Every Chapter in the Book

Psalm 139:13-16 - 13 “For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written for me in your book before one of them came to be.”

I don’t know about you guys, but this verse gets me totally jacked up! Thats a good thing. The more I write the more you will understand my terminology. So just hang with me through a few of these “Weekly Words”. This verse was really revealed to me a few months ago while listening to the live webstreaming of the IHOP(International House of Prayer) prayer room. I heard them singing this passage of scripture over and over. It hit me so hard. I was just sitting at my computer with tears welling up in my eyes. I wasn’t even sure why at the time. I recorded that session, and since then have listened to probably over 50 times easily. The more I began to sing this song, the more the Lord revealed what He was telling me. So I hope through this message I can convey to you what the Lord wants us all to hear.

My life started out pretty rough. I was in and out of the hospital for the first couple years of my life. I had many complications as a baby. A few that were life threatening. My parents were told numerous times that I would not make it. Praise Jesus for praying, Bible believing parents. Well contrary to doctors reports, I made it. Jesus had a bigger plan than any attack of the enemy! Amen! See I firmly believe that God has big plans for my life. Thats not being cocky or proud either. Thats simply holding on to the promise of God stated in Jeremiah 29:11- “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you, not to harm you; plans to give you hope and a future.” Just declare that promise back to God right now! Declare it over yourself right now! Tell Him you believe His promises are eternal. That the covenant the covenant that He made with Abraham is still going today. Ok, I could go on with that for a while, but I am going to get back on course. So I just began to get this revelation that God uniquely created ME! He has a specific mission just for me. I love that! He designed me for a specific purpose and the enemy knows that too. That is why he tried to take me out at birth. He did not wants God’s plan for me unleashed on the earth because it is going to wage some serious war on darkness! Come On! Doesn’t this fire you up! You are a purposefully created weapon in God’s arsenal! He intends to use YOU to kick the enemies butt! In Ephesians 2:18-21 Paul prays that the eyes of our heart would be enlightened that we would know the hope, glorious inheritance, and incomparable great power for us believers. He then likens this power to the strength used to raise Christ from the dead and seated Him at the right hand of God in heavenly realms far above all rule and authority,power and dominion of this age or any age to come. Now for what’s really awesome…. Paul says following this in verse 6 that God raised us up with Christ, and seated us with Him in those same heavenly realms. Are you putting it all together? We, being seated with Christ, are also above all powers and authorities of the enemy. We now can be the attackers and not the attacked! It is time to start living in the power that Christ has given us.

The last part of this passage in verse 16 is where the title and main point of this Weekly Word comes from. It declares that all of my days were ordained for me. It says that all my days were written in your book before one of them came to be. I just love to think about His book for me! What does that look like! A book all about my life. What chapter am I even in right now? I often fantasize about this. Now that is a real fantasy! Much better to fantasize about that than in any other worldly garbage we could indulge our minds. Just think about that…God has authored a book about your life. Talk about a “must read”. A novel written about you from the most creative author of all time. Mystery, suspense, tragedy, momentary defeat. War, peace, laughter and sadness. All this in one book! The best thing about His books is that ending is always the same for everyone that chooses to follow his plan…VICTORY!!! So many people miss out on their book. Maybe they get through a few chapters and set the book down when they come to the chapters on sorrow or momentary defeat. Oh, if they would only keep reading! If they would only keep their eyes focused on the final chapter. This is one book where it is nice to know the ending. As a matter of fact the end was written before the beginning. This is often times what pushes us to keep going on our journey through our book. My personal desire is to get through every chapter in the novel God wrote for me before I was even formed in the womb. I want everything that God has for me. And much more importantly, God wants me to have everything that He has for me. He desires to give us the desires of our heart if HE is our desire. That is a mouthful, but really think about that. He alone wants to be our hearts desire. And it says in Psalm 37:4 that if we delight ourselves in the Lord, that He will give us the desires of our heart. So by delighting in Him, we are making Him our hearts desire. Anyways, I think you get the point. He wants to give us His fullness, but it comes with a price. I’ve always loved this quote, “Salvation is free, but it will cost you your life.” Many Christians settle for a boring story, when in fact God has appointed them to a matchless biography! Don’t settle for anything less that God’s best for you. Being bored is one clue to knowing that you are not walking a victorious, Holy Spirit inspired, christian life. Jesus did not go through death on the cross for us to live a boring, uninspired or defeated life! If you claim that the christian life is boring chances are you are not going after the whole story. I challenge you to start pursuing God with your whole heart. Read Jeremiah 29:12 & 13 right now! In short, it says that if you seek Him with everything in you than you will find Him. He will reveal His love to you, and in response you can love Him back. Because ultimately the Bible - which is the greatest book ever written - and all the books that He has written for us are love stories.

Hope you were blessed,

Jarod