I Choose You!

Posted On January 16, 2022

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”

Isaiah 43:1 ESV

My granddaughter just turned 3 and requested a Pokémon theme for her birthday party. She had a Pikachu cake, Pikachu plates, and a giant Pikachu balloon. While discussing party plans with my daughter, and also confessing that I still hadn’t come up with a blog topic for this week, I joked that maybe I should just stick with the theme and do a post about Pokémon. We laughed, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized there are some good lessons to be mined from the world of Pokémon. So, in honor of my granddaughter’s birthday, here you go. Enjoy!

I Choose You

“You didn’t choose me. I chose you.” 

John 15:16 NLT

I admit my knowledge of the Pokémon world is pretty limited. I know a few basics and a couple of catchphrases, but the only actual Pokémon character I can identify is Pikachu himself. That’s him in the picture above (the little yellow guy). In case you need a little background, Pokémon got started as a video game in the 1990s. It has since grown to include many more video games and a trading card game, as well as multiple TV series and movies. In the Pokémon world, there are these little creatures called Pokémon that you must catch and befriend. Then you train them for battles with other Pokémon. As the Pokémon gain skills and win battles, they evolve into better versions of themselves.

The first thing that comes to my mind when I think about Pokémon is, “Pikachu, I choose you!” Apparently, that’s how the trainer calls forth the Pokémon for battle, and I guess I’ve heard it enough that it got stuck in my head. But maybe that’s a good thing because it reminds me that God says the same thing to us. He chose us before we were born to do things we can’t even imagine yet. He calls us to Him so we can be “caught” by His loving embrace. Then He trains us for the battles we must face so that we can be transformed into better versions of ourselves.

“Come to Me with a teachable spirit, eager to be changed. . . . seek My Face with an open mind, knowing that your journey with Me involves being transformed by the renewing of your mind. As you focus your thoughts on Me, be aware that I am fully attentive to you. I see you with a steady eye because My attention span is infinite. I know and understand you completely; My thoughts embrace you in everlasting Love. I also know the plans I have for you: plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Give yourself fully to this adventure of increasing attentiveness to My Presence.”
~Sarah Young, Jesus Calling

God loves us dearly, and He longs for us to come to Him so He can prepare us for all that lies ahead. Let’s answer His call and let Him lead us on this adventure. He has called us by name. We are His. Long before we were born He said, “My child, I choose you!”

“To find the life that’s worth living, you must understand that you’re a special, beloved person and that God has a specific, wonderful plan for you that will give you all the love, fulfillment, significance, and power that you’re looking for . . . .”

Charles F. Stanley, 30 Life Principles

Training for Battle

“You have armed me with strength for the battle”

Psalm 18:39 NLT

Unlike Pokémon battles, we aren’t called to fight little creatures using our special electric, water, or fire powers. But we are called to fight, and most of our battles take place in our minds. Craig Groeschel reminds us of the following facts:

1. “The battle for your life is won or lost in your mind.”
2. “Your thoughts will control you, so you have to control your thoughts.”

Whether we realize it or not, we are in a war. It may not feel like it, but we are constantly being attacked . . . with lies. This is how Satan operates. He invades our thoughts and makes us believe things that aren’t true. Things like I’m a huge disappointment to God, God will never be able to use me, God can’t possibly love me after everything I’ve done, God doesn’t really care about the mundane details of my life, God doesn’t want me to be happy, I will never be good enough or holy enough so I should just give up trying, I’m a failure. Does any of that sound familiar to you? It does to me. But these things are absolutely not true. Intellectually, we know they’re lies, so why do we still believe them anyway? Why do we let our faith and our purpose get stalled by doubt and insecurity? Why do we settle for a mediocre life, pretending we’re happy but longing for more? Why? Because we don’t fight back!

“To win the battle for our minds, we must engage, because there is no other way for us to defeat evil. The days of being neutral must be over. . . . Don’t give up. Look up. Look up because you have a gracious, generous God who has the power you need and wants to share it with you. . . . So look up, go up, and access the power God has that you need to remove lies and replace them with truth. Ask him to show you the lies that you have believed for too long. Tell him you want your mind to be filled with his truths instead of the devil’s falsehoods. And then thank him for hearing you.”
~Craig Groeschel, Winning the War in Your Mind

We cannot win this war on our own. That’s why God instructs us to keep our thoughts focused on Him and let Him transform our thinking. We must access God’s power to fight the lies that attack our thoughts. We do this by staying in His Word and staying connected to Him in prayer. I’ve learned the hard way that this is not optional. When we don’t control our thoughts, our thoughts do control us. And where our thoughts take us, our words and actions soon follow. Before we know it, we are saying things we don’t want to say and doing things we don’t want to do. And we feel powerless to change our behavior. We feel like giving up. But we can’t give up. No matter how many times we fail, no matter how many times we fall, we must keep fighting. We can do this. We just can’t do it alone.

“Fight all your battles on your knees and you win every time.”

Charles F. Stanley, 30 Life Principles

Evolving

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. “

Romans 12:2 NIV

The screen shot above shows Pikachu evolving into Raichu, a stronger creature able to face tougher opponents. By training and fighting battles, the Pokémon gain experience which helps them evolve into new and better versions of themselves. The same is true for us. We may wish we didn’t have to fight battles or face challenges, but these hardships are necessary for our growth. When we choose to follow Christ, we become new creatures. And we have access to power we never had before. But we have to learn how to access it. It’s often in the midst of an overwhelming struggle that we realize we don’t have what it takes to fight this battle on our own. This realization gives God the opportunity to teach us how to rely on His power instead. It’s a transformation that takes place in our mind. We don’t gain a stronger body — we gain a stronger faith.

“Moses didn’t understand this. Gideon didn’t understand this. The fearful army of Israel didn’t understand this. The disciples in hiding after the death of Jesus didn’t understand this. Many of us panic today because we don’t understand this. God’s grace provides everything you require. God’s grace is formfitted for your moment of need. God’s grace is multifaceted and expansive, but also focused and personal. God, in grace, doesn’t just forgive you, he also empowers you to do what he called you to do. But he gives you his grace as you follow him and at the moment when you need it. . . . if it is necessary to part the waters of the Red Sea, he will do that for his children. What he does not do is tell them what is going to happen beforehand. Why? Because he is working in them, as he works in us, to craft them into people of robust and sturdy faith. He calls them to follow, and he willingly unleashes his grace as they do so.”
~Paul David Tripp, New Morning Mercies

This is not a “one and done” type of thing. The Pokémon keep evolving and so do we. God is constantly working in us to help us strengthen our faith. Learning to rely on God’s power instead of our own to fight our battles is hard. It requires a continual shift in our thinking, and we will fail at it many times. But this is all part of the process. The good news is that God will help us figure it out. We just have to be willing to keep trying. God will never give up on us, so we should never give up on ourselves. He will keep working to help us become the stronger, better creatures that He knows we can be.

“God is always active in your life.”

Charles F. Stanley, 30 Life Principles

Gotta Catch ‘Em All

“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

Matthew 28:19 NLT

The theme song for the English Pokémon anime series is called “Gotta Catch ‘Em All!” It talks about searching far and wide across the land to find Pokémon and teach them to understand the power they have inside. This reminds me a lot of the Great Commission by Jesus to His disciples in Matthew 28:19-20. Here it is in The Message version:

“Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you.”

Matthew 28:19-20 MSG

We are called to go out and call others to Christ. We are told to train them and teach them to understand the power they have inside when they are baptized into the Christian faith. The Holy Spirit gives all believers access to the supernatural power of the Creator of the universe. As fellow creatures and fellow Christians, we understand what it takes to be transformed by this power through our experiences. And God wants us to share what we have learned.

“You were made for a mission. God is at work in the world, and he wants you to join him. This assignment is called your mission. . . . God’s timetable for history’s conclusion is connected to the completion of our commission. . . . Jesus will not return until everyone God wants to hear the Good News has heard it. . . .If you want to be used by God, you must care about what God cares about; what he cares about most is the redemption of the people he made. He wants his lost children found! Nothing matters more to God; the Cross proves that. I pray that you will always be on the lookout to reach ‘one more for Jesus’ so that when you stand before God one day, you can say, ‘Mission accomplished!'”
~Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life

We’ve got to keep fighting. Our mission is too important for us to give up. Our heavenly Father doesn’t want any of His children left out. Let’s help Him “catch ’em all” and bring them home.

“God leaves you on earth after you are saved for two main reasons:
One is to grow spiritually in oneness with Him;
the second is to lead others to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.”

Charles F. Stanley, 30 Life Principles

This week’s Scripture passages remind us that God chose us to accomplish amazing things for His Kingdom. He promises great power and strength to help us face our battles. And He transforms us into new, stronger creatures so that we can be His witnesses in the world. The war rages on. We can let the enemy sideline us or we can stand up and fight. As for me, no matter how many times I fail, I will never give up fighting. I will keep coming back to God and saying to Him what He said to me before I was ever born: I choose You!

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Acts 1:8 NIV

References:

• Groeschel, Craig. Winning the War in Your Mind: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life. Zondervan Books, 2021.
• Stanley, Charles F. 30 Life Principles Study Guide: A Study for Growing in Knowledge and Understanding of God. Thomas Nelson, 2008.
• Tripp, Paul David. New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional. Crossway, 2014.
• Warren, Rick. The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? Zondervan, 2002.
• Young, Sarah. Jesus Calling: 365 Devotions with Real-Life Stories. Thomas Nelson, 2019.

Images:

• Pokéball in featured image by Darwin Bulos from Pixabay
• Featured image background and all other images taken from Pokémon Brilliant Diamond. Nintendo Switch, Nintendo, The Pokémon Company, 2021.