Chosen

14 “Then he told me, ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and hear him speak. 15 For you are to be his witness, telling everyone what you have seen and heard. 16 What are you waiting for? Get up and be baptized. Have your sins washed away by calling on the name of the Lord.’
17 “After I returned to Jerusalem, I was praying in the Temple and fell into a trance.18 I saw a vision of Jesus saying to me, ‘Hurry! Leave Jerusalem, for the people here won’t accept your testimony about me.’
21 “But the Lord said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles!’”
- Acts 22:14-18,21

Are you chosen? How is it that a certain man who belongs to a chosen nation - Israel was again chosen by GOD? Does it necessarily mean that if you are an Israelite you are chosen? Yes Israel is chosen by GOD to know HIM and do His will but if a certain Israelite does not follow or do His will, do you think that he is still chosen? You can't be chosen if you don't chose GOD too. Each of us are offered a place in GOD's heart regardless of race, culture, or whatever has happened in the past. All of us are called by GOD but only few become chosen when they chose GOD by accepting HIS call. What does it mean to be chosen? It is to chose to live for GOD in one's life. It is to know HIS will. When you chose GOD, you will see GOD and hear His voice. 

When we chose to follow GOD, immediately GOD instructs us to do something... we are to get up from where we are and be baptized, so that our sins are washed away when we call on the LORD JESUS or YESHUA Ha Mashiach, and His blood which He shed on the cross, to cleanse us from all of our sins and unrighteousness. We need this cleansing before we can do anything else for HIM. Sin create walls that stand in the way between us and GOD. Our unforgiven sins block us from hearing GOD and seeing GOD. Notice that right after Paul was baptized, he  saw JESUS in a vision and he heard the LORD JESUS tell him specifically what to do. When you hear from GOD it will be as clear as waters during the day. Are you seeing GOD, or hearing GOD's voice? Do you want to have this kind of life? Read and meditate on Acts 22:14-18 and you will understand what GOD wants you to do.

Eager to Follow

So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God. You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols.

- 1 Peter 4:1-3

Pain is most likely to happen to everyone. In this world we have hard times and happy times. We face all kinds of problems or troubles. This is what life is, it's an imperfect world. But pain is even more imminent for every follower of Jesus the Messiah. In fact 1 Peter clearly states that since we follow Jesus as our Master, then we should be ready to live the kind of life He lived, ready to suffer and persistent to persevere. GOD has a reason for pain and suffering. Pain and suffering purges us from sin. It keeps us in the right path where GOD wants us to take. Because of pain, it's most likely that we will not have time to even think about pleasing ourselves because all we can do is grieve for the pain or find ways to get out of pain. Somehow pain is needed for every human being, to discipline and correct us, aligning us to the will of GOD.

When sin is purged out of us because we have suffered, learning from our mistakes we strive hard not to be in a position where we should have to suffer again. That is why the Bible says we will be anxious to do the will of GOD, because if we are not in His will, we will again have to go through suffering when HE allows us to go through the fires of fiery trials. We will never know the gravity or weight of our sin unless we have suffered the consequences of it or punished by it. When we have gone through the refining fire of these trials, we are cleansed of sin and we realize that we can make life better by following GOD's will. In fact, we will be anxious to know and do His will because we understand that GOD is real and HE is always actively involved in our lives whether we actively involve Him in our lives or not. HE is involved with every activity under the sun. He is alive and is concerned with us. When we understand GOD's great love and the plans He has to bless us, we will be more than willing to do what GOD wants us to do. We want to coordinate with HIS plans for us, we trust the GOD who loves us and has the best in store for us. We won't even think about going back to our old life of sin and or look back on how our lives used to be. We will be grateful for the salvation we received in Jesus and we will move forward with GOD's Spirit at work within us. We are eager to follow HIS leading because we understand we are nothing without HIM.