I see a mother in a hurry at the store with her three children; she has many thoughts going through her head. She is trying to remember if she grabbed that extra gallon of milk or that art supply needed for one of the many school projects. Her mind is also at the same time going in a totally different direction, maybe she is thinking about dinner, a loved one, her children’s school activities or maybe that one bill that just won’t seem to go away. But as I observer her and her three children I see that in her hast she is pulling one, pushing another and holding the third. Now this is just an example of how we may treat our children when we are in a hurry or have a million things on our mind, but we know when it comes down to it and the important decision that we have to make concerning the welfare of our children the phrase pull, push and hold take on a new meaning.
I would like to break this down into three parts and take each phrase and discuss how our heavenly Father Pulls, Pushes and Holds His children.
First of all you have to be a child of God to be pulled anywhere. What is a child of God you may ask - well let me tell you. First you have to be adopted, God has already chosen those who will be a part of His family, the bible tells us in Ephesians 1:4-5:
4 ~ According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5 ~ Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.
So what this means is God decided before He created this beautiful world in which we live who was going to be a part of His adopted family. God pulls those He has chosen into His fold. He is our good shepherd and we are like sheep; John 10:27-28
27 ~ My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28 ~ And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Only those who God has chosen will hear His voice and know Him. Not everyone in this world can hear the voice of God and not everyone in this world is chosen of God to be saved and adopted into His family. When God calls His children we are unable to ignore that calling and once we have received God and are accepted by Him, then and only then are we adopted into His family.
For every direction we are pulled there is a divine purpose. God will never pull us down a path of utter destruction. We may have hardships and heartache from time to time, which we call Trials, and we are to learn from these. But God places Trails in our lives for His purpose and for our good – Romans 8:28 & II Timothy 1:9
Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
II Timothy 1:9
Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
Sometimes God uses the Trials of others to reach out. God will pull you into a circumstance and use you as the tool to do His work. Let me tell you a true story ….
There was once a woman who worked for a store at the mall as a sales clerk when a homely woman walked in to purchase some scented lotions and sprays. The whole time the sales clerk was speaking with the customer she could feel God pulling her to speak to this woman. So she started talking to the customer about the products, but God said no, that’s not what I mean. The sales clerk kept telling God, but I can’t, and every time she said I can’t she felt sick to her stomach. Finally the woman’s purchases were rung up and paid and she started to walk away. The sales clerk at that point was so sick she needed to find a bathroom and she heard God pull her again to the woman as she was leaving the store. The sales clerk ran to the woman in tears. She said excuse me, I know you don’t know me and I am not sure what I am to say to you, but I just want you to know that God loves you and He cares. The clerk then asked the woman if she went to church anywhere and the customer started to tell her that she did attend church, but she was going through an awful divorce, the woman cried and was touched. The sales clerk hugged the woman and told her she would be praying for her.
The sales clerk never imagined that God would ever use her to reach out to someone else in this fashion. Not only did the customer get a reminder that she was not alone in her circumstance, but the sales clerk received a blessing, knowing that she had minded God and reached out to someone in need. The sales clerk was also reminded that she could not resist the Pulling of the Holy Spirit and that she serves a Sovereign Savior.
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