Devotions

Is GOD In Control? :: Deeper Devotion

Is GOD In Control?

January 22, 2009
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by Tim Wade

Acts 17:26
“…and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,”

Standing in the midst of Mars Hill in Athens, Greece in the first century preaching Christianity to the people was no small feat. Imagine yourself as a student walking into the teacher’s lounge at school and expounding on the subject of education and the need to be educated to all who were present, including the principle of the school. But there is one little difference; what you are telling them goes against almost everything they were ever told. For the apostle Paul this is exactly what he faced. So, what did he tell them that was so antithetical to their teaching? He told them that GOD was in control of their lives. He made mankind, and appointed the time of every person’s birth and death, as well as all that happens in between.

To some people the idea of GOD being in control of their lives is the equivalent of a “duh” statement. But think about it for a moment. Imagine your worst fear. Are you overcome with a sense of peace? Of course not. It is your worst fear. Somewhere inside of your being is the conviction that GOD can overcome this fear within you, and all the circumstances, but right now, you’re not buying it. That’s why thinking about it makes you fearful.

True faith in GOD releases our deepest fears and gives them over to Him. It mentally ascends to the spiritual belief that we are created beings, and that our creator is in control of our lives from their very beginning, all the way to the very end. But by nature no one is really given over to the idea that we can completely take our hands off of the reigns of our lives and let GOD be GOD. It is therefore by grace that we learn to release control over our lives and allow ourselves to be led into peace by His Spirit into all victory.

“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”