If I Am Predestinated, Why Must I Still Strive?
1) Direct Answer
Yes, you must strive. Predestination is not a license to drift; it is God’s purpose that you be holy, overcome, and walk in obedience. The very proof of predestination is that you press on.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- The Bible says we were “chosen…that we should be holy” (Ephesians 1:4) and “predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29). That calls for a life, not laziness.
- “Make your calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1:10). If election were a reason to coast, the Scripture would not tell you to confirm it by diligence.
- “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God which worketh in you” (Philippians 2:12-13). His work in you makes you work it out.
- Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). The predestinated sheep are marked by following.
- “Strive to enter in at the strait gate” (Luke 13:24). The narrow way is not careless—it’s earnest.
- “Follow peace… and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).
- Grace “teaches us… to deny ungodliness” and to live soberly and godly (Titus 2:11-12).
- “Shall we continue in sin…? God forbid” (Romans 6:1-2). Real grace never excuses sin.
- The overcomer promises are to those who overcome, not to the indifferent (Revelation 2–3).
- The Bride is shown as those who came through and overcame—washed, faithful, serving, reigning (Revelation 7:9-17; Revelation 20:4). That is a life of victory, not apathy.
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- Predestination sets the end, and God also ordains the means to that end. He ordained repentance, faith, obedience, holiness, prayer, suffering, correction, and perseverance as the pathway of the elect. The same God who wrote your name also writes your walk.
- You don’t strive to become the elect; you strive because the elect Seed is in you. Life presses. A lamb nature follows the Shepherd; a holy calling produces a holy living.
- If someone says, “If I’m predestinated, I can live as I please,” ask: Where is the fear of God? Where is the chastening that God gives sons? (Hebrews 12:6-8). Where is the following of the Voice? (John 10:27). The foundation of God stands sure—“Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity” (2 Timothy 2:19).
- Faith without works is dead (James 2:17). Works don’t save, but they show the life that does.
4) Reinforcing Statement
Election gives assurance, not apathy. The Bride is ordained to overcome; therefore she strives. The Seed in you makes you walk, war, and win.
Ask a Follow-up Question
What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
Lean not unto thy own understanding
65-0120 §27
And a borned-again Christian from heaven, he is a part of this Word! That's right. Another mama he will not follow. He's a part of the Word. He stays with the Word. "If the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who can prepare himself for battle?" said Paul. He knows the sound of the Word. Notice how this is the predestinated hand of God following them through. He knows that he was ordained, he was in the gospel truth. He knows that he was borned by the Spirit of God. He knows that the Spirit of God cannot deny the Wor...
Divine Healing
54-1219M §7
...l; Jesus Christ." It cannot fail. And we're so happy for that, that it's not a church affair. It's an individual affair. It's not whether my church is saved; it's whether I am saved. It isn't whether my deacon is saved, or my pastor is saved, or my mother is saved; it's whether I am saved or not, myself, I must be saved. Then I must tell them. And then, if they're saved, wonderful; if they're not, I must still remain saved. I must obtain my salvation. Oh, what a wonderful day!
What it takes to overcome all unbelief: Our faith
60-0729 §51
There's an old proverb that's more than a proverb. No matter who is there first, you have to play the rules of the game or you'll never win. If a runner is running around the track, and one takes a short cut, and cuts through the field, and beats the other one there by a half hour, still he will be disqualified at the end of the race. He's got to play it according to the rules of the game or he's disqualified. And that's the way we have to do---the race of life that we're running now---it has to be played according...
Faith
56-0815 §24
...ng; simply to Thy cross I cling. Nothing I could do, nothing you could do. It's the grace of God. Then God tried man one time and made a covenant with man upon a condition: If you'll not touch this tree, then you'll live forever. And man broke his covenant. Man just can't keep his promise to God. His adversary's too great. And God knowing that, He was determined to save man, so He made the covenant unconditionally. Oh, brother, the trouble of it is with the full Gospel people tonight, you're scared... How can anyth...
Hear ye Him
58-0324 §13
God never asked a man to do anything that He wouldn't do Himself. And in the Old Testament, we find out that they had a way... When a son was born into a family, he was really an heir as soon as he was born. But first he had to be proven, or raised, or tutored. Galatians 4, Paul speaks of it. And it was a placing of a son. We find it in Ephesians 1:5, that where we were predestinated to the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ. God with His foreknowledge predestinated His children by adoption to Jesus Christ ... or, by...