| Good Morning Everyone, Our theme for this month: “Stay strong” Our Bible verse for today: “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28 (CSB) Our thought for today: “Trusting in God’s sovereignty makes us strong.” The doctrine of the sovereignty of God is broad, sweeping, and all-encompassing. It means that God is supreme – He is the creator, sustainer, and ruler of all creation. But it’s also more than that. God is everywhere (omnipresent); He knows everything (omniscient); and He is all-powerful (omnipotent). That means that there is nothing in all creation that He is not aware of and which He does not have control over. That includes all the situations of your life and mine. There will never be anything going on in your life that God is not aware of, and which He doesn’t have full control over. Beyond that, God is good and loving. He is also kind, compassionate, merciful, and He is always seeking the best for us. Combine those attributes with His sovereign rule over your life, and we begin to understand what Paul is telling us in Romans 8:28. Whatever is going on in your life at this moment God is there, He is at work in the middle of it, and He will use that situation to bring some good thing out of it. That doesn’t mean that the thing itself is good. It may not be. But it does mean that God is at work behind the scenes and in the middle of it to bring good things out of it. When we come to the point that we understand the full scope of God’s sovereignty, along with His tremendous love for us and His infinite goodness, we realize that we can trust Him with our situations. Then, if we will release the situation to Him and trust Him with the outcome, we will find peace about it, and that will make us stronger. Many years ago I was at a large international missions conference as a representative of the mission organization I was on staff at. It was a dark time in my personal life. There were complicated issues that were weighing heavily on me. At one point, as I was on a break from my duties at our booth in the resource/display area, I wandered into the host church and discovered they had set-up a prayer-walk (sort of a thematic maze that led you from station-to-station, each with a focal point of prayer). The entire thing was designed with people like me in mind, people who had a burden they needed to let go of. At one station there was a cross with medium-sized stones at the foot of it. A bin to the side of the cross contained more stones. The instructions at the station were to pray about the burden you were carrying, consider it in light of the sovereignty of God, and then, as an act of faith and trust, take one of the stones out of the bin and lay it at the cross as a symbol of releasing that burden (and the outcome) to God. I did, and I was amazed at the sudden wave of relief I felt. So much so that I took another of those stones and brought it home with me to serve as a reminder to trust God for the outcome of this particular situation, and for all my situations. (To this day that stone sits on a shelf in my office. I’m looking at it now as I write this.) Trusting in God’s sovereign goodness will bring peace and relief, and it also makes us strong. I encourage you to trust Him today with whatever difficult thing you are dealing with. God Bless, Pastor Jim |
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Oak Hill Baptist Church 
Great word. Very encouraging. Thank you.