By Josie Siler
If you are a fan of football, you’re familiar with the drama caused by the replacement referees. If you are a fan of the Green Bay Packers, you fall into a unique category of super fans that may never get over the Seahawks unmerited win. I just so happen to be a Packers fan and owner. The Packers are the only team in the NFL owned by their fans. We have a vested interest in our team. This year I had the privilege of attending the season opener at Lambeau Field. The stadium was full of 70,523 screaming fans. I understand what it means to be a fan; as fans, we’re for our team and against anything or anyone that comes against our team. We cheer for our team with reckless abandon.
In a recent sermon my pastor said, “Sometimes we think God is angry at us, but that’s not the case. He is a fan of yours and He is cheering you on.” For those of us living with chronic illness it’s easy to think that God doesn’t care about us, but it’s just the opposite. God is our biggest fan! Being a Packers fan, I have screamed “GO PACK GO” more times than I can count. In fact, if I type “go” in a message on my phone it suggests “PACK” as the next word! It’s crazy for me to think that as loud as I cheer for my Packers, it’s barely a whisper compared to the volume and intensity that God is cheering “GO JOSIE GO” as I live the life He has given me.
If you are a fan of football, you’re familiar with the drama caused by the replacement referees. If you are a fan of the Green Bay Packers, you fall into a unique category of super fans that may never get over the Seahawks unmerited win. I just so happen to be a Packers fan and owner. The Packers are the only team in the NFL owned by their fans. We have a vested interest in our team. This year I had the privilege of attending the season opener at Lambeau Field. The stadium was full of 70,523 screaming fans. I understand what it means to be a fan; as fans, we’re for our team and against anything or anyone that comes against our team. We cheer for our team with reckless abandon.
In a recent sermon my pastor said, “Sometimes we think God is angry at us, but that’s not the case. He is a fan of yours and He is cheering you on.” For those of us living with chronic illness it’s easy to think that God doesn’t care about us, but it’s just the opposite. God is our biggest fan! Being a Packers fan, I have screamed “GO PACK GO” more times than I can count. In fact, if I type “go” in a message on my phone it suggests “PACK” as the next word! It’s crazy for me to think that as loud as I cheer for my Packers, it’s barely a whisper compared to the volume and intensity that God is cheering “GO JOSIE GO” as I live the life He has given me.
Our study of Ephesians starts out with God choosing us for His team. Ephesians 1:3-4 reads, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.” Let’s read that again, this time from The
Message. “How blessed is God! And what a blessing He is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in Him. Long before He laid down earth’s foundations, He had us in mind, He had settled on us as the focus of His love, to be made whole and holy by His love.” Wowzers! Did you get that? God chose us. He chose us before the foundation of the world to be on His team. It is by His love that we are made whole and holy. He has settled on us as the focus of His love. He’s cheering us on, and He has given us every spiritual blessing. That’s better than winning the Super Bowl! (If your team has never won a Super Bowl trust me, it’s better!)
It’s up to you my friend. Are you going to live a life of victory in Christ, or are you going to live a life of defeat and misery? Are you going to receive the spiritual blessings God is offering you, or are you going to reject them and go at it alone? Remember that God chose you. He is for you. He’s cheering you on.
"If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? …Christ Jesus is the one who died– more than that, who was raised – who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? …No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." ~ Romans
8:31-39
© October 2, 2012
Message. “How blessed is God! And what a blessing He is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in Him. Long before He laid down earth’s foundations, He had us in mind, He had settled on us as the focus of His love, to be made whole and holy by His love.” Wowzers! Did you get that? God chose us. He chose us before the foundation of the world to be on His team. It is by His love that we are made whole and holy. He has settled on us as the focus of His love. He’s cheering us on, and He has given us every spiritual blessing. That’s better than winning the Super Bowl! (If your team has never won a Super Bowl trust me, it’s better!)
It’s up to you my friend. Are you going to live a life of victory in Christ, or are you going to live a life of defeat and misery? Are you going to receive the spiritual blessings God is offering you, or are you going to reject them and go at it alone? Remember that God chose you. He is for you. He’s cheering you on.
"If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? …Christ Jesus is the one who died– more than that, who was raised – who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? …No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." ~ Romans
8:31-39
© October 2, 2012
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