Derek Prince - You're Not An Accident Looking For Somewhere To Happen
This excerpt is from: How To Find Your Place
And then Paul goes on here in 2 Timothy 1:9: ...has called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before time began. That’s an exciting statement. Before anything was ever created, before God ever set time in motion, He knew what He was going to do, He knew you would be born, He knew you would become a believer and He had a plan for your life. I tell people you are not an accident looking for somewhere to happen. There’s a divine plan and purpose for every believer which didn’t start in time; it started before creation.
God foreknew us. The Scripture says He predestined us. That means He arranged the course that our life was to take and He had a specific plan and purpose for every one of us. And then it says it’s not according to our works. It’s not according to what we can do. It’s not according, necessarily, to what we have been trained to do. I think I can illustrate this from my own case. I was an only child; I never had brothers or sisters. Girls were a very strange race to me. I didn’t understand them. I mean, I had girlfriends, but that’s different. You can have a girlfriend without understanding girls! And, you know, I was intellectually very successful. So you’d think God would have me to be a professor in some college or something like that.
When I discovered my calling I married a lady who had a children’s home with eight girls in it and I became a father to eight girls in one day! You couldn’t think of anybody less naturally qualified for that position than me. Basically God tends to put us in a position for which we’re not qualified. That’s not always true. The reason being, He doesn’t want us to rely on our own ability. It’s not according to our works but it’s according to His grace. You think of some of the most successful servants of God throughout the centuries, they’ve been weak people. Often people with few qualifications who’ve been put in places of danger and difficulty. You wouldn’t ever imagine that they would succeed.
But you see, the thing about grace is this: Grace cannot be earned. You’ll never achieve grace by working for it. Works and grace are mutually exclusive. I explain it this way. Grace begins where human ability ends. If you can do it by yourself, why should God give you His grace? But when you come to the place where God wants you to do something and you can’t do it, then you have to depend on His grace. And that’s what God wants us to do. So let me read that verse again. I didn’t intend to spend more than about two minutes on it but anyhow, here we are. ...God has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. If you can just begin to grasp that it will give you a sense of being important. Not that you become conceited but that you realize you’re part of a tremendous plan which God conceived before He created anything.
One of the greatest problems with people in the world today is low self-esteem. They don’t think they’re worth much. And I would have to say a person with low self-esteem is unlikely to make the best of life. And I believe that a Christian should never have that problem. Let me explain two reasons. First, the one I’ve given. If you’re a Christian you’re part of an eternal plan. You have a special job, you have a special calling —one that nobody else has. You have a responsibility that no one else can carry out.
And then secondly, you know how to find out how much you’re worth? I’ll tell you. Right now my wife and I are in the middle of selling a house. Let’s say we were told, which we were when we bought it, that it was worth 55,000 U.S. dollars. When we tried to sell it we discovered nobody would pay 55,000 U.S. dollars for it. So we are happy to get fifty. Now, what’s the house worth? It’s worth what someone will pay for it. You can put any price tag you like on something you want to sell but it’s worth what someone will pay, no more.
Now, you are worth what God was willing to pay for you. What did He pay for you? He redeemed you with what? The precious blood of Jesus Christ, something that is infinitely valuable, something on which you can put no price tag. And if you can grasp that fact that God was willing to pay the blood of His Son to redeem you, you’ll never have a problem with self-worth again. Because you’re worth what God was willing to pay for you. You see that? Let's look in Ephesians chapter two. I’m sure you didn’t see that because I look at your faces and you’ve got a kind of look of surprise on your face. Well, try to digest it. Try to absorb it. Meditate on it. Read it over and over again until it becomes real to you.
You see, God’s word is a mirror. And if you want to know what you’re really like inside you have to look in the mirror. The first time you look in the mirror it’s horrible. You discover you’re a sinner, you’re defiled, your garments are horribly unclean. But if you’re wise and you act on what God shows you, you repent and trust Jesus for salvation, you’re cleansed, you’re washed, you’re sanctified. God takes away your filthy garments and clothes you with a garment of salvation and a robe of righteousness. And next time you look in the mirror you’re astonished. You don't see the old, whatever it might be... You don’t ever see that old person, you see somebody quite different. You, changed, transformed, wearing a garment of salvation and a spotless robe of righteousness.
But that’s only the beginning because God intends to go on changing you. I didn’t intend to look at this Scripture but look for a moment at 2 Corinthians. Chapter 3, verse 18, if I remember rightly. Yes, 2 Corinthians 3:18: But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror... [What’s the mirror? The word of God.] ...the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. You see, if you want the Spirit of the Lord to transform you, you’ve got to keep looking in the mirror. If you look away from the mirror the Spirit of God no longer works on you. He only works on you when you’re looking in the mirror.
But if you go on looking in the mirror and yielding to the Spirit of God you see glory. That’s for you. And you think that’s wonderful. The next time you look you’ve been moved from glory to glory. It’s progressive, you understand? The problem with most Christians who have a low sense of self-worth is they don’t spend enough time looking in the mirror. They spend a lot of time looking in the physical mirror and they’re not always satisfied with what they see. But they don’t spend time looking in the spiritual mirror which is very satisfying if you yield to the Spirit of God. And really, there are no limits. We are continually being transformed from glory to glory to glory to glory. Indefinitely.