You Are What You Think - by Bobby Schuller

You Are What You Think by Bobby Schuller, from Change Your Thoughts, Change Your World

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will. - Romans 12:2 Once there was a man walking through his city who came upon a construction site. Curious about what was going on, he asked the first worker laying bricks what he was building. In a bored, slightly irritated voice he said, “I’m building a wall.” He kept walking and met another bricklayer and asked the same question. “Oh, I’m building a church,” he replied in a relaxed tone. “It will be nice.” Finally, he met the third bricklayer and asked him what he was building. “I’m building a house of God,” he said with both joy and conviction. In describing this colloquial parable, Angela Duckworth says the three men see their work in three different modes; the first as a job, the second as a vocation, and the third as a calling. All are fostering different thoughts, and ultimately these thoughts will form very different paths. You see, you become your thoughts. Every circumstance in your life, whether good or bad, is affected by your thinking. Though it seems overwhelming, this is good news because it gives you the power to transform one part of your life and reap great rewards in nearly every other! Your thoughts today are your results tomorrow. Small Changes Lead to New Destinations When it comes to changing your thinking, it’s helpful to recognize that making minor adjustments can reap great rewards. When I was growing up, I spent most summers on a fishing boat, and I enjoyed watching the captain as he maneuvered the vessel. There was a shiny wheel up top, but our skipper actually navigated using a three-inch plastic dial on a computer to the left of the helm. This tiny tool could alter our path by a minor yet measurable degree. Though small changes were not immediately noticeable, an hour later, two clicks set our course or took us off of it. The same is true with our thoughts. Minor changes such as forgiving a past wrong, not blaming authority figures, or being grateful every day can make a gigantic difference in our lives, especially over time. Your thoughts really are your destination. Change Your Perspective One of the most profound changes you can make on the journey to renewed thinking is to adjust your perspective. You can control your attitude and how you react to situations, but assuming a more positive view will not come naturally. When I was sixteen-years-old, I got my first job as an “expeditor” at a big Mexican restaurant that was owned by a family friend. Though I was happy to have it, one night, a server pushed me to the limit. He brought in some leftover food and dropped the plates down hard on the counter, spilling cheesy rice all over the floor. This meant I had to clean up a big mess that I didn’t make, even though I was just about ready to leave. Now, my typical reaction would have been to blame and complain, but that moment was a turning point for me. Instead of arguing, I decided to sweep the floor for God. I let it go; I wasn’t doing my work for anyone except Him. Though nothing looked different from the outside, I knew something had changed inside of me. You Can Help What You Think About Controlling your thoughts is like strength training for the soul, and it happens through meditation. Though it sounds like a strange Eastern sort of thing, the Bible talks more about meditating on Scripture than it does about memorizing it. Rightfully understood, meditating begins with memorizing verses that elevate your thinking, and it continues by incorporating those scriptures into your prayer life. In other words, you don’t only read and study the Bible, you dwell on it. Even though you can’t control every thought that comes to your mind, you can control what you focus on. My wife’s grandfather used to say, “You can’t keep birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from making a nest in your hair.” Good News No matter what situation you find yourself in today, change is possible! There is a way out of every difficulty if you choose to cultivate the right thoughts. Like a caterpillar becomes a beautiful butterfly, when you renew your mind according to the Word of God, you experience metamorphosis — a complete and total transformation. Growth begins when you acknowledge that you have the power to change your thoughts and begin making minor adjustments to your course. As you choose to shift your perspective on challenging situations and meditate on the truth of God’s Word to feed your spirit, your life goes from ordinary to truly extraordinary. Your mind is like a garden. When you plant and nurture good ideas and pull out the weeds of blame, jealousy, judgment, self-pity, and pride, your thoughts cultivate good fruit that feeds and blesses those around you! Reflection: Do you think about what you think about? If not, I encourage you to practice the discipline of “examine” by asking questions like: What decisions did I make today? How would I have changed them? How will I think differently next time around?  Written for Devotionals Daily by Bobby Schuller, author of Change Your Thoughts, Change Your World. Source : Received through Email from : Devotionals Daily <newsletter@e.faithgateway.com> dated Tue, May 28, 2019 at 2:06 PM

Fearless Prayer: Pleading with Confidence by Anne Graham Lotz, from Storming the Gates of Heaven

Is faith a gift that some people have been given and others have not?

No, faith is a choice. There’s an old story, a favorite of mine, about a veteran tightrope walker who, after demonstrating he could push a wheelbarrow filled with sand across Niagara Falls on a tightrope, asked the applauding crowd for a volunteer. No one moved. Finally, a little old man in the back raised his hand, stepped forward, and offered, “I’ve seen what you’ve done, and I’ve heard what you’ve said. I believe you can push me across, so I’ll do it.”

Everyone in the crowd held their breath and strained to watch as the wheelbarrow was rolled over the falls and back again. On the final return, the roar of the crowd was deafening as the old man emerged from the wheelbarrow. The acrobat gallantly bowed, saluted, smiled broadly, and said, “Thank you, sir, for your faith in me.”

The point of the story, of course, is that while everyone in the crowd had said they believed the tightrope walker could carry a man across the falls in his wheelbarrow, only the little old man demonstrated real faith by climbing into the wheelbarrow.

Real faith is more than just words or rituals or going to church or believing there is a God. Real faith backs up words with actions. (James 2:17) By choice.


Confident Faith Is a Choice
Daniel is Exhibit A of a man who demonstrated real faith in his choices. He not only said he believed, but he backed up his words with death-defying actions. We are not told when he originally chose to believe, but all indications are that it was during his early years growing up in Jerusalem. By the time he walked on the stage of world history as a teenager, his faith seemed remarkably well developed.

Daniel’s first death-defying act recorded in Scripture took place when he arrived in Babylon. In an effort to uproot him from his past and remold him according to Nebuchadnezzar’s pleasure, he was immediately plunged into an intense, three-year brainwashing regimen. Daniel was stripped of his Hebrew name, which meant “God is my judge.” The new name assigned to him, Belteshazzar, was intended to give him a Babylonian identity, one paying tribute to a pagan Babylonian god.

At the same time, more than likely, he was also stripped of his masculinity, since his immediate supervisor was described as the “master of [the] eunuchs,” implying Daniel was one (Daniel 1:3 NKJV). This was surely intended to force Daniel into a subservient position of humiliation, underscoring that he would have no personal life at all; his only purpose was to serve Nebuchadnezzar.

While it was impossible for Daniel to prevent the changing of his name or his emasculation, he drew the line at being forced to eat the king’s food that had first been sacrificed to idols. To do so was an indirect way of giving tribute to them and effectively denying his own God. So he

resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. — Daniel 1:8

Although Ashpenaz, the chief eunuch, personally liked Daniel, he reacted strongly, explaining that to reject the food assigned by the king himself was to place all of their lives in grave danger. Daniel could so easily have told God, Well, I tried. You know in my heart I’m not giving tribute to these gods, but I have to survive. But Daniel did not back down. Not even a little. Having made the choice not to defile himself, the only alternative he could think of was to place his life in God’s hands. So Daniel went to his guard and suggested a test: Serve me and my three friends a different diet, free of the association with pagan gods. After ten days, if we are not better off than the other young captives who eat the king’s food, you can do whatever you choose (which implied the guard could execute them all for insubordination).

Ten days later, Daniel and his friends Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego

looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. — Daniel 1:15

They remained on that diet, and three years later, when the king himself gave them their final exams, these young men were found to be ten times better off than all their advisors and professors.

Daniel had put God to the test.

God came through for him in such a way that Daniel’s faith surely grew. Which was a very good thing, because his faith was again tested when King Nebuchadnezzar had a series of deeply disturbing dreams. The king threatened to kill every wise man in the kingdom unless someone could both interpret what he’d dreamed and describe what he dreamed.

None of his counselors could do so, but when Daniel learned of the situation, he requested an audience with the king. Surely bolstered by his earlier experience of God’s faithfulness, Daniel once again acted on his faith in the living God. And once again, God came through. By the morning light God had given Daniel the dream and the interpretation. When Daniel went to the king, Nebuchadnezzar’s eyes must have narrowed as he skeptically asked,

Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it? — Daniel 2:26

Daniel’s fearless answer reveals his rock like confidence in God:

No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God in Heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come. — Daniel 2:27–28

Then Daniel proceeded to describe the dream and its meaning.
The king was astounded! More significantly, God was glorified as Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged that Daniel’s God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings. And Daniel was honored by being made ruler over all of Babylon.

It was during the reign of Darius that Daniel was given perhaps his most dramatic opportunity to climb into the wheelbarrow.

Darius appointed Daniel as one of his three top officials. But Daniel was so exceptional that Darius planned to make him second in command over the entire king- dom. The other rulers were jealous and began a private investigation of Daniel in hopes of finding something they could smear him with in the eyes of the king. They found nothing, except that three times a day Daniel went into his upstairs room, opened his window toward Jerusalem, and prayed.

The rulers went to Darius with flattering words and convinced him to issue a decree that people could only pray to him. Being fed to starving lions would be the penalty for disobedience.

Daniel didn’t flinch. As always, he opened his window toward Jerusalem and continued praying three times a day. Sure enough, his enemies saw this and ran gleefully to report to the king.

Darius was genuinely distressed because Daniel held great favor with him, and yet the law he had signed into effect was irrevocable. So Daniel, the man of God who had served Babylon and Persia with such exceptional distinction, was thrown into the lions’ den as the king himself uttered a type of prayer:

May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you! — Daniel 6:16

The king himself seemed to “catch” Daniel’s bold, confident faith — because faith is contagious, isn’t it?

Confident Faith Is Contagious
Darius tossed and turned all night. He could not eat and he could not sleep. Early the next morning, Darius ran to the lions’ den, calling out,

‘Daniel,... has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?’ Daniel answered, ‘O king, live for- ever! My God sent His angel, and He shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me.’ — Daniel 6:20–22


The overjoyed Darius scooped Daniel up out of the den and immediately executed the men who had hatched the plot. He then proceeded to issue a decree that everyone in his kingdom was to fear and reverence the God of Daniel. Listen to Darius’ testimony:

He is the living God and He endures forever; His kingdom will not be destroyed, His dominion will never end. - Daniel 6:26

God was glorified!

Which makes me wonder what my choices really reveal. When I pray, God, be glorified in my life, do I truly mean it? If you and I rarely exercise our faith, how can we be surprised when it’s too weak to be contagious?


Excerpted with permission from Storming the Gates of Heaven by Anne Graham Lotz, copyright Anne Graham Lotz.

Real faith is more than just words or rituals or going to church or believing there is a God. — Anne Graham Lotz

Source : Received from Devotionals Daily <newsletter@e.faithgateway.com> through Email on Jun 3, 2019 at 2:08 PM

Being Honest with God by Sheila Walsh, from 5 Minutes with Jesus

You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. — John 8:32


“I am angry!” she said to me.

It was a strange way tos start a conversation, but her emotions seemed to overwhelm her.

I had just finished teaching, and I was signing a book for someone when this woman stepped between us. Asking her to wait just a second, I finished signing the book and handed it back to the now very concerned recipient.

“Let’s walk for a bit,” I suggested to my unhappy new friend. When we were finally alone, I quietly asked her, “What happened to you?”

For half a second I thought she might slap me, but as I watched, the ice in her eyes melted from anger into intense pain. She fell into my arms, and rivers of tears streamed down her face.

“I’ve buried two sons,” she said when she could speak. “Every time I hear you talk about your boy, it’s like a knife in my heart.”

We talked for a long time that night. At one point I asked her if she had let God see her rage, and she seemed horrified by the suggestion.

“I can’t talk to God like that!” she said.

“Don’t you think He already knows?” I asked, holding her tight. “He knows — and He loves you. He knows — and He wants you to trust Him enough to tell Him the whole truth about what you’re feeling.”

Have you ever done that? Have you ever simply gotten alone with God and let Him have it all, the good, the bad, and the downright ugly — whatever it is you’re thinking and feeling? Doing so will change your life. Trust me; I speak from experience! But it took me years to open up to God. 

I’d lived much of my life filled with shame, with the profound sense that no matter what I did, I would never be good enough for God or for anyone else. Clinging to that falsehood, I kept a wall around my heart so that no one could hurt me. The wall kept me safe, but it also kept me lonely. One night when I was alone in a hospital, alone in the dark, I spoke out loud to God everything I felt. It wasn’t pretty… but I wasn’t struck by lightning.

Instead I actually felt closer to Him than ever before. Truth does that.

Truth destroys walls.

Are you willing to take that risk today? Will you fall at the feet of Jesus, tell Him the whole truth about what you’re thinking and feeling, and then let Him love you back to life?

He loves you.

Five Minutes in the Word

The Lord is close to all who call on Him, yes, to all who call on Him in truth. — Psalm 145:18

You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. — John 8:32

Send out Your light and Your truth; let them guide me. Let them lead me to Your holy mountain, to the place where You live. — Psalm 43:3

Unfailing love and truth have met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed! Truth springs up from the earth, and righteousness smiles down from heaven. — Psalm 85:10–11

The time is coming — indeed it’s here now — when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship Him that way. — John 4:23

Excerpted with permission from 5 Minutes With Jesus by Sheila Walsh, copyright Thomas Nelson.


Source : Received from Devotionals Daily <newsletter@e.faithgateway.com> through Email on May 20, 2019 at 2:17 PM

The Secret of Every Passionate Marriage by Jimmy Evans and Allan Kelsey, from Strengths Based Marriage

As a marriage counselor, I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard a disgruntled husbands or wives utter the words, “I just don’t love her [him] anymore.” And as they say those words, it is as if they are waving a white flag in surrender. To them, it is the final nail in the coffin of their once passionate and beautiful — but now dead — marriages. I’m going to let you into the mind of an old, beat-up, but very experienced marriage counselor. And I’m going to tell you what I think when someone says to me, “I just don’t love him anymore.” What immediately goes through my mind is, Who cares? And that doesn’t mean I don’t care about the person or her situation. It means that person’s lack of passion in the relationship is a temporary symptom of a problem that can be quickly remedied. When someone tells me they are out of love, I can completely relate to it. Karen and I were totally out of love and out of like! We had fought so much we were numb and had only negative feelings for each other. At the low point in our marriage, we both believed we had made a mistake and had married the wrong person. A few weeks later, we were passionately in love, and we have been so ever since. We know what it is like to be on the brink of divorce. But we also know how we got there — and how we got out of it; and we experienced the restoration of the passion and intimacy of our marriage. Truthfully, what we experienced afterward was a much greater passion and intimacy than we had ever experienced before. Every couple can experience passion in their relationship for the rest of their lives. It isn’t for a lucky few. It isn’t for those who marry their perfect “soul mates.” It is for every couple that is willing to do what I’m about to explain. Here is what Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-21: Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Jesus’ words contain the absolute secret of passion in any relationship. He was telling His disciples to invest their lives in the things of God and not to focus on the things of this world. And He concluded with a powerful sentence: For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. To understand the importance of that statement, let me help you understand the meaning of two words Jesus used in the original language. In the Greek language that the New Testament was written in, the word for treasure is thesauros. It means treasure or wealth. But it also means a treasury, or the place where we deposit our wealth. The second important word in Jesus’ statement is heart. It is the Greek word kardia. It means the seat of our emotions and passions. Here is a paraphrase of Jesus’ statement in Matthew 6:21: Wherever you are depositing the treasures of your life, your passion will be there also. Jesus knew if His disciples were investing their lives in worldly things they would lose their focus and passion for Him. So, He wisely exhorted them to lay up their treasures in Heaven. He did this because He knew an important truth: You cannot separate your treasures from your passions. In other words, you will always be most passionate about the people, pursuits, and places where you are investing the best of your life. Your passions will always follow the investments of your time, energy, and strengths. Here is another way to say it: Your passions are telling on you. If you aren’t passionate about your marriage, what are you passionate about? Car racing, golf, children, work, church, friends, QVC? I was out of love with Karen but passionate about golf. And the reason I was passionate about golf was because it was where I was investing the best of my time, energy, and strengths. Understanding passion is very simple. Your passions will always follow your investments of your time, energy, and strengths. The most common mistake husbands make is to turn their primary energies away from their wives and direct them toward children, work, or other interests. The most common mistake wives make is to turn their primary energies away from their husbands and turn them toward children, work, or other interests. But we must understand that when we turn our primary energies away from each other, our passions inevitably will follow, and we will end up emotionally drained or “out of love,” as some would say. A spouse in a marriage like that might come to me for counseling. And that person would say something like this to me: “Jimmy, I just don’t love my spouse anymore.” And you know what I’m thinking? You’re a fast learner. You get the passion back into your marriage by reversing the process that got you there. In turning our primary energies away from our spouses and toward something or someone else, we make a big mistake. The result is a lack of passion. But once we begin to invest our best back into our marriages, the passion will return. This is what happened to Karen and me. We were out of love. But out of our wills we made a commitment to give our best back into our marriage — regardless of how we felt. And after a few days of doing this, we were friends again. After a few weeks of it, we were deeply in love and felt a greater passion for each other than ever before. And we have stayed in love for more than forty years by working at our marriage and investing our treasures in each other. Jesus’ words are true, and they are true for everyone. Even if your spouse isn’t willing to invest in your marriage at the same level you are, your investment will change your marriage for the better and can redeem your spouse. Passion is contagious and very powerful. And remember, the best person does the right thing first. Where are you investing the best of your time, energy, and strengths? The first answer should be God. The second should be your marriage. The third should be children and family. And if that is the case, it means your passions are all in the right places and you are headed for success in life, love, and eternity. God bless you! Excerpted with permission from Strengths Based Marriage by Jimmy Evans and Allan Kelsey, copyright Jimmy Evans and Allan Kelsey. * * *   Source : Received from Devotionals Daily <newsletter@e.faithgateway.com> through Email on Jun 1, 2019, 2:14 PM

Is God Really in Control? - Part 2

Do you ever find yourself wondering, “Does God really have things in hand here, or is my life spinning out of control?” I have. Trusting in Jesus Christ at age 18, I soon concluded that if I simply did enough of the right things, my Christian life would be a steady climb toward maturity. Numerous setbacks and failures later, I still believed God was in control and had a purpose through it all.

But as my career, ministry, relationships, and spiritual life hit a series of dead ends, I wasn’t so sure. Maybe I had just been fooling myself. Instead of God being in control, maybe my life’s course had no real purpose after all. Maybe my mistakes were more than God could handle.

Haven’t we all looked at our lives at times and thought, “Can anything be made of this mess?” On the outside, at least, life at times looks bleak and chaotic. It often looked that way to people in the Bible. Think of Joseph sitting unjustly in a prison cell, David on the run from a murderous Saul, or Hezekiah facing an overwhelming Assyrian army outside the gates of Jerusalem. How had things gone so wrong? Was God’s plan still on course, or had He taken a vacation?

One of the writers of Scripture addressed this issue in a most unusual way. The book of Esther never mentions God, yet it relates a part of Jewish history that has God’s fingerprints all over it. It’s as if the writer wanted to emphasize that God is active behind the scenes, even when things seem out of control.

Things definitely seemed that way for the Jews living in Persian exile. Being dragged off to a cruel foreign land was bad enough. Now, the king’s right hand man had talked him into signing a decree to exterminate the Jews. The details of the plan just happened to become known to a Jew named Mordecai living in the capital city. And this man just happened to have raised a beautiful Jewish orphan girl named Esther. Among countless candidates, Esther was the one selected as queen by the king, who incidentally had just demoted his previous queen.

This young woman—still a girl, really—had the inner fortitude to risk her life by approaching the king on behalf of her people. And the king just happened to have been reading the records of the kingdom, where he discovered that Mordecai had never been rewarded for uncovering a plot against the king’s life. So when Esther pleaded for the lives of her people, the king, who loved her, was now favorably inclined toward the Jews. Thus, the Jews were miraculously saved and their enemy sentenced to be hanged.

What a story of intrigue in the king’s court! And what a story of a young woman whose faith caused her to trust in God’s providence, even when God’s plan for His people looked as though it would be permanently derailed.

The New Testament writers assure us that our Father does indeed have everything under control in our lives. Paul wrote that believers in Christ have been “predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11). In other words, God has a plan, and nothing is going to derail His plan as a whole and for us individually.

The apostle acknowledged that life in this fallen world is a frustrating mess (Romans 8:20-23), but he says we can be assured that God is using even the smallest details and most insignificant events to accomplish His good purpose in our lives. That purpose is that we become like Jesus (Romans 8:28-29).

However messy things look on the outside, God is at work behind the scenes in our lives to accomplish His eternal purpose. And He will accomplish it, for His own glory (Ephesians 1:12). Even our mistakes, many though they may be, won’t thwart His plan. “Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass” (1 Thessalonians 5:24, italics added).

Like Joseph, we may ultimately understand in this life why God allows events to transpire as they do (Genesis 50:20). Or like many Old Testament saints, we may never be able to put the puzzle together this side of heaven (Hebrews 11:35-40). But that’s okay. We are not the tapestry-makers. God is.

Currently, we see only the back side of our life’s tapestry—a disorderly tangle of yarn. When we are tempted to doubt that a beautiful picture is actually being created on the other side, here are some things we can do. First, stay in God’s Word. When things get really bad, flood yourself with God’s Word. It’s the only way to consistently see things from God’s perspective instead of our earthly perspective.

Second, don’t try to read the tea leaves. Don’t try to figure it all out. We’re not very good at it, anyway. Besides, when we try to make sense of what appears to be senseless, we are choosing to trust what we can see rather than the God we cannot. Accept that we are incapable of comprehending the complexities of so vast a universe.

Third, trust our heavenly Father. Trust that He is sovereign, that He does have everything under His control. And trust that He is good, that His heart is only a heart of love for us, and that He is weaving “an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison” for us (2 Corinthians 4:17).

An outstanding way to develop a deeper trust in God’s sovereignty and His goodness is to involve our entire family. This month, Insight for Living will begin airing Chuck Swindoll’s series on the book of Esther, and we are offering a special package designed for all ages: the hardback book, Esther: A Woman of Strength and Dignity; the CD series of 12 messages; our study guide; and, we are thrilled to add, our Paws & Tales series, The Story of Esther: A Girl Who Became Queen to Save her People. The latter has become one of our most popular series with listeners, both young and old, as they immerse themselves into the story’s plot and experience the depth of Esther’s own crisis, as well as the depth of God’s love and providence. We heartily recommend The Story of Esther to both children and adults as a delightful overview in word and song to this life-changing message from God.

Taken from Greg Smith, “Is God Really in Control?” Insights (February 2005), 2,5. Copyright © 2005 by Insight for Livng. All rights reserved worldwide.

Source : https://www.insight.org/resources/article-library/individual/is-god-really-in-control

Is God Really in Control? - Part 1

On Monday morning, Aug. 29, 2005, a large section of the 17th Street canal levee in New Orleans gave way to the storm surge caused by Hurricane Katrina. Within a few hours, two more levees would burst, flooding 80 percent of the city. Because of the great devastation it caused, the storm is considered the worst natural disaster to hit the United States since the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, which killed 6,000 people.

Etched in our memories is also the day after Christmas 2004, when an earthquake beneath the Indian Ocean created a tsunami that caused more than 200,000 deaths and displaced millions more in Southeast Asia.

Yet other kinds of tragedies haunt our time. On July 7, 2005, four powerful explosions rocked London’s transportation system, killing more than 50 people and injuring at least 700. It was the worst terror attack in Britain since World War II. A similar incident, though even more deadly, occurred in Madrid, Spain, in March 2004. And even more devastating to human lives and property were the horrific Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C.

The question on many people’s lips is, “Where is God in all of this?” And perhaps even more urgently they ask, “Where is He concerning the adversities in my personal life?” In the midst of such questioning, it is time to ask a question of the Scriptures: Is God really in control?

Tragic events uncover our deepest, most personal questions about God. Many observers noted, for example, that church attendance in the United States rose just after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. People were looking for answers. Whether the difficulty is large or small, whether it strikes us personally or unfolds unemotionally on our TV screen, in times of adversity we look for answers to our most profound questions.

Of course, some people are dismissive of God, even expressing anger at Him. Soon after the South Asian tsunami, a commentator in The Herald of Glasgow, Scotland, wrote the following:

“God, if there is a God, should be ashamed of himself. The sheer enormity of the Asian tsunami disaster, the death, destruction, and havoc it has wreaked, the scale of misery it has caused, must surely test the faith of even the firmest believer. … I hope I am right that there is no God. For if there were, then he’d have to shoulder the blame. In my book, he would be as guilty as sin and I’d want nothing to do with him.”

An online poll that ran for many months following the tsunami on the Web site beliefnet.com asked, “Does God have a role in natural disasters?” The results consistently showed that almost half of those polled agreed with this statement: “Although I believe in God, the supernatural had nothing to do with this tragedy.”

But just as headline news raises questions about God’s involvement, so does personal tragedy–perhaps even more so, because we often suffer alone with our questions and anxieties. Just a few years ago, I had seven friends who were battling cancer. Over lunch one day, a businessman friend confided that his company was perilously close to bankruptcy; another experienced heartache over a spiritually rebellious teenager. The truth is, all of us face adversity in various forms and at different times. One of the best-selling books in recent years, written by a psychiatrist, put it very well with this opening statement: “Life is difficult.” In fact, sometimes it is downright painful.

Is God Sovereign in My Suffering?

Adversity with its accompanying emotional pain comes in many forms. There may be the heartache of an unhappy marriage, the disappointment of a miscarried pregnancy or grief over a spiritually indifferent or rebellious child. There is the anxiety of the family breadwinner who has just lost his job and the despair of the young mother who has learned she has a terminal illness.

Still others experience the sting of injustice, the dull ache of loneliness and the stabbing pain of unexpected grief. There is the humiliation of rejection by others, the smoldering hurt of racial bias and the anguish of failure that is one’s own fault. Finally, there is the despair of realizing that some difficult circumstances–a physical infirmity of your own or perhaps a severely handicapped child–will never change.

All of these circumstances contribute to the anxiety and emotional pain we all experience at various times and in varying degrees. Some pain is sudden, traumatic and devastating. Other adversities are chronic, persistent and seemingly designed to wear down our spirits over time.

When adversity strikes, even the Christian is tempted to ask, “Where is God? Doesn’t He care about the thousands who are starving in East Africa or the innocent civilians who are being brutally murdered in many war-ravaged countries around the world? Doesn’t He care about me?”

Is God really in control? Is He trustworthy? Will He help? Even the Apostle Paul pleaded with God three times to take away the thorn in his flesh before he finally found God’s grace to be sufficient. Joseph pleaded with Pharaoh’s cupbearer to “get me out of this prison” (Genesis 40:14). And the writer of Hebrews very honestly states, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful” (Hebrews 12:11). During the time that I was writing a book on this very topic, I experienced adversity that made it difficult to trust God. Mine happened to be a physical ailment that exacerbated a lifelong infirmity. It came at a very inconvenient time and for several weeks it would not respond to any medical treatment.

During those weeks, as I continually prayed to God for relief, I was reminded of Solomon’s words, “Consider what God has done: Who can straighten out what he has made crooked?” (Ecclesiastes 7:13). God had brought a “crooked” event into my life, and I became acutely aware that only He could straighten it. Could I trust God whether or not He straightened my “crook” and relieved my distress? Did I really believe that a God who loved me and knew what was best for me was in control of my situation? Could I trust Him even if I didn’t understand?

The Scriptures teach us that we must believe that God is completely sovereign if we are to trust Him in adversity.

Someone has expressed it this way: “God in His love always wills what is best for us. In His wisdom He always knows what is best, and in His sovereignty He has the power to bring it about.”

The sovereignty of God is asserted, either expressly or implicitly, on almost every page of the Bible. In my biblical research on this topic, I have never felt completely finished with compiling the list of verses on the sovereignty of God. New references to it kept appearing almost every time I opened my Bible. Consider this one: “Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?” (Lamentations 3: 37-38).

This Scripture passage offends many people. They find it difficult to accept that both calamities and good things come from God. People often ask the question, “If God is a God of love, how could He allow such a calamity?” But Jesus Himself affirmed God’s sovereignty in calamity when Pilate said to Him, “Don’t you realize that I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” Jesus replied, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above” (John 19:10-11). Jesus acknowledged God’s sovereign control over His life.

Because God’s sacrifice of His Son for our sins is such an amazing act of love toward us, we tend to overlook that it was for Jesus an excruciating experience beyond all we can imagine. It was for Jesus in His humanity a calamity sufficient to cause Him to pray, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me” (Matthew 26:39); but He did not waver in His assertion of God’s sovereign control.

The Providence of God

God’s providence is a term we sometimes casually use to acknowledge God’s seemingly periodic intervention in our affairs. Historically, however, the Church has always understood the providence of God to refer to His care and governance over all of His creation at all times. Theologian J.I. Packer defines providence as “the unceasing activity of the Creator whereby, in overflowing bounty and goodwill, He upholds His creatures in ordered existence, guides and governs all events, circumstances, and free acts of angels and men, and directs everything to its appointed goal, for His own glory.”

Note the absolute terms Packer uses: “unceasing activity,” “all events … all acts,” “directs everything.” Clearly there is no concept of now-and-then, part-time governance on God’s part in this definition.

For my own sake, I have developed a slightly shorter definition that I can more easily remember: God’s providence is His constant care for and His absolute rule over all His creation for His own glory and the good of His people. Again, note the absolute terms: constant care, absolute rule, all creation. Nothing, not even the smallest virus, escapes His care and control.

But notice also the twofold objective of God’s providence: His own glory and the good of His people. These two objectives never work against each other; they are always in harmony. God never pursues His glory at the expense of the good of His people, nor does He ever seek our good at the expense of His glory. He has designed His eternal purpose so that His glory and our good are inextricably bound together. What comfort and encouragement this should be to us! If we are going to learn to trust God in adversity, we must believe that just as certainly as God will allow nothing to subvert His glory, so He will allow nothing to spoil the good He is working out in us and for us.

God Sustains

The Bible teaches that God not only created the universe, but that He upholds and sustains it day by day, hour by hour. Scripture says, “The Son is … sustaining all things by his powerful word” (Hebrews 1:3), and “in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17).

In other words, all things are indebted for their existence to the continuous sustaining action of God exercised through His Son, Jesus Christ. The so-called laws of nature are nothing more than the physical expression of the steady will of Christ. The law of gravity operates with unceasing certainty because Christ continuously wills it to operate. The stars continue in their courses because He keeps them there. Scripture says, He “brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing” (Isaiah 40:26).

God Governs

The Bible also teaches that God governs the universe, not only inanimate creation, but also the actions of all creatures, both men and animals. He is called the Ruler of all things (1 Chronicles 29:12), the blessed and only Ruler (1 Timothy 6:15), the One apart from whose will the sparrow cannot fall to the ground (Matthew 10:29). The Prophet Jeremiah asks, “Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?” (Lamentations 3:37). “[He] is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes” (Daniel 4:17).

No one can act outside of God’s sovereign will or against it. Centuries ago, St. Augustine said, “Nothing, therefore, happens unless the Omnipotent wills it to happen. He either permits it to happen, or He brings it about Himself.” Notice how encompassing this statement is: Nothing happens without God either permitting it or directing it to happen.

God’s Eternal Plan

One of our problems with the sovereignty of God is that it frequently does not appear that God is in control of the circumstances of our lives. We see unjust, uncaring or even clearly wicked people doing things that adversely affect us. We experience the consequences of other people’s mistakes and failures. We even do foolish and sinful things ourselves and suffer the often-bitter fruit of our actions.

But it is the ability of God to so arrange diverse human actions to fulfill His purpose that makes His sovereignty marvelous and yet mysterious. Just as God’s rule is invincible, so it is incomprehensible. It remains in mystery. His ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:9). His judgments are unsearchable, and His paths are beyond tracing out (Romans 11:33).

All people–believers in God as well as unbelievers–experience anxiety, frustration, heartache and disappointment. Some suffer intense physical pain and catastrophic tragedies. But what should distinguish the suffering of believers from unbelievers is the confidence that our suffering is under the control of an all-powerful and all-loving God; our suffering has meaning and purpose in God’s eternal plan, and He brings or allows into our lives only what is for His glory and our good.

Source : https://billygraham.org/decision-magazine/april-2008/is-god-really-in-control/