All over the Bible it talks about God’s sovereignty. It’s who He is, it’s what He does. He is in control, and when He sent Jesus Christ, God gave Jesus authority over all things (1 Corinthians 15:27). Everything in the whole world is under His feet (Ephesians 1:22), and there is nothing that He does not know (1 John 3:20b). This can be, and often is a very comforting thought, and it was one that I always “knew” and thought I put into practice. However, I have found myself in more than one situation where I have often relied on myself to control something or make something work out.
Living a lifestyle that reflects our sincere belief in God’s sovereignty is something that we develop over time, and it’s often something that is a bit scary at first. However, the more we realize that God is in control, and the more opportunities we have to let God demonstrate that power in our lives, the more we will trust Him and fully rely on His sovereignty. Let’s take a look at a few ways to live completely trusting that God is in control and knows what He’s doing.
1. Let Him be in control. This is the first step in letting God be in control in your life. Instead of trying to make situations what you want them to be, or making situations what they aren’t so that you will feel better, trust that God has you right where He wants you. Everything in life has to go through God’s hands first before it even reaches your life. We have to remember that in everything, in every second of every minute of every day, God knows what He is doing, and nothing takes Him by surprise (Psalm 139:1-6). Let go, breath and let God have His way in your life.
2. Worship Him that He is in control. After you accept that He is in control, and start living like it, then thank God that He knows what He is doing and His hand is at work in your life. Even if your present circumstance isn’t how you want it to be, thanking and worshiping God for that circumstance will bring honor to God and bring joy to your heart in that you are content with what God is doing right now.
3. Act like He is in control. For me, this can be one of the most challenging things to do. Once you let Him have control, and acknowledge and worship God that He is in control, then we have to act like He is in control. This involves letting go of fear in our lives, letting go of what other people might think about our current situation, and be humble enough to confidently say, “God is in control, and I’m completely ok with what He is doing.” Acting like God is in sovereign control of our lives takes an enormous amount of faith. Faith in God, and faith in His character, and faith that He is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do.
I read a devotional the other day about being dead to sin and choosing Christ as our new master. I won’t get into too much detail about that right now, (maybe in my next blog post I will), but something that really struck me was one part when the author gave a tip as to what to do when sin comes knocking at our door. When we feel tempted to take control of a situation that isn’t ours to handle, or we start getting anxiety or fear in our lives, or whatever else may be the problem, all we have to say is, “I’m dead to that.” Isn’t that great? Because Jesus came and made a way, we don’t have to choose sin, and we don’t have to choose to stay where we are in our walk with Christ. We don’t have to give in to the things that vie for our attention and our life and control, but we can let God have His way in our lives. His way for our life is the best way, and things will always end up better when we let Him have His way in our lives verse when we try to live our lives as though we have the control (Romans 8:28).
Lastly, even though God knows everything in our lives, there is something so freeing about being honest with others, being honest with yourself, and mostly being honest with God. If you’re in a rut, or are afraid, just let God know. He knows, but when you tell Him blankly how you’re feeling, there’s something so freeing in that, and it releases your problems and feelings into God’s loving care. He wants you to come to Him with your feelings and your thoughts so that while He’s working on your situation, He can also be working on your heart.
As always, thanks for reading, and God bless! Please feel free to let me know how this blog has impacted you via the comments, the "Contact Me" page on this website, or via twitter: @stephaniejtay, or really any of the social media pages found on this site!
For Him and until next time,
Stephanie :)