There were three ravaging forces that dominated our lives before we were saved: namely, the world, the devil, and the flesh. Howbeit, because of the generosity of God’s mercy, and the greatness of God’s love, and the glory of God’s grace, the moment we were saved, we were made alive together with Christ instantaneously. That means you received spiritual life, eternal life; you were born again. And not only that, but we were also raised up together, we were taken out of the place where we were spiritually dead; that old position and raised us out of it and made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ. There had been a shift in position, from death in sin to life in heavenly places in Christ. That’s how God sees you today, in heavenly places in Christ. That’s the reason why Paul “prays that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms,” (Eph. 1:18-20). In the book of Romans, we learn that the believer is declared legally righteous once he trusts Christ (Rom. 5:1). That is our position “in Christ”, but we need to possess that position. We are “in Christ” and we have all the blessings of heaven, but we need to grow into Christlikeness before we “possess the land” (cf. Deut. 1:8), so to speak. God chose us, set us apart, foreordained us to become His sons by adoption through Jesus Christ. God wants us to live a certain life that reflects who He is, becoming more and more of what we already are in Jesus Christ “…just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him” – (Eph. 1:4). Adoption is a metaphor to describe salvation (cf. Rom. 8:23; Gal.4:5). In the Roman law system, adoption was a very important concept. A natural son could be disowned, but an adopted son having gone through the rigmarole of Roman adoption could not be put away. I think this is a very important concept that speaks greatly about our security in God. God chose us according to the kind intention of His will. People say, God knew all the time what we’re going to do before we were born, and He chooses us because He knew we’re going to choose Him. WRONG. God didn’t choose us because he knew what we’re going to do – that would be works>salvation. God chose us because of his love and grace. We can’t make foreknowledge the key to predestination or election. God chose us because He loves us, PERIOD. GOD IS LOVE; it is His character. God accepted me in Jesus Christ. I don’t have to do anything. I don’t have to be anything. God accepted me in Christ, and God chose me, and marked me out as His child before I was ever born. My name was written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. I believe the doctrine of predestination is more to get backbone to the saints than it is to keep a lost world out of the Kingdom of God.