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Is God in control of your life?

We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one
I John 5:19

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To know if God is in control of our life there are things that we must begin to understand, and this lesson is about just that.

People are always saying this: “God is in control just give it to Him and He will work it out! That is not the way it works!

When we go around thinking that God is in complete control of our life while we go around doing what we want to do daily; then we are full of our self! Why? Because we are relying on ourselves which is the direct opposite of the example Jesus set for us! Jesus went to God for direction for everything!

When we come to God and tell Him that we want Him in our life – people often think that everything is going to be nice, because God is in complete control! We think God is going to take care of us and we are not going to have to deal with this stuff and with that stuff. We get the impression from teachers, pastors, and so-called Christian books – that we do not have to do anything God is going to handle it all!

In fact it is taught in many churches that all we have to do is go to church, read our Bible, pray and tithe and that is the limit of it and God is going to take care of everything else because He is a Sovereign God and completely in control! In other words, we can go and make choices we know we shouldn’t and then when a huge problem arises we can say, “Oh, I will just give it to God and He will take care of it!” Wrong! When I hear people profess this type of thinking this is what I am hearing them say: If we mess up God is going to clean it up! Sorry to tell you folks - God is not our janitor!

When one goes around doing what they think is best – or what they feel is what God wants - they are off living in a mind manufactured parallel universe! A great many people including Christians go around dependent on what they want to do, and they are not dependent on God. When they have a problem, they deep down don’t want God to tell them what to do because He might tell them to do something they don’t want to do! So, they continue to go about figuring it out for themselves and thus making the problem worse than it was!

When they finally realize nothing is working it is then they finally realize and make the decision to go to God and confess the fact - nothing is working! Now, more than likely it is at this point a decision is made to put the worse than before issue at the foot of the cross asking God to fix it! After this point they proceed to tell themselves and others all about their bad problem while stating, God will work it out because I prayed and gave it to Him, and He will work it out! Wrong! We are supposed to be Co-Workers with God – God is not the Servant! We Are!

The more people hear Dr. Feel-Good messages the more people are prideful! And full of themselves! Plus, with that type of an attitude they are walking around in a false sense of security about God and who He is! And nearly all the while falling flat on their faces!

For someone to think that all they have to do is go about their life doing what they want, or what they “think” God wants them to do; while saying, “God is in control, they are off! The extremely sad part of this is they have chosen to give Satan open doors into their lives! When someone has chosen to live their life in this manner and doors are opened to Satan – you have moved God out of the way! Remember Adam and Eve? When they were in the act of making their choices – did God stop them? When David made the choice to commit adultery with Bathsheba – did God stop him? When Jonah decided to disobey God and not go to Nineveh to preach – did God stop him? God did not have control of any of these situations. Keep in mind God will not stop us! Each of these individuals paid high prices in their lives for wrong choices! I think many people expect God to put up with their arrogance and then fix the consequences of their actions!

For anyone to think that they can just go around doing what they think is right and make these kinds of statements, I ask you, “Who is the servant here? Who is the shepherd here? Who is the follower here?

Who are anyone of us to sit around and think we are going to be served by God? Do you get it? This kind of talk is something that a boss would say about his employee! “Oh, I gave that mess to Jim, he will take care of it.”

To get to the point, we can understand what God wants from us during each day – takes work! It takes spending time with God daily to learn to hear Him speak to us, therefore allowing Him to give us our direction for the day. It is taught in the churches that God knows the beginning from the end! Well, if we believe this - why are we just going about doing what we think God wants us to do? Why aren’t we going to God for direction? Why are we running to others first (pastors, counselors, friends etc.) instead of running to God first? Why are people interested in people’s opinions of what they should do instead of God’s opinion? For the most part when you go to someone for counsel – you are getting their opinion or something they learned from a book! There are people who give very godly counsel, but I hate to say they are few and far between. Let me say right here – when you go to a person for counsel if they do not ask you the following question right off the bat – be careful! Here is the question? “WHAT DID GOD TELL YOU ABOUT THIS?” Bingo! Even if it has been proven that someone you know gives very godly counsel – why would you run to them before you had set down with God FIRST! Question: Is not our God the “Wonderful Counselor”? If you are running to someone when something happens in your life before you run to God – than you are putting a wedge between you and God and that person is the wedge! By the way- I am not talking about real medical or police emergencies! Now, do not get me wrong – there are times in our lives we need the counsel of a godly person! Once you have gone to God first and taken the time to “be still, be patient, and listen” – perhaps than bit of counsel might be necessary.

For us to sit around and think and say, “God is in control” and He will take care of it - is to expect’ God to work and operate on a moment to moment divine intervention basis! And God does not work like that!

God uses people on this earth, I Corinthians 3:9a states we are “co-workers” with God! And, Ephesians 6 says, “Having done all stand.

When a faithful follower has done everything, God has asked them to do in a situation according to God’s perspective, then and only then may it possibly be time for divine intervention! However, God must make that decision – it is his call!

God is not our servant; we are his servants. So, when a situation or circumstance occurs, we need to get with God and asked him for his perspective and what if anything He would like us to do regarding the situation. And after we have done everything He wants us to do, whether it takes one day or one year or even more – and even after that we may still have to wait for a very long time for divine intervention – because people have choices!

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“ I am the ‘A’ and the ‘Z’, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
Revelation 22:13 (JNT)

The God of the Universe spoke the world into being and the Universe is being held in place because God sustains His Creation “through” His powerful Word (Hebrews 3:1)! If God were to pull back His Word a big bang would occur!!

However, the “in between” is the point of this teaching. People continue to use this scripture to justify their belief that God is in control of everything and we don’ have to do anything! OUR ability to make our own choices is a “divine right” given to everyone on earth! This right is one of the two that have not been affected by Adam and Eve’s choices! Your choices determine the result of each decision you make! God gave every man and woman their own free will. Your own free will is just that, it is your right to make your own choices during your lifetime! Of course, if that is the way you want to handle it! We are not puppets on a string! People say, “God is in control of everything.” They even argue the point. God is not in control of everyone’s choices! Here is why: Our freedom to make our own choices is a DIVINE RIGHT given to man in the Garden of Eden! God established that right by giving His Word – God does not go back on His word! The written Word clearly states God does not change His mind!
( HE who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind.”)

I say again: If that were true, God would have stopped Adam and Eve dead in their tracks the moment they began to give in to temptation! Do you think the consequences which occurred because of their individual choices is what God wanted for all of mankind? If God wanted us to live in a world controlled by Satan, he would have set up things in that manner in the beginning! Cain had his own free will to commit the first murder on this earth – God did not stop him! If God were in control, He would have stopped David from committing adultery with Bathsheba and murdering her husband! Would God have not stopped Moses from abusing His (God’s) power! Thus, keeping Moses from not being able to enter the Promised Land? Would God have not stopped King Saul from disobeying His direction? Because of Saul’s choice to disobey God removed his anointing and took the kingdom out of his hands! People say all the time God knew what was going to happen – He had a plan! Do you think a God of truth and righteousness and a God of obedience and a God of Love and mercy really wanted that to happen? Do you think God has set us all up for failure since the Garden of Eden? Do you really? If you do that does not make sense!

Here it is - God only has as much control of our lives as we allow him to have!
There are many decisions we have made that we totally knew right from wrong! Everyone on this earth at some point has made a choice we knew was wrong and we did it anyway! God is not in control of a situation like that – we did not make the choice out of ignorance – we knew what we were doing and that it was wrong! We need to own it! That is rebellion! God was not in control! The consequences of deliberate wrong choices are beyond comprehension!

If God were in control in the sense that people want to believe He is – why would the world be going down the toilet in the manner it is? We would not have needed Jesus to come to this earth and die on the cross and suffer in the manner He did! There would not be a need for counselors, therapists, mental institutions, hospitals and etc., if everything was fine.

Oh, by the way if every choice we made was cleaned up by God automatically for us like people want to believe – why would we need the armor of God written about in Ephesians 6?

Thought Tool: Satan made this offer to Jesus in the desert after he was baptized by John the Baptist! This scripture clearly states Satan has control of the world because it was given to him for it is written: The devil led him (Jesus) up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So, if you worship me, it will all be yours.” (Luke 4:5-6 NIV)

Yes, Satan controls the whole world because it was given to him! Who gave it to him? Man did! Man gave it to him in the Garden of Eden through one choice!

We must understand that God is not in control of our life if we do not choose to allow Him to be! How do we choose for Him to be in control? We do that by learning to hear His voice and getting our direction for each day from God Himself! Grave markers have the following information:

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Person’s Name
DOB – DOD

I am sure you have heard it said the dash is the most important. That is truth! The dash represents the person’s lifetime after birth and before death. Men/women have no control over being born, and only God knows the length of our time on planet Earth! However, our choices during our in between determine who will be waiting for us at our DOD! All of us have control over each choice we make. Each choice we make has consequences! “A person reaps what he sows.” (Galatians 6:7c)

Remember, whatever your choices during your in between God will not stop you! Why? Because, you have the right to make your own choices – it is your Divine Right.

God did not create us to be puppets! He wants us to want Him in our lives because we love Him and truly recognize the fact, we need Him! Whom you love is a choice! Whom you serve is a choice! God wants you to make a choice to love and serve him and spend eternity with Him!

I am being very blunt in the following statement? Will your eternity be with God or Satan? Just as it was with Adam and Eve so it is with US and our own free will! What choice will we make? Will you choose the One True God or Satan?

Folk singer Bob Dylan said in one of his songs, “You’re gonna have to serve somebody.” Here is a portion of Bob’s song:

“You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls

But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.”

So, who are you serving during your “in between”? When you arrive at your DOD – who will be waiting to take you to your eternity? Here is where your Divine Right to choose comes into play. (sw-h)

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