Have you ever questioned God’s sovereignty? With all the tragedies happening in the world today some folks may question whether God is truly in control. Every time we turn on the television, radio or read the newspaper we are subjected to all of the violence and assaults on humanity. Our churches are beginning to water down the FAITH and manipulate God’s Word by interpreting Holy Scripture to fit man made doctrines and traditions.
Non-believers and believers alike are becoming confused when they hear the Gospel because of all the fighting and bickering regarding the interpretation of God’s Word. Is it any wonder that there are so many people in this world that turn to false religions and cults instead of turning their life over to Jesus Christ.
My fellow believers in our Lord Jesus Christ…. let us all work together as “One in Christ” to overcome the devil who is putting PRIDE within our churches and turning all the saints against each other by installing the idea that “their church” is the only church that God has anointed to be the Bride of Christ. This is not God’s will. We know from Scripture that God has ultimate authority (Psalm 103:19) and is in complete control.
Please turn your Bibles to Ephesians 1: 11-14, and let us read and meditate on God’s Word regarding His Sovereignty and Love that He has for His children.
In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:11-12)
As you can plainly see, God's purpose is to offer salvation to the world, just as He planned to do long ago. God is sovereign; He is in charge. When your life seems chaotic, rest in this truth: Jesus is Lord, and God is in control. God's purpose to save you cannot be thwarted, no matter what evil Satan may bring.
Word Focus: purpose - (Gk. prothesis) (Ephesians 1:9, 11; 3:11; Romans 8:28) Strong’s G4286; counsel (Gk. boule) (Ephesians 1:11; 1 Corinthians 4:5; Hebrews 6:17) Strong’s G1012; will (Gk. thelema) (Ephesians 1:1, 9, 11; 2:3; 5:17; Romans 1:10; 1 Corinthians 1:1) G2307: Three key words, all related conceptually, appear in this verse. One of these words (thelema) has been used by Paul twice before in this chapter (Ephesians 1:1, 9). The word conveys the idea of desire, even a heart’s desire, for the word primarily expresses emotion instead of volition. Thus God’s will is not so much God’s intention, as it is His heart’s desire. The word prothesis denotes an intention or a plan; it literally means “a laying out beforehand” like a blueprint. This plan was created in God’s counsel, a translation of the Greek word boule which means the result of deliberate determination. But behind the plan and the counsel was not just a mastermind but a heart of love.
In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. (Ephesians 1:13-14)
My friends, the Holy Spirit is God's seal that we belong to Him and His deposit guaranteeing that He will do what He has promised. The Holy Spirit is like a down payment, a deposit, a validating signature on the contract. The presence of the Holy Spirit in us demonstrates the genuineness of our faith, proves that we are God's children, and secures eternal life for us. His power works in us to transform us now, and what we experience now is a taste of the total change we will experience in eternity.
So let us all work together and bring unity and trust back into Christ’s churches. Set aside all PRIDE and focus on the Great Commission that our Lord has commanded us to do. Let us go out and bring the lost and hurting souls of this world to the Lord. Put aside those petty man-made traditions and doctrines and go out and preach the Gospel that the Apostle Paul and many other saints have done over the centuries… Preach and teach Christ Crucified.
References: NKJV Holy Bible, Life Application Bible (NIV), and the Nelson Study Bible
31 comments:
Bringing unity and trust back into the church is a mammoth job. The reason it is such a formidable undertaking is because the church is run by human beings, who are inherently sinners---prideful, greedy and full of envy. It's almost like---how and where do I start?
Great post.
You know Lloyd sometimes the way my church acts really gets up my nose too and at times I have stopped going to any church because they all seem to be full of nonsense. But you know what God says about his House?
God says "My house shall be a house of prayer for all nations."
Well in my understanding, if God's house is a house of prayer then if I want to enter God's house I should "Pray" because that is where God is, in my prayers. If I can get others to start praying and let them know that that is where they will find God then it does not make any difference what church they go to. It really is all about talking to God and not talking about Him. God is in control and for you Lloyd my prayer is that He bless you. Geoff.
I think that if we trusted God for His wisdom instead of our own (Prov. 3:5, 6) we would be a lot better off in trusting Him.
It saddens me to see believers wasting more time arguing with one another over details when there are still people out there who do not know the Truth. May we be united as Christ prayed in John 17.
"Amen!" to your comments on the body of Christ. I am doing quite a bit of research, prayer, and meditation, as I prepare to launch some type of ministry in September to unite the body of Christ in my area. Stay blessed, Lloyd.
early to bed early to rise makes a many healthy and wise....postings at 5am!! great post, also thank you for joining my blog. I am happily a follower or your blog. :)
I think as the church focusses on the Great Comission it will help bring unity. Sometimes different churches have gotten side tracked on their own agenda. As we turn back to Christ's agenda, saving the world, hopefully we will see more unity in the body.
I agree with Geoff, the house of God is a house of prayer. Each of us form part of that house, and we should all be praying together and for one purpose which is our salvation and the salvation of many others.
Great post Lloyd.
Lloyd, I want to thank you for your kind comment on my blog. The gospel of Jesus Christ is intended for all to hear, though not all people will listen. I read on your profile that you have lost your son, and I wanted to let you know how sorry I am for that. I know that because of the sacrifices Jesus Christ has made, you can see your son again! It is possible for a family to be bound not only in this life, but for eternity. The family is God's most essential unit in His eternal plan, and He wants us to live with each other again. This website http://www.mormon.org/plan-of-happiness/ can help you to more fully understand the plan of salvation that God has created for your family. God Bless you and feel free to ask any questions or make any comments as you like.
Crystal Turner - Thank you for visiting and commenting on my blog. Jesus told us all to go out and spread the Gospel and to baptize in His name. It is my prayer that you would watch the two video’s that I have in the sidebar which exposes the false doctrines and belief’s that the Mormon Church has spread throughout the world. The only true happiness, joy and peace that we will ever have is when we turn our lives over to true Jesus Christ of the Holy Bible and not to the false teachings of the LDS Church. May God have mercy on your soul for misguiding so many lost folks who are seeking God.
We would be better off if we trusted in Him in every part of our day. God Bless You.
thank you pray for me..but, i didn't need your pray... :)
my pray for you is,
may Allah open your eyes and show you the right way ...hope Allah can show you the truth of Islam before it is too late..you're a good man.. i believe , you can be a luckiest person if you can say shahadah before die...
and the paradise, will be yours.. i don't want to see a kind person like you in the hell..
in the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most-Compassionate,... Ashhaduallaa...ilaaa..hailllallah.....wa ashh hadu annna muhammadarrasuulullah....
:)
srikandi,
Your god cannot be the most compassionate seeing that Jesus Christ became a sacrifice for our sin. Your god requires you to make many sacrifices. where is mercy and compassion in that?
There is a muslim family who lives next to me and I am very sad for them and pray for them. Their children live in constant fear of everything! They are terrified of my dog. Of getting things on their skin.One of the little girls got paint on her hands and ran inside screaming. my daughter asked her older sister what was the matter..she said it could be poison. They are afraid of playing. Her older sister once scolded my son for hanging upside down saying his brain could explode..It seems these children are terrified of death and they see death in everything. In Christ we are promised that despite our sin we will be drawn to Him and kept and transformed and saved from hell. There is no fear of death in Christ! It is a blessed time to finally be reunited with Him and others who have gone on before us. We are told that, "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love and of a sound mind." Our God does not want us running around with an abundance of superstitions but wants us to have confidence and clear understanding of the world around us. He made everything and declared it good! The world is a beautiful working system that was created by Him! And He says it isn't good to eat everything He made but we certainly shouldn't out right destroy His creation because of a superstition. Dogs have a purpose. Everything God made has an important purpose. These poor children shouldn't have to run away from my dog believeing she is a devil! poor kids i think they are surrounded by black dogs!!
The poor little boy is so confused he asked my daughter if she could save him...The boy has come into our home a few times; and I hope by the scriptures we have on our walls about the compassion of Christ and the love in our home that he will see true compassion.
Please everyone pray for my family and this muslim family that we have just moved by. we have seven children and so do they. They were very intrigued by us because we are similar to them in a couple ways. I think they felt a connection because of the amount of children and that we do not celebrate christianized pagan holidays. they asked my children if our relatives are the same and they said no. they were very intrigued that we did not just do what every one else did in our family. I hope that they will see that you can walk a different way than everyone around you, it just takes courage. Granted I think they will need much more courage, they will receive much more than being called names for thinking for themselves.
A big Amen to this post!
came across this yesterday..
Prov 10:12 "Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins."
what if each of us just loved despite what people said in their disagreements. THis has been a battle for me. I am very sensitive and very opinionated! Ha! but if I just want to be loved then maybe thats all other people want too. Doesn't mean people can't say what they believe..We should all be able to come and reason together right? it hurts when you are mocked. But I believe that God can show us how to forsake our pride and fill us with love. Christ had all the reason to be filled with pride. He is God. yet when He was mocked He said "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." I wish this was my attitude just one time!! My hope is in the promise that He will do a good work in me. All that I guess to say that maybe unity is more about looking inside ourself and asking for more of the stuff we need...love, mercy, and patience.
I was reminded again of God's sovereignty as I looked at John 11:47-53 and considered the events surrounding Jesus' crucifixion. The Jewish leaders thought they were preventing a Roman attack. Pilate believed he was preventing an insurrection.
Though both were doing wrong, God used it to fulfill his plan, making salvation available to every person on earth.
Amen! Great post. I would also like to point out that Jesus did not say to go out and make converts, but to go out and make disciples!! There is a big difference in the two. I think the Church is so focused on how many new converts they can make without discipling them. The bigger the church, the bigger the success. Its sad. I believe there will be many "new converts" that will hear Jesus say, "I never knew you!" The Church today has gotten so far away from what the Word actually says!! Shame on us.
By the way, I am giving you an award. Check it out at my blog, http://animperfecths.blogspot.com/
Thank you for visiting my blog. Your blog is very nice and it is wonderful to meet a brother in Christ.
It can definitely be easy for people to lose faith when they are surrounded by negativity and turmoil but this is a good blog strengthening us to keep the faith!
Amen!
So glad to have found you too!Come on by and visit often!
Blessings!
Ann
Great post brother!
A blessing to read!
Psalm 91 to you from,
Jan Samuel.
Thanks for invited me. I appreciate. I would like to be follower of blog of brother in Christ.
A topic seldom honestly explored, God's sovereignty. We feel that if we admit to God's sovereignty that choice/free-will is annulled. Only a truly sovereign God COULD bestow mankind with genuine choice, and yet not have His plan for mankind and the universe overturned.
Thank you for the post, Lloyd; I think you make it abundantly clear what the "solid rock" is that you stand upon.
Sorry, but I had to add I love the "award free but I love comments" picture! God bless, Lloyd!
Lloyd.
You sure do travel arround.
Just as a side note:
Muslim believe Christ lived, they believe in the miracles He preformed, they believe miracles is evidence of a true prophet and thus what the prophet say is true.
So the question is; If Christ is lived and said He is the only way to be saved, why don't they believe what he said?
They will say that the Bible has been corrupted. Study the history of the Bible, the evidence for it's age. (Titusinstitute and hebrewgospel& if you can't find them come follow the links at my site)
Hey Brother I completely agree with you. God keeps his sovereignty. Even though I believe that in this world our God does not have the domain completely, there are strange forces which are taking control of the environment of this would, such us weather, communications, and the media. All of this with the purpose to control all the people reaching the reign of the anti Christ.
That's why St. Paul Says.. The prince of this world;...and Jesus adds will be taken out...
Now days there's a confusion in churches and in the world, seems as if nobody has a truly answer to the questions that have been appearing.
The latest days of the world will be very similar to the times of Babel's tower.. One men, one language, one mind.
The Word of God is being manipulated by just a quantity of men, such as liar preachers etc... and people who is inside a church every sunday do not read the Bible!!! the do not even know their God and in my opinion due to it they are cheated and deceived.
We gotta search out deeper in the Eternal Water of the Word Of God instead staying on ignorance and leaded by wrong people.
God Bless You Lloyd Very Good Post... If you speak spanish I invite you to check in youtube my channel where i have uploaded some conferences of Ernesto Silva which are in regards to New World Order, Criptocracy and false masters... Blessing !!!
I saw some very interesting posts here. You are very enthusiastic about blogging. I started blogging sometime ago. I look forward to a very nice blogging experience here. It was a pleasure to meet you. I’ll follow you now. Bye!
Clint – Thank you for the visit my friend. You are right when you say, “Bringing unity and trust back into the church is a mammoth job.” That is because, we as sinners and humans can not rely on our own wisdom and courage to do this job. We must allow God to do His work in His churches. We must start with ourselves by humbly getting on our knees and asking forgiveness for allowing the Lord’s church to become such an out-of-control bureaucracy and bring it back into His will. Blessings to you.
Geoff – I am always blessed with your visits and comments. When we talk about how our church is acting or not acting we are of course referring to the body of Christ who are each individual believer in our Lord Jesus Christ. God’s house (believers) is His temple. We each have His Spirit within us. The problem is when we allow Satan to get a foothold in our lives and PRIDE, JEALOUSY and HATRED take control of the way we act. The “church” is made up of sinners like me and you, so what we always need to do is to be the first to repent and build up the “body of Christ”. Whether you meet with other believers in your own home or in a building we must always give the Glory to God and praise Him for our free gift of Salvation. God bless.
Mike – Thank you so much for the visit and comments. You hit the nail right on the head when you said, “…we would be a lot better off in trusting Him.” When Christians begin to rely on their own wisdom instead of God’s wisdom we always fail. It also saddens me to see believers arguing about the non-essentials when it comes to the Word of God. We all need to be focused on our Lord and Savior instead of trying to convince others that our “RELIGION” or out “CHURCH” is the only one that has its act together. God bless.
Phill – Thank you for your visit and encouraging comments. I will lift you up to the Lord in prayer that your new ministry in September will be a success and that it will honor and glorify God. May our Lord continue to shine through you and your ministry. God bless.
Justin – My dad used to tell me this same thing about getting up early. I have to admit though that I have always been an early riser, but as far as making me wise… my wife might have a totally different opinion. I really enjoyed your blog and plan on visiting it again. God bless.
GOD thinker – It is always such a pleasure to have you visit and comment on my blog. What you say is so true. We must all think more of what Jesus said just prior to Him ascending up into Heaven instead of on our own personal agendas. Blessings to you my sister in Christ.
Mari – Thank you for the visit and comments. I also agree with Geoff and when we, as Christians, begin to PRAY within our churches (body of Christ) we will receive more BLESSINGS from God. God bless.
JT – Thank you for the visit and comments. When we turn our lives over to the Lord, it means that we turn over 100% of our lives, not just a part of it. God bless you my friend in Christ.
Srikandi cinta – I want to personally thank you for your visit and comments regarding your personal religious beliefs. However, as you can see by all of the “Christian” posts on this blog, I am firmly grounded in Christ Jesus and totally devoted to our Almighty God. I will continue to pray that one day you will be convicted by the Holy Spirit of the TRUTH of the Holy Bible. God bless you my friend.
Rebecca – I want to personally thank you for your visit and comments. I enjoy coming over to your blog and reading the posts that you have. No need to apologize for being “opinionated” when it comes to the Word of God. Being opinionated sometimes leads us to the TRUTH so keep it up my sister in Christ. I agree with you when you say, “…unity is more about looking inside our self and asking for more of the stuff we need...love, mercy, and patience.” If we, as Christians would do this, there would be fewer problems within Christendom. God bless.
dfish – Thank you for your visit and words of wisdom. Like always you seem to have the right things to say. All we need to know is that God is in complete control, and whatever happens, we BELIEVERS will be the winner. God bless you my brother in Christ.
Saint Shellie - I want to personally let you know that your visit and comments are really appreciated. I have to agree with you when you say, “I think the Church is so focused on how many new converts they can make without discipling them. The bigger the church, the bigger the success.” Wouldn’t it be a blessing if we could all concentrate on the Great Commission without having all the man-made tradition and doctrines becoming a stumbling block?
Thank you so much for giving my blog an award. You are so kind. Blessing to you my sister in Christ.
Beverly, lightworker, Ann Nichols, MasakiFuruki and Jan Samuel – I want to personally thank each one of you for your visits and comments. Each of you will see me visiting and commenting on your blogs soon. God bless.
Ian Curtis – Thank you so much for the visit and comments. I know that with your blog ministry and publishing books you are a very busy person. I agree totally when you said, “Only a truly sovereign God COULD bestow mankind with genuine choice, and yet not have His plan for mankind and the universe overturned.” Your visits are always an encouragement to me.
I decided to put the “Award Free” gadget on my blog because I felt I was beginning to be competitive to all the other Christian bloggers, which is the furthest from the truth. I want to always give the honor and glory to our Lord Christ Jesus. God bless you my brother in Christ.
Thomas Louw –I want to thank you so much for the visit and comments. It is true what you say regarding the Islamic religion. However, even though the Muslim’s believe Jesus was a true prophet, Jesus was just a man like all other prophets in the Bible and not the Son of God. Mohammad is the true prophet of Allah that the Islamic put their faith in. As srikandi cinta said in her comments above
“thank you pray for me..but, i didn't need your pray... :) my pray for you is, may Allah open your eyes and show you the right way ...hope Allah can show you the truth of Islam before it is too late..you're a good man.. i believe , you can be a luckiest person if you can say shahadah before die...and the paradise, will be yours.. i don't want to see a kind person like you in the hell..
in the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most-Compassionate,... Ashhaduallaa...ilaaa..hailllallah.....wa ashh hadu annna muhammadarrasuulullah....”
This sort of sums it up. Let us always show God’s LOVE, PEACE, and MERCY towards our Islamic neighbors. However, I think it is very important to continue to pray earnestly for those who put their personal faith in “anything” other then our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus. Blessings my friend in Christ.
I agree with you the church needs to unite. That is the church that is preaching the word of God. Recently, people have knocked on my door from churches that are preaching false doctrorines that I could never unite myself with. We should also be careful about what we are uniting ourself with. There are wolves in sheeps clothing.
I certainly agree with your post. Believers should be more focused on pointing the lost to Jesus creatively, gently, un- hypocritically.
Personally, I think allot of folks stay away from church because they had a relative or parent only shine their "light" on Sunday in front of people but at home they were different.
We're glad we have a pastor who is pretty transparent with the congregation about his flaws at home. He uses it to illustrate the message incorporating it with the bible teaching.
Please excuse my rambling...lol! Your post just made me think of that.
Thank you for praying for us and the reminder to focus on Jesus. It is so important to stay in constant prayer and allow Jesus to influence our thoughts moment by moment.
God bless you, Lloyd. Appreciate you. :)
Hello and peace from God to you and your family
I wish you a blessed day
Daniel 6 verse 28
Greetings from
Jan Samuel
Such a wonderful post and informative blog. Keep up the good work for the Lord. Love this site.
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