Did you know that our Sovereign God not only has dominion in Heaven, but also in Hell and the Here and Now?  I believe this simply because God made me and He has allowed me to exist in Heaven, Hell and the Here and Now.  And since that is the truth, it follows that God must have absolute power over all three of those dwelling places which can certainly come to pass in my lifetime.

I embraced this truth based upon my own personal experiences and conversations with God while under the influence of the Holy Spirit.  For I have been guilty of earnestly and sometimes defiantly questioning my Lord when I lacked an understanding about certain situations in life.  I have even raised my voice, lifted a quenched fist towards heaven, placed my hands on my hips and strutted my goose neck at the Almighty!  It was only by God’s grace and mercy and sense of humor that he smiled down on a mere mortal instead of smiting and scourging me to kingdom come.  I have since repented and prayerfully echoed the title of that 1949 TV sitcom starring Robert Young and Jane Wyatt called, “Father Knows Best”.

What about you?  Have you ever lost sight of God’s sovereignty?  Or maybe like me, you too have been on the verge of losing your cool over situations that you had no control over?  Mr. Spurgeon also had this to say about that:

Let’s give God the Glory, folks…

During this season of thanksgiving, dearly beloveds, let us give God all the praise and all the honor and all the glory by digging a little deeper in our acknowledgement of Him. Since God is Sovereign and Lord and the Creator over all, let’s remember Psalm 91:1-2 (NIV): “Whoever dwells (and that’s me and you) in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.'”.

My personal misgivings…

Some years ago, after finishing up a mission trip in Lusaka, Zambia, my team headed out to a little town called Kafue. Along the road trip, two very important incidents happened to me. Our native bus driver stopped at a very small village to get gas, but he advised my team not to exit the bus because this village was very poor and might become too excited if they saw Americans. So we all stayed on the bus. Never the less, small children surrounded the bus and began to beg for bibles and shouted Jesus’ Jesus!

I remember thinking, Lord we need our bibles and there are so many little ones. Immediately, I heard a whisper of wind say…tear pages out of your bibles and hand them out the window to each child. Oh, No! I exclaimed. I will never tear out pages of Your Word, My Lord. That would be akin to blasphemy!

As the bus preceded down the road, the Holy Spirit explained to me that the Lord had a ram in the bush at that village and he could have taken the leaves of my bible from each child and glued them back together, whereby His word would have become divine instructions for all! You refused and denied God to be God.

TO THIS DAY, I HAVE REGRETTED MY DECISION OF BEING DISOBEDIENT AND NOT ALLOWING GOD TO BE SOVEREIGN!

The second incident happened after we arrived at Kafue. As I stood at the front of the small class room where I was to teach, I watched the stream of smiling native men and women crowd into their segregated seats (the men on one side of the room and the women on the other). I said to myself, Lord how am I to relate to all of these people in a personal way. The Lord spoke in my ear and said, ‘As they enter the room, have them write their names on the black board before taking their seats.’ This time I was obedient and the people complied.

During the question and answer time of my presentation, the attendees would raise their hand to speak and (guess what) I would quickly look at the black board and somehow I was able to locate the right name of the responder and addressed him or her by it. This ability to recall and match names with attendees completely surprised me and also the people in the room. The chiefs and witch doctors in the rear of the room that had been sending out signals of doubt and misgivings begin to melt and lean forward in their seats.

All doubts and fears begin to flee the room and a sweet aroma entered in. God was in complete control. My prayer was the following…”Open my heart, Lord, to choose peace in the midst of small inconveniences and major concerns.” Amen!

Scripture Lesson: Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:4-7 (TNIV)

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