Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
Blessings to you from the Pacific Northwest of America. I have been enjoying my time at home and I am looking to the signs of spring. New life is in the air. It is a season for new life!
A few days ago I was awakened in the midst of a dream. As I awoke Holy Spirit was speaking to me in regard to a phrase commonly used by many Christian believers. The phrase was, “everything has a purpose”. This phrase is commonly connected to the thought that God is in control of all things. Believers often connect this term to the concept of God’s sovereignty. I have addressed this concept in some of my past blogs.
I used to believe that God is in control. That is what Bible teachers told me, but I have read my Bible more carefully and I have discovered that throughout the Scripture is says that God owns everything, but He did an amazing thing. He put what He owns into the hands of those that He loves, even those that don’t love Him.
Psalms 8:3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, 4 what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? 5 For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet…
We must be intimate with the one who owns all things, so we can bring His life to the world given to us for the glory of His name. We are all little lords and kings born to be intimate with the King of kings and the Lord of lords that we might become givers of life to our worlds, even as our Father in heaven is a giver of life in all things! The kingdom of God is an internal kingdom of the human heart that changes the external expressions of our lives. The kingdom of God within our hearts reveals a testimony of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. It is rooted in the human spirit, and it inspires the human soul from the life of God’s Spirit inspiring our human spirit within. This is the strength of our inner man that empowers us to live our lives as an external testimony for God’s glory.
As I awoke from my dream, God continued to talk to me. He expressed to me that He is sovereign in His gifting, but relational in His character. God doesn’t need anything from us. He can do all things. He can intervene in our lives by His sovereign abilities, but His heart is always for a relationship of intimacy. God is not who He is. Our Father is who He is, and God is a description of what He can do. To say that all things happen for a purpose and consider that purpose being the will of a sovereign God is not true to the character of God. Not all things are the purpose of God, but because our Father loves us, He can turn an evil purpose to a purpose of His will. Our Father wants us to know the reality of His character in our own lives. He wants us to live as His sons and daughters with a nature that is in His likeness and image.
Because man is in control of what God has created in this world, we often experience the consequence of our own actions or even the actions of others in life. My garden produces plants that benefit my life as well as weeds that require my cultivation. In the same way, the world is filled with things that are both good and bad. I don’t believe that this is because God’s will is both good and bad. I believe that God’s will is always good, but bad things happen that prove how good God really is. Bad things not only prove how good God is, but they also prove how good His people can become in the midst of bad things and bad situations.
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
In these words, Paul reveals to us that all things work together for good when we love God and walk in the way of His purpose. We could say that everything happens for a purpose but not all is for the purpose of God. Because God is relational in His nature, He invites us to love Him. He invites us to know Him. When we choose to love Him and know Him in all things, God uses His sovereign abilities to work on our behalf because His nature is one of love for us. Our dependency is upon the Love of God, not merely His sovereign abilities. Love is the true power that motivates His working in our lives. God’s love motivates Him in His sovereign abilities working on our behalf. It is not His sovereignty that motivates His love.
Blessings,
Ted J. Hanson
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So……true. You touched on this when you spoke at Everyone’s Church this last Sunday.
My take, If God is in control of all that happens, He must be very cruel and sadistic. Otherwise, how would you account for all the cruel things done to humanity?