I am continuing on the post “Where were You God – when things didn’t go so well”?…..  because a lot of Christians get hung up on what they should believe about the sovereignty of God….. And as I told you in that 6-30-15 post -” what you believe about the sovereignty of God is very important because it very much affects your faith”……. For instance, if you believe that God being sovereign over all means that He controls every single thing that happens – then why make any decisions at all? – why not just let it happen?! (Seeing that you have no say in the matter)….. . But is that really so? I mean, what is the sovereignty of God?

God’s sovereignty lies in the fact that He alone……  not you, not me, not anyone else – but He alone – determined the way that things on the earth would operate..…  (Psalm 93:1 & Psalm 119:89-91  paraphrased)  “With the words of His mouth He established the world that it cannot be moved”…. it cannot be moved because….. “His word is forever settled in Heaven – He is – and it is – faithful to all generations!…. He established the earth and it abideth ….. It continues this day according to His ordinances” ( a law or formal decree – which – in this case refers to ALL functions.)…. and Hebrews 1:3 says that God is “upholding all things He created by the power of His word” – ie. by the commands that He spoke – all things were set to operate – and thus they continue to operate)…… That is one facet of the sovereignty of God – in that He alone made those decisions and set those things in place – without consulting you or me about how it should be done!

THEN ….. in His sovereignty, God assigned dominion and stewardship over the earth to man!…… AND …. some time later – after man chose to live apart from God – God set before man “life and death, blessing and cursing” (Deuteronomy 30:15-19). God did this – BECAUSE – man had chosen this! Before Adam chose to live apart from God, man’s life was filled only with good – all of the”very good things” that God had provided for us (Genesis 1:31)…..  But when Adam chose  (and when we choose) to live apart from God and His laws, God will honor that choice – because He gave us the freedom to choose!.….. thus He said “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing – but choose life, that you and your seed may live.”

God’s heart for each of us to know life and blessing is clearly seen in that He urges us to choose “LIFE.”….  He can’t do it for us – because He gave each of us the freedom to choose….. BUT – He gave us His word – and in it clear directives how to choose life.  He gave us what I like to call “avenues” for Him to work  in our lives.  I’ll take that a step farther and tell you that He gave us “avenues” (pathways) not only to let Him work in our lives – but to work in the lives of others for good.  One such powerful avenue is called “prayer.”

When we are born again, you and I can pray a simple prayer in the name of Jesus – asking God to help someone…… and except it be asking for help to do some evil thing – God will hear that prayer – and indeed help that someone for whom you pray.  (A couple of notes here:  1. God does not help anyone do evil…. and  2. In His wisdom and sovereignty, God set ONE mediator  – (go between/ reconciler) – between  Himself and man….. I Timothy 2:5 tells us THAT ONE MEDIATOR is Jesus Christ.)……Thus we pray to the Father in the name of the one that He, in His sovereignty, appointed as the “go between” for God and man……. And praying to the Father in that name – as some of you may have already discovered – is a very effective avenue for giving God a way to work in your life.

There are other avenues (pathways) God uses to work through to touch people’s lives – which I will bring to you in some detail in the next post on this subject.

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I write and share about the things that have helped me – as one that well remembers longing for  more insight than what I had – and God being good enough to send me the help I needed to keep moving forward with Him……which He is still doing! ….. So, I write and share hoping to help and encourage you the way that I have been helped and encouraged.  God is faithful.  He is true…. and I thank Him for every one of these avenues He uses to touch me and you…..