“Our Daily Bread”     http://odb.org/

The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie                                  

http://www.harvest.org/devotional/daily-devotions/home.ht 

John 6:38… “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”  (NKJV)

I have been using the word sovereign lately, in describing God…  So today I thought I would explain a little more about God’s sovereignty; and how it ties into God’s will and our lives…  I explained yesterday, how God’s ways are not our ways…and how we will be absolutely wrong…if we are Christians, and we decide not to follow the urging of the Holy Spirit God has given to all of His hand picked children that He has graced with salvation…

Jesus knew His Father was in total control of every second of His life…  At a moment of prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, right before Jesus was taken captive by the “multitude” of soldiers, high priests, and Pharisees, that Judas Iscariot had sold his soul for…scripture tells us this, in…Luke 22:41b-42…  He knelt down and prayed, ⁴² saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” (NKJV)

God the Father was in control then…and God is in total control now of the heavens and the earth, and everything and everyone living on it…  God does what pleases Him, to fulfill His own will… Here is scripture from both the O.T. and the N.T. about God’s sovereign will…Psalm 135:6… Whatever the Lord pleases He does, In heaven and in earth, In the seas and in all deep places.  (NKJV)

Ephesians 1:9-11… having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, ¹⁰ that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. ¹¹ In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,  (NKJV)

The fact that God does as He pleases, is hard for many people to swallow… But the Christian who places their life in God’s hands…and with faith and trust that everything God puts them through, is not only God’s will…it is for their good…should be able to rest easy knowing that with God in charge…there will never be any mistakes…  Sure, there will be trials in the Christian’s life…  Sure, there will be disappointments, when the Christian doesn’t get immediate answers, or the wrong answers to their prayers…  But all things in the life of the Christian, who is walking with the Lord in obedience, will be in their best interest through God’s will…

The Apostle Paul gives the obedient Christian this encouraging news, in…Romans 8:28… And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.  (NKJV)

So if you’re a Christian that wants to please the Lord…love the Lord…obey Him…never question Him…and walk in sweet fellowship with the Lord… To walk in the Spirit, as it is called…we must confess and repent of our sins…1 John 1:9…  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  (NKJV)  Don’t ever go to the Lord in prayer, with un-confessed sins…and expect the Lord to hear you…Psalm 66:18… If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.  (NKJV)

And when you pray to the Lord, pray for Him to direct you in the right way… This will always be the Lord’s will for your life…  The Apostle John tells us this, in…

1 John 5:14-15…  Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. ¹⁵ And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.  (NKJV)

It is the full power of the Holy Spirit; working overtime in the life of the Spirit filled Christian (Ephesians 5:18-20), which will accomplish more than we could ever think or expect to do in our own strength…  Today I will close with this scripture, written by the Apostle Paul…

Ephesians 3:20-21…  Now to Him who is able to do exceedinglyabundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, ²¹ to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.  (NKJV)

written by bruce r mills