The Making of a Chosen Vessel

By Francis Bob Alonge

This inspirational and personal development book is an in-depth analysis of how to get from where you are to where God wants you to be in life, love and leadership. It explores the milestones and components of life's journey that will lead to success and ensure a legacy. It does this in a practical and easy to understand manner. The book delivers the keys to understanding who we are and how to become the person that we really want to be.
It explains the need and the nature of a calling, the power of conviction, the purpose of a covenant and how to overcome contradictions on the journey. It explains how to develop courage and also how to find the right company for life's journey. This book will help you, the reader, to deliver a contribution to your generation and to posterity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Mar 14, 2016
• ISBN: 9781483564326

Book preview

years.

Introduction - The Chosen Vessel

Every time our attention is captured by an exceptional achievement, seemingly made with ease and grace by an individual, it causes us to recognize that something beyond the ordinary, beyond the permutation of circumstances or events is at play there. We therefore acknowledge that, He was truly chosen.

He was born for this… I have often exclaimed, as I beheld the glory of a skilled musician, an amazing athlete, an awesome preacher, a prolific actor or a seasoned statesman at the peak of their prowess. Many times when the going gets tough, the overriding notion that I am destined for this because I am 'chosen', keeps me going. To know that you are chosen is an awesome feeling indeed! It is a revelation that could give us so much joy and so much confidence in life. Knowing you are chosen perhaps informs the greatest outlook on life anyone could ever have.

This has often made me to ponder: What makes one a chosen vessel? Are some chosen and others doomed to a life of mediocrity?

Many are indeed called, but few are CHOSEN…

This inspirational and personal development book is an in-depth analysis of how to get from where you are to where God wants you to be in life, love and leadership. It explores the milestones and components of life's journey that will lead to success and ensure a legacy. It does this in a practical and easy to understand manner. The book delivers the keys to understanding who we are and how to become the person that we really want to be.

It explains the need and the nature of a calling, the power of conviction, the purpose of a covenant and how to overcome contradictions on the journey. It explains how to develop courage and also how to find the right company for life's journey. This book will help you, the reader, to deliver a contribution to your generation and to posterity.

Preparation for the Position

Acts 9:15-16

But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen vessel of mine to bear my name before Gentiles, kings and the children of Israel. 16. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name’s sake."

NKJV

The word ‘chosen’ in the Bible is always connected to something special. To be chosen implies that you are being prepared for great things, similar to how God prepared Aaron and his sons and put them in high office. Being chosen changes your status from mediocrity to recognition. Even though it brings nobility along with it, to be specially chosen may also mean to suffer much preparation and opposition. There is a process for every position.

Do you think that the tough things you have passed through are always an indication that you are not on the right path? If you do, you are wrong, because this is often not the case. Some people think difficulties are evidence of God’s disapproval. That is why too many people buckle under pressure and lose heart in the face of opposition. We far too easily assume that because God has called us and has His hand upon us, everything will go without any hitches or contest. King David of Israel was chosen and at sixteen the bear and the lion came at him, but he defeated them by the Spirit of the Lord. These events, unknown to him, prepared him for the destruction of Goliath, which, in turn, facilitated his route to the king’s palace. Had there been neither bear nor lion, there never would have been victory over Goliath. When the seasoned fighters who had never had the 'bear and lion' experiences stood before Goliath, they all buckled with fear, turned their backs and fled.

It is important to observe, at this point, that David had been tending his father’s flock of sheep from a tender age, but it was not until he was anointed to be king that the lion and the bear showed up. When you are chosen, set apart by God, some lions will come your way. There is a dimension of opposition and pressure that comes your way when you align yourself with the will of God. Never put a full stop behind the antics of the adversary in your life. It might be a bend but it is definitely not the end.

The Hidden Potential of Pressure and Pain

1 Samuel 17:38-40

So Saul clothed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his head; he also clothed him with a coat of mail. 39. David fastened his sword to his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And David said to Saul, I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them. So David took them off. 40. Then he took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine.

NKJV

It is possible that you have been so surrounded by blessings and comfort all your life that you have never had to struggle for anything. Perhaps you have been so pampered and shielded that you have never experienced what pressure truly is. It is not always a good thing to be shielded from pressure. Sometimes, you need to be allowed to stumble a little. Sometimes you need to go through some pain. These serve to make you strong and of good courage. Even though pain is not necessarily a teacher, it forces us to be open to learning. Jesus was introduced to us prophetically in the Holy Scriptures as a man of sorrow, acquainted with grief. I too am somewhat familiar with sorrow and pain. I know what grief is like, but I also know the cure; it will not last!

In this account, David rejected Saul's armor. He fell back on his experience instead and used what he was accustomed to. He had neither shield nor sword when he killed the lion and the bear. He fell back on the familiar and proven tools that had served him well as a simple shepherd boy. He went to the brook and took up five 'chosen' stones or smooth pebbles. These stones had been rubbed smooth by some things. It is friction that wears a stone down to become a pebble. Pebbles are stones found at the bottom of a stream that particles, sediment and the elements have hit at over and over again until all the jagged edges are smoothened. These stones were chosen because of what they had gone through. Even if David had not picked these stones, they were still ‘chosen’. You are chosen because you have been through myriads of things and are still standing. Despise not the seasons of new beginnings. Every time you have to start afresh you may feel knocked down, but just give it a little time and you will be back up again. Sometimes, the Lord is just doing a little restructuring. I am well acquainted with new beginnings and I am not afraid to start again. I no longer fear when people leave me and walk away. It is all part of the process of being a chosen vessel.

The Choice is Yours

2 Timothy 2:20-21

But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. 21. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. NKJV

Many people may think that the scripture above means that God has chosen some people for good things and some for ignoble things. A closer look at verse 21 however, shows that the onus is on us to determine whether we will be vessels unto honor; Therefore if anyone… God has made it possible for everyone to qualify himself to be a chosen vessel. To everything that happens, there are two parts: God’s sovereignty and man’s initiative. God’s sovereignty has made the provision for us but we must, by our initiative, key into what God has done. Chosen vessels are the ones that are 'prepared' for every good work. It is not God that chooses vessels unto honor; you are the one that chooses whether you will be a vessel unto honor or dishonor. The choice is yours. Your predestination or God’s election concerning you is that you would be a vessel unto honor and be fruitful in every good work.

Taking you Through, not to It!

There are certain things that must be present in your life to prepare you for every good work and to qualify you to be a vessel unto honor. In the King James Version of the Bible, Acts 9:16 says that there are certain things we must suffer. This does not mean suffering in the strict sense of the word; it simply means certain things one must go through. There are things that must be synonymous with your life; these things are part of the process of becoming a chosen vessel. This is what it takes to be a vessel unto honor. Before you cower at the thought