I was less than two years old when I walked out of our Naval-issued housing apartment and headed straight for the deep end of the pool near our house. My head went under the water and I gasped for air as I pleaded for help. I could see several people watching my desperate splashing and head tossing. Within minutes they took me out and my mother was at my side to take me home.
Years later, my mother told me the story and how she handled my experience as a young child. She had turned her back on me for just a moment and I was gone. She immediately called her friends and they organized a search only to find me safely in the arms of a lifeguard. Her fear of losing me was so great that she said she spanked me all the way home. She didn’t remember anything about the spanking, but the near-drowning was burned into my brain as one of my earliest memories.
Why did I survive almost drowning while other children died from the same experience? Did he have a destiny that demanded that he be saved? Was my life planned before I was born by an all-knowing supernatural God?
Isaiah 49:1 & 2, “Listen to me, you distant nations, people who live far away! Before I was born, the Lord considered me and appointed me to be his servant. He made my words as sharp as a sword. With his own hand protected me. It made me like an arrow, sharp and ready to be used.”
Isaiah mentions several times in his writings about being planned before he was born. He opens up a concept of life that has been hidden in our world today. He lifts a veil of remembrance that covers most people’s minds to the truth that their lives have a designated spiritual purpose that is beyond human comprehension.
Did we volunteer for the experiences we would face on earth? Did God put us in fundamental positions to fulfill his will? Do I have a responsibility that I must fulfill before I can leave this world and find rest in the perfection of Heaven?
Isaiah 49:5 and 6, “Before I was born, the Lord appointed me; he made me his servant to bring back his people, to bring back the scattered people of Israel. The Lord honors me; he is the source of my strength. The Lord said to me, “I have a greater task for you, my servant. You will not only restore the surviving people of Israel to greatness, but I will also make you a light to the nations, so that the whole world can be saved.”
Many theologians view the above scriptures as having a double message. One refers to Israel being destined to tell the world how to follow God through obedience to the Laws of Moses. The last and greatest belief for Christians is that these verses refer to the ministry of Jesus Christ and how he brought the saving power of grace and provided us with the Holy Spirit.
The ministry of Jesus Christ changed everything. He removed the veils of oblivion that prevented us from understanding our purpose. He gave us the Holy Spirit as our inner guide. With the supernatural power of the Spirit we do not need anyone to teach us the will of God. The Spirit teaches us from within and guides us along the paths we were marked out to follow before we were born.
Ephesians 1:11, “All things are done according to God’s plan and decision; and God chose us to be his people in union with Christ, according to his own purpose, according to what he had decided from the beginning.”
If our lives have a purpose planned before we were born, then we should look at our lives differently. We must separate ourselves from how the world tells us we are supposed to live. Instead, we must hold on to God’s teachings and apply them to our daily lives. We need to be instruments for God, not for Satan. We need to love and not hate. We need to do good, not evil.
Ephesians 1:3-5, “Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! For in our union with Christ he has blessed us by giving us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly world. Even before the world was made, God already gave us He had chosen to be his through our union with Christ, that we might be holy and blameless before him.
For his love God had already decided that through Jesus Christ he would make us his children, this was his pleasure and purpose.
We were planned even before the world was formed. A plan that is meant to change us through the experiences we face in the world.
When I look back on my life, I see God working His plan in me, I see how my life was changed for the better through what I suffered in the world. I saw how a light of understanding removed the veil of oblivion that prevented me from knowing God’s plan before entering the world.
Because we come as children, we are in a state of weakened intellect that makes us unable to remember God’s purpose for our lives. It is only through increments of time that we see our paths. The first plan is to understand our need for the saving power of Jesus Christ. This happens when we survive, while others do not, a life-threatening disease, a natural disaster, a war, a famine, a plague, an accident, or any number of things that happen to people. The second plan is when we realize how much we need the saving power of Jesus Christ to free us from being dragged down by sin.
Satan is the god of this world and as a result he has blinded our eyes to what is good and what is bad. He tells us to live in the world by ourselves and take what we want no matter who we hurt. God opens our eyes to the truth as he leads us on paths that are prepared to lead us into a new light of understanding. With each moment of wisdom we grow spiritually and understand that giving to others is more important than what we receive.
Our world is full of opposites, war and peace; death and life; good health and chronic diseases; poor and rich; justice and corrupt practices rob us of our freedom; and of course good and bad. To discern the differences we must change as we go along the path of life and follow God’s plan. In his time there will be a great revelation specially designed to teach us a spiritual value that we would not have understood except by going through the test.
Ephesians 1:18-22, “I pray that your minds will be opened to see his light, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, how rich are the wonderful blessings he promises his people, and how great it is his power that works in us who believe. This power that works in us is the same power that he used when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly world. Christ rules there over all things. rulers, authorities, powers, and heavenly lords; he has a title higher than all titles of authority in this world and the next. God put all things under the feet of Christ and gave him to the church as supreme Lord over all things “.
Understanding that we are planned and that our life has a spiritual purpose can help us fight for God’s will for our lives. We must read our Bibles. We must pray at all times for Jesus to help us. More importantly, we must apply God’s principles of love to our daily lives.
1 John 3:10, “Here is the clear difference between the children of God and the children of the Devil: Anyone who does not do what is right or does not love his brother is not a child of God.”
I was saved from drowning as a child because God had a plan. Each day, as I matured and grew, I came to a new light of understanding because I allowed God’s principles to guide me through life. I forced myself to do the right thing whether I liked it or not! I listened to the Holy Spirit, prayed, and applied the teachings of the Bible.
1 John 2: 28 and 29, “Yes, my children, remain in union with him, so that when he appears, we will be full of courage and will not have to hide in shame from him on the day that he comes. You know that Christ is righteous; you must Know therefore that everyone who does what is right is a child of God.”
Our world has a beginning and an end. We must focus on doing what is right so that when we face the day of judgment we can have confidence when we see God that we have done everything He planned for us to do.