Jesus chose His disciples and His apostles (6:70; 13:18; 15:19, Luke 6:13, Acts 9:15). This was not the normal case, because the usual custom was for the disciples to choose under which rabbi they were going to sit. Rabbi Joshua ben Perahyah stated “Provide thyself with a teacher.” (qt’d in Morris) The worldly Jewish manner of getting an education was to seek out a teacher and get him to allow you to follow him and learn from him. However, all of the recipents of God’s grace were chosen by Him; not the other way around (Deut 7:7-8), and the reason He chose them was that He wanted to do it, not because the recipients deserved it. Our relationship with Him is always a response to His seeking us. (1 John 4:19) says that we love because He first loved us. Though mainly referring to our loving others, it is also true that we love God only because He first loved us. He is always the initiator (John 12:32, Php 3:12).

John 6:70  Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!”

John 13:18  “I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfil the scripture: ‘He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me.’

John 15:19  If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

Luke 6:13  When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles:

Acts 9:15  But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.

Deuteronomy 7:7-8  The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.  But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

1 John 4:19  We love because he first loved us.

John 12:32  But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”

Philippians 3:12  Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

The truly incredible thing here is that God has also chosen each of us. He picked us out of a line-up. He pointed at you and said, “That is the one I want!” He has chosen us for salvation; He has chosen us for relationship; He has chosen us to be His child; He has chosen us to be His prized possession. We are each special in the eyes of the Lord! He has hand-picked each and every one of us to be His friend and His son or daughter.

Not only are we chosen, but we are also appointed. God had prepared good works for us to do before we were even born (Isa 49:1, Jer 1:5, Eph 2:10). His calling on our lives was before we even accepted the salvation He was holding out to us. We have been a part of his plan for a long, long time! He has a particular part in His plan picked out just for you and nobody else can do it as well as you, if anyone can even do it at all! It may be a role that we see as being grand or one that we see as being small, but that is not up to us (Rom 9:21); it is His business. However we see it, our appointment is an integral part of furthering his kingdom on earth and if we don’t do it, it will not get done or will not get done as well as it could.

Isaiah 49:1  Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the LORD called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name.

Jeremiah 1:5  “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

Ephesians 2:10  For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Romans 9:21  Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?

Jesus said that we are appointed to bear fruit that will last. There is nothing that rots faster than fruit. The only “fruit that will last” is what we do out of His strength and according to His will. Remember – He is the Vine and we are the branches.

What has God appointed you to do? Where does He want you to serve and bear fruit? As we fit into His plan and produce the fruit He has intended, we come into a position of being able to ask the Father in Jesus name and receive that for which we have asked. Is this a blank check? In a way, yes, because what we will want to ask for is going to be “in His name” which means in accordance with His will and desires. The closer we get to our Friend Jesus, the more His desires become our desires and when we ask according to what Jesus wants, that prayer will most certainly always be answered.