I was flipping through the channels in TV tonight looking for some funny sitcom to watch.  I haven’t really watched a whole lot of TV lately, which really has been a blessing, to be honest with you.  This particular night, though, I came upon a church service at Lakewood Church in Houston, TX.  The pastor is Joel Osteen.  I’ve heard him preach before.  He teaches from the Bible and he is just very good at being relational and topical.  Tonight, he spoke about how “God is in Control.”

“God is in Control.”  That’s always easy to say, but sometimes it’s hard to follow through on what we say because we really want to be in control.  Many times the situations in our life that we face often results in us trying to take control of them to fit what we think would be best for us.  If God isn’t doing it the way we want, then maybe He’s really not doing anything at all.  Someone dear to me wrote, “God becomes weak which allows the devil to gradually chip away at our trust, peace, and joy. Without trust, we take our lives into our own hands, desperate for some kind of control since God can no longer step in on our behalf.”  This is so very true.

“…for it is God who works in you to will and act according to His good purpose.” ~Philippians 2:13

“…when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.” ~1 Thessalonians 2:13

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” ~Romans 8:28

God is always working in your life and paving the way for things in your life.  Sometimes things are just not apparent and you really don’t see anything happening, but that’s when God is working all the more.  You might be stuck in a rut or you feel like you’re going nowhere, but God knows what you’re going through and He wants to make things happen for you.  This is when your faith is tested…when you have to believe God’s sovereignty in your life, so you move on with full joy knowing and believing that He has everything under control.

You can look at your past and put puzzles together to see how God was orchestrating certain things in your life.  Back then it most likely didn’t make sense at all, but when you look at how some things seemed to happen almost coincidentally…that’s no coincidence…that’s God working in your life and perfectly placing them at the right moment to get you where you’re at.  Sometimes, you just have to be aware that God is working.  You need to look at things He’s doing and where He is leading you.  I think that this is the toughest thing to do, but I do know that when you spend time with Him, read His Word, and have that solitude to just listen to Him, those things are much more apparent to you.

There is definitely an excitement knowing that God is working for your good.  Things may not happen today, but they might happen tomorrow.  We just have to have the joy knowing and believing that He’s still there…that He’s still working.  We can’t let fear, doubt, worry, and anxiety hamper or tarnish our joy and our faith in Him and His abilities.  He is much bigger and much greater than we could ever imagine.  Those things He was working on in your past may be directly related to what He’s about to do for you today.  How exciting is that?