” I was persuaded that what God promised is true and that he is the worthy object of my trust. And like Abraham he has counted my faith for righteousness.”
He is “worthy” for “you”? An interesting phase. Whatever the case, you’ve done what even Peter, who saw Christ face to face and witnessed His miracles, could not do.
Mat 16:16-17 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. (17) And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
I think your problem is that you think there is no room for faith in a world wherein God draws those whom He predestinated before the foundation of the world. The fact is, man left to himself, is incapable of choosing Christ with his will. I like Spurgeon’s quote on this:
“Free will I have often heard of, but I have never seen it. I have always met with will, and plenty of it, but it has either been led captive by sin or held in the blessed bonds of grace.”
- C. H. Spurgeon
Without the Holy Spirit to lift the darkness from the heart of a man, he cannot come to a saving belief in Jesus Christ, as has been shown over and over again.
1Co_12:3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
Until man is called and drawn by the Father, he cannot do anything of himself. But once a person has seen the light of Christ, unhindered by their usual blindness, what can he do except confess Jesus Christ? He is as hindered in the blessed opposite direction by grace as the man who is hindered by the bonds of sin. Thus, as many as are ORDAINED still believe, and belief is not taken out.
I think this statement reveals one of the problems: what was predestinated?
God did not predestinate who would believe. He predestinated that believers "would be conformed to the image of his Son" (Romans 8:29).
He predestinated believers "unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, ..." (Ephesians 1:5).
Further,
That we should be to the praise of his glory; who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:12-14)
God knows who will believe. These verses do not say that he forces belief. They reveal what was predestinated: (1) conformanced to the image of the Son; (2) to be holy and blameless; (3) to be sealed with the holy Spirit of promise.
Belief is not the gift of God. To be like his Son is the gift. Adoption is the gift. Forgivenness of sins is the gift. (Eternal life is the gift--Romans 6:23).
And note the order: sealing with the holy Spirit does not come before belief. Regeneration does not precede belief.