The Lord Reigns cont.

 Does the Lord reign in YOU?

Have you personally surrendered to God's sovereignty? 

How does someone even go about surrendering in such a way? 

1. It starts with recognizing that GOD LOVES YOU. 

God's not some genie in the clouds, lounging on his thrown, simply watching us suffer and struggle on our own. He is a God who understands our pain. He has endured the anguish of the cross, a more gruesome, and heartbreaking pain than any human being has ever had to endure. He has struggled like we've struggled, labored just as we have labored, and Jesus cried out in confusion and frustration just as we have so many times... His goodness and soverignty are directly linked; He is an all just, yet all loving God. An idea that's difficult to comprehend, but Praise God that it's a faultless truth. 

     2. Trust in God

I struggle with this daily, everyone does, we're only human. Luckily, God understands our imperfection and continually forgives and redeems us. Again, Praise God. When we trust in His perfect plan, and believe that He holds the desires of our hearts in His hands, incredible blessings come our way. Look at your own life, and the lives of others; remember and reflect on the times that you saw God work in marvelous ways. 

Every good thing that is in me, anything you see as good and lovely, is the light and love of God shining through the dirt and grime of my sinful heart. 

Even in the most desperate of situations God reigns and has a perfect plan. 

    3. Turn to prayer

Don't be afraid to ask God what's going on? Do you think God wants to know when you're upset or confused? OF COURSE HE DOES! Jesus wants to intimately know every area of your heart, even the "ugly" parts you don't show to anyone else. When times get tough examine yourself, even if that means reopening a wound that needs to be properly healed. It may hurt in the moment, but in the long run you will see how incredible life can be without the baggage of those wounds. Grow through these times. Look to the promise of Heaven... 

No more pain. No more tears. No more fears. 

An incredible change of scenery from the world we live in today isn't it? Finally, choose your attitude. People are always watching you, especially when you're screwing up. As a follower of Christ I am called to represent Jesus, so I am to choose an attitude of patience, peace, kindness, hope, faithfulness, courage, self-control, gentleness, and most important of all, an attitude of LOVE. 

If God reigned even when His Son hung dead upon a cross, and everything seemed lost, then we can be sure that He who began a good work in YOU will complete it. 

For in Him, ALL things work together for good.

     

The Lord Reigns cont.

6. God shows His glory to us

Think back to the Bible story you remember hearing as a child, the one of the blind man being given back his sight...
 When the disciples saw this man they asked Jesus, "Rabbi, who sinned that made this man blind?" Jesus replied by saying, "His blindness is so that the works of God might be displayed in Him." In the years of this man's blindness, God was preparing Him for the miracle of receiving His sight. God was readying this man to proclaim God's glory and immense power, both while he was blind, and after Jesus healed him (which, by the way, was accomplished when Jesus rubbed dirt that He has spat on upon the man's eyes. HOW CRAZY-COOL IS THAT?!). This story hits home for me in particular, because my father is blind. He's told me before that he knows  God saved his life by allowing him to go blind (He used to live a thrill-seekers lifestyle). For him, still being alive today, blind or not, is a testament to God's awesome power in preparing him to proclaim His Savior's glory. He's an inspiration to many, blind and sighted, that impairments are not meant to permanently keep you from reaching your goals and dreams. God has given him the gift of being blind to be able to proclaim the glory of God in a way that very few get the opportunity to do. 

A bold claim to make, but God is far more interested in our character than our comfort on this Earth. 

Sometimes bad things happen so that the works of God can be displayed in our lives, but not always. 

     

The Lord Reigns cont.

5. God trains us

We as human beings are God's most amazing creation, and this proves evident throughout the Bible. God has this incredible ability to take our pain and turn it into something good. Joseph in the Bible was his father's favorite son, and his brothers were well aware of this. They become so jealous and bitter, that they threw him in a pit to be left for dead, and Joseph was later sold into slavery. Sounds like some pretty bad luck right? Not even. If Joseph's brothers never would have let him be taken to Egypt to be later thrown into jail (which, I know, doesn't sound that great either), then Joseph never would have become second in command behind Pharaoh himself. God used Joseph's suffering and trials as an opportunity to train and ready him for God's bigger plan that was to come. While in jail, God spoke to Joseph, and prepared him to not only help rule Egypt, but also to show mercy to his brothers when they came to him for help in the midst of a famine. In Genesis 45:7-8 Joseph makes the crucial realization that it was not his brothers that sent him there, but that it was all God's doing. Later in Genesis 50:20 he says to his brothers, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." 
Sometimes bad things happen, because God is training and positioning us, but not always. 

     

The Lord Reigns cont.

4. God tests us

1 Peter 1:6-7 is a very poetic set of verses. The words "rejoice" and "trial" don't logically seem like they should be coupled with each other, but our God is a God of  working in ways different than the world sees as natural. He asks us to rejoice in our trials. Our struggles may seem like to much to handle now, but sometimes our trials are meant to grow us in some way. Isaiah 48:10 says, "Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have refined you in the furnace of affliction." This verse is referring to what we feel when we're under pressure, and think that we can no longer take the heat. Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, God wants us to understand that the fiery heat of the furnace may seem unbearable in the moment, but if we withstand the heat, leaning on and trusting God to be glorified through our trials, then He will not let us be consumed by the flames. 
Sometimes bad things happen because God is testing us, but not always. 

     

The Lord Reigns cont.

3. God is working in a way you don't see

Sometimes God works in mysterious ways that we may not understand at the time, but when we look back, we realize why things worked out the way they did. For example, in one of my past blog posts (Dashed Dreams or Perfect Planning) I talked about how I got a significant Theater scholarship to NAU, but I in the end felt the need to switch my major from Theater to Communications. At the time I didn't understand why God would take me out of something I loved so much, especially during such a critical time in my life (my first day of freshman year at the university). Looking back on my (at the time) tough decision, I can see that God allowed the change to happen for good. My choice allowed me to gain a job with the most influential section of my school's paper, receive a position with a children's book agency, and also gain the opportunity to test out whether communications would be the field I would make my career out of. Most often in the moment it's incredibly difficult to try and figure out what God is doing, especially when you're going through a trial, or a hard place in your life. But that's the point, God doesn't want us to figure him out, He wants us to trust Him. For me, this is the area I personally struggle with most. 

A lot of the time when God is really the one trying to work His plan out in our lives, we see it as Satan trying to screw things up for us. Remember, just because you don't understand something, doesn't necessarily mean it's Satan interfering with God's perfect plan. Simply rest in the fact that God will bring beauty from the ashes, and HE WILL be glorified. God leaves us a loving promise when he says "My power is made perfect in your weakness, My grace is sufficient for you."
Sometimes bad things happen because God is trying to teach us something, but not always.

     

The Lord Reigns cont.

2. Satan Destroys and Deceives

We tend to forget that there is another force in this world besides God. Job chapter 1 shows the intervention of Satan into the life of god's fervent servant Job. Satan is granted the chance to try and break Job's faith and trust in God, but with no avail. Living in an age where I have so many freedoms and opportunities I can sometimes become complacent in my thought about the realness of spiritual warfare. I reach points in my life when all is going well, I have a steady job, I'm receiving good grades, then something drastically changes... When bad things decide to randomly show up in our lives, we have the awful tendency to blame God, but He's not the one out there trying to make you stumble. Satan's biggest ploy is getting us to believe that he doesn't exist. This way, when the storms of life hit us when we don't expect it, we run to point the finger at our Lord, which is exactly what Satan desires. His goal is to get us to doubt, lose trust, lose our hope in God, and worst of all He strives to separate us from Jesus. Satan is real, and present in this world today, no matter how good you see your life as right now. Job lived a life of good health; he had a loving family, friends; he had a steady income, all until Satan came in and tried to get Him to blame God. But in the end, Job knew God would never leave him, forsake him, or give him more than he could handle.
Do you think anything that happened in Boston could have been demonic? 
Sometimes bad things happen because of the work of Satan, but not always.

     

The Lord Reigns cont.

1. Sin Destroys

If there's sin and suffering in the world, who exactly is responsible for it? James 4:1-2 poses the point that our desires are at war within us. Our world today covets what's not ours, we're greedy for things that we can't have, and this causes us to quarrel with ourselves and each other. Suffering is a direct result of our sin and the sins of those around us. Sometimes bad things happen because...


-We live in a fallen world

Now, what exactly does a "fallen world" mean? This means that when God created the Earth, and everything in it, He created it in it's uttermost perfection. God wasn't the one who screwed it up for us, we screwed it up for us. People themselves decided to turn against God, and that is what brought sin into the world. Romans 5:12 makes clear that the sin of one man, caused for the sin of all men. Sometimes bad things happen, because we live in a fallen world, but not always.

-It's our own sin

James 1:13 emphasizes the fact that God is not the one who tempts us, causing us to stumble. Isaiah 53:6 makes it clear that WE have turned from God on our own accord. Some people today may say that, "the Bible even says that God has hardened some people hearts, I'm just one of those people, and I'll never believe." For those of you reading this that may believe that statement to be true, think about this; Is it possible that God has truly hardened the hearts of some people, not with malice and hate, but that he has hardened their hearts with His love? Have you ever heard the term "Kill Them with Kindness?" Meaning, if someone is bugging or pestering you, you simply continue being kind to them, and showing them love even though they may not deserve it, so that in the end it drives them so batty that they stop bothering you? I wonder if maybe this idea came from the grander image of  God continuing to love people, even when they consistently deny Him? The idea of God showing His love over and over until eventually people get so fed up with Him trying to show them grace that they close up and turn from Him completely? Something to think about. Sometimes bad things happen, because of something we've done, but not always.

-It's the sin of others

Some examples of this factor would be Jonah's sin of not following God's direction to go to Nineveh. Instead, Jonah got on a boat with a few other men, and sailed in the exact opposite direction. Later, a huge storm came and threatened to sink the boat, which would have killed Jonah and every innocent sailors aboard with him if the sailors hadn't have had Jonah own up to his sin. Had the sailors done anything to bring the storm upon them? No, it was Jonah's sin, but it had now effected the lives of those around him. Another example would be David when he was having an affair with Uriah's wife. Uriah was a soldier in David's army. One day David commanded for Uriah to be placed at the forefront of the battle they were about to face, and when their enemies were closing in on them, David commanded for every soldier to retreat and leave Uriah to fend for himself. Did Uriah deserve to be delivered into the grips of death? No, it was David's sin that brought him there. Here's a real- life, here-and-now example; Abuse Cases. A child is beaten, and forced to live in a home where they are being improperly treated. A child that deserves to be loved, but instead they are verbally, emotionally, physically, mentally abused, and put in a horrible situation that is bound to scar them for the rest of their lives. Does that child deserve to live a life of pain and abuse, feeling like they are unloved? NO! But, because of the sin and shortcomings of the abuser, that child is effected. Sometimes bad things happen, because of something someone else has done, but not always.

The man preaching these message asked a curious question I would like for you to think about; 

Has God ever used the negatives in your life to develop positive results in your relationship with Him, and your relationships with others?

In spite of sin, we can find comfort in the fact that we know GOD REIGNS.