "the house he lived in", He knew where he would be that day so knew his whereabouts. He knew his occupation.
This is only a glimpse into how much God knew about Simon. In Romans 8:27 Paul states: "And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints to the will of God."
As the searcher of our hearts, God sees the surging emotions of our hearts when we pray. He knows perfectly what our Spirits mean when we groan and cry out unto Him, and how our intercessor - Jesus Christ - then uses those groanings to intercede on our behalf before God.
The assurance we have is that our unspoken words are readily translated into meaning by our Savior and become the basis of answered prayers.
With so much taking place in our lives each day, we sometimes become overwhelmed with the challenges in life, and entirely caught up in our circumstances that we forget to look up.
Recall that Peter was able to walk on water for as long as
he kept his eyes on the Lord, but once he looked down, doubt crept in - and he began to sink. When we look at our circumstances, our eyes don't believe what they see because we all know it is impossible - in earthly terms - to walk on water.
But when we walk by faith and have faith as a grain of a mustard seed, then nothing is impossible unto us. We can move mountains.
This is why we must never take our eyes off the Lord Jesus Christ. We must never become so absorbed with our circumstances that our sole focus is what we are going through, and not what God can do to take us through it.
Jesus assures us that "I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name."
In closing, had I been the only person in all the history of this world ever to sin, the Savior's love for me is great enough that He would still willingly have gone to Gethsemane and Calvary for me alone.
Knowing this is true, we have nothing to fear for He has called us by name and we are His for eternity.
A prayer for today: "Father, thank You for my salvation and for my life in Jesus Christ Your Son. Help me to know how much you care for me and to know that all my times are in your hands.
Help me to stand on your word and be steadfast and unmovable, always abounding in faith and until Jesus comes to take me back with Him, make me a servant, humble and true.
I ask these mercies in the Name of Jesus Christ my Lord, my Savior and my soon coming King.
Amen."
