Psalm 46:10 “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” 

The only thing that you can truly control is yourself by acknowledging that you are not in charge of the results of life but you are in charge of “following” the One who is in charge of everything.   All the confusion and strife and worry in the world would cease if each of us believed and acted on the reality that we are not in charge but God is in charge and He has authority over our life because He created us and everything else for His glory (Psalm 24:1).  This doesn’t mean that we should cease to work and cease to take responsibility because we don’t ultimately control anything but it means that we should faithfully apply our efforts to do God’s will, knowing that God is the One who controls the results and He rewards those who faithfully do His will.

Of course you must “first” become a born again believer in Jesus Christ in order to faithfully do God’s will.  Then God gives the believer His Spirit to know His will and the power to do His will.  God is in charge of the plan for our life and we are in charge of doing the good work that God has prepared for us to do.  Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.   Yes, the world is in a terrible mess, and things are getting worse all the time but God is still in charge.  And God does His best work of grace amid the messes of our life and amid the messes of the world.

Our enemy, Satan, is in charge of creating the messes of life and tempting us with vain desires, in order to create a smokescreen of confusion so he can keep people “busy” (Being Under Satan’s Yoke) as they try by their own effort and reasoning to fix the messes and get ahead in the world.  What most people don’t realize is that when they “set their hope” of happiness or security on a job promotion, a new car, a bigger house, a vacation or new president then they are indirectly worshiping Satan and they are under his control.  In other words, when you seek meaning for your life based on what you do in this world or what you have in this world then you are serving Satan whether you realize it or not.

You may be a very intelligent and capable person but if your purpose for life is to acquire health and wealth for yourself then you are really serving Satan, a puppet doing Satan’s will and rebelling against God.  But Satan’s time is running out and the time for man to sin is running out too.  God’s will, “will be done” and “God’s Kingdom is coming soon!”.  It’s just a little bit longer and Jesus will come and “rapture” His bride to heaven (the church of true believers) and then God will reign down judgment upon this earth on all those behind for seven years.  Today is the day to leave the slave quarters of Satan’s sinking ship and be a free man with eternal life, serving the Lord Jesus Christ!

God is the only One who has the right to call the shots.  God created everything out of nothing, for His purpose and for His good pleasure (Colossians 1:16, Ephesians 2:10, Revelations 4:11).  God is the owner of everything and therefore He alone has the “authority“ to rule over everything, including you (Psalm 24:1).  Doing God’s will results in the highest and best for everyone and everything, including you (Proverbs 3:5-6).  Our purpose and pleasure is found in surrendering to God’s authority over our life and doing God’s will.  When we do God’s will then we receive God’s peace, love and joy.  Happiness is not something that can be obtained by pursuing something by your will but it is a “byproduct and a blessing” that is given by God to the believer for pursuing His will.  It is as simple as the words to this old hymn:  “Trust and obey, There is no other way, To be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey”. 

Not only are we directly accountable to God to acknowledge His Lordship over our life and to obey Him but we are also accountable to God’s authority that He has “given” to the state, the church, the family and the community.  In other words we are to be a good citizen and obey the laws of the land because “the state“ is God’s instrument of social order on earth (Romans 13:1), as long as the laws are “morally” right (Acts 5:29) .  We are to be a good Christian and obey the teaching of “the church“ leadership, as long as the teaching is “Biblically” correct (Ephesians 5:11, Matthew 7:15, 1 John 4:1, Collosians 2:8, Romans 16:17-18) .  And a wife is to be a good help mate and submit to her husband in “the family” as unto the Lord (Ephesians 5:22), as long as the husband is loving his wife as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25).  And the children are to “honor” their father and mother and enjoy a long healthy life (Exodus 20:12), as long as the parents don’t exasperate the child (Ephesians 6:4, Colossians 3:21).  Also, like the good Samaritan we are to love our neighbor in our “community“ as you love yourself (Matthew 22:29, Leviticus 9:9-18).

Rebelling against authority and wanting to be in control is one of the biggest issues I wrestle with and I know most of us wrestle with this.  And this is why Jacob wrestled with the angel of the Lord, Jesus Himself, in order to prove that he was in control and was able to make a great nation that would be worthy to obtain the blessing of God’s inheritance, the land of Israel and birth line of God’s son, Jesus Christ.  But God was the One that made the promise to Abraham and to Jacob’s father,  Issac, and to Jacob’s mother, Rebekah, and to Jacob himself that the blessing of God’s land and God’s son would come from the blood line of Jacob, not his brother Esau.  Genesis 28:13 “And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants.”   It was a unconditional covenant that depended upon God’s faithfulness alone, not Jacob’s scheming efforts.  God had to put Jacob’s hip out of place so Jacob learned to lean on God’s grace as he waked the earth the rest of his days.  And God changed Jacob’s name which means “supplanter or schemer” to his new name, Israel … “God Contends”.

And like Jacob, we must learn to trust God and lean on God’s grace for what God is doing in us and through us, so we respond like a born again child of God, with a “new” name in Christ.  The battle belongs to the Lord. He is the one contending to win souls and set the record straight concerning who is worthy of praise.  Each one of us has been offered the gift of eternal life by believing in God’s Son, Jesus Christ.  We cannot do good works to earn this gift and we cannot do works to keep the gift after we receive it.  We cannot gain eternal life without the gift and the offer of the gift expires as soon as we are dead.  We are only in control of our response toward the gift right now, as we live and breathe.  The only thing we control is our decision to accept the free gift of eternal life from God or bring danger and death upon our self by ignoring the gift or refusing it.

Joy is the blessing that comes from God when we cease striving against the world, the flesh and the Devil and surrender to the goodness of God’s control over our life.  Here’s a song I wrote “Jesus Reign Over Me” to celebrate the joy of my salvation with Jesus Christ on the throne of my life.

I hear the Spirit call my name
And I will never be the same
Changed for the better,
Now and forever, Let it be
Here on the throne of my heart
Jesus, reign over me

 

I’ve come to worship You today
And learn to live Your holy way
No more like Thomas,
I claim the promise, I can see
Here on the throne of my heart
Jesus, reign over me

 

Jesus, reign over me
You’re my strong Prince of Peace
Help me fight the good fight and do what is right
May I glorify Thee
Oh, my kind loving King
Sweet forgiveness You bring
Take the pain from my past, give me joy that will last
Jesus, reign over me

+8^)  Rogersings

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