Who's in Charge?

Is God in control? Can God do anything He wants? Why doesn't He just end world hunger or stop innocent people from being killed? Why do bad things happen to Christians?

Ever asked these questions? What are some answers we've heard?

" All things work together for good."

"It was God's will"

"Sometimes bad things happen to good people."

"God's bringing judgment on sinful world."

How about this- bad things happen because we let them. Yes, I said because we let bad things happen. Because of a lack of knowledge.

"My people perish from lack of knowledge."

So what in the world am I talking about?

Well a lot of people think that God is totally in control of everything, and ultimately He is, BUT, He can't overtake free will. He has chosen not to. Many Christians either don't really believe that there is a devil or realize that he is out to get them. Many Christians are lazy and want to let God do it all for us, so they just blame Him when something goes wrong.

Let's go back to the beginning. Genesis 1:27-31

"So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which [is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which [is] the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein [there is] life, [I have given] every green herb for meat: and it was so.
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day."

Genesis 2:1

"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
Gen 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made."

So, God made a beautiful place for us to live and lots of food to eat, made us, then gave us dominion on the earth, or authority. Then, He sat down. He handed it over to us. The earth is still under our authority. Animals still run in fright when they see humans and just as Jesus did, we can in His name, take authority over storms/tornadoes etc. I've done it before.

Now, the church is the body. We all have a part to play in His plan. However, who is our head? This is what the Bible says:

Ephesians 1:20-23

"Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set [him] at his own right hand in the heavenly [places], Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
And hath put all [things] under his feet, and gave him [to be] the head over all [things] to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.."

Christ is our head and we are His body. A head can't go anywhere by itself. It needs a body and feet. That is where we come in. Notice however that Christ is at the right hand of God, meaning He is in authority, and all things are put under His feet. Who are the feet? US!!!

We are the ones in control of what happens in our life. Jesus came and died for us, rose again and went back to the Father. The Holy Spirit dwells in us to be our guide and teacher, BUT, it is up to us to do what He says. We always have a choice. When I got locked out of my house I had a choice- panic and make a big issue calling my husband and making him come all the way home to unlock the door, or, do what the Bible says and pray in faith for God's help. If we see weather forecasts about storms and tornadoes we can panic and be fearful or we can pray and thank God for His protection as laid out in Psalm 91 and expect to be fine.

Always a choice. It is up to us and our faith in His Word, which is really faith in Jesus. Our words plant seeds as well, and if we're constantly speaking things like, " Well it'll be my luck that such and such will happen (negative)" or " There's a history of such and such disease in my family so I'll probably get it." Other things I'm catching myself in are saying things like " I just about died laughing" Or " That tickled me to death." Think about those words, though said in jest, I am basically speaking death over myself! The enemy has so fooled us we don't even realize what we're saying!

But I digress...

God's will is us exercising the God given authority over the circumstances in our life and the evil one. His will for us is always good and not evil. Anyone that says that God wants us to suffer for Christ is a liar. God is not glorified in the deaths of His saints or seeing them afflicted. It is costly to Him to lose His army on this earth. We need to practice what Jesus taught and really live by faith- faith that moves mountains and walks on water. If Jesus did it as our example, than we can do it too.