God Is Sovereign Over Us = Sovereignty of God is the Christian teaching that God is the supreme authority and all things are under His control. … Easton’s Bible Dictionary defines God’s Sovereignty as His “absolute right to do all things according to his own good pleasure.”
Yesterday June 4th around 5pm, driving home with my wife and grandson from a favorite restaurant where we had enjoyed some seafood pasta, fried shrimp and fried oysters the Christian radio station we were listening to took my mind off my full belly. It said the vatican, namely Pope Francis had approved changing the wording of “The Lord’s Prayer” or as some may know as the “Our Father.” I think she was reading from this article as she mentioned all this word for word.
From this CBN News article – Pope Francis has officially approved a change to the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:13 that replaces “lead us not into temptation” with “do not let us fall into temptation.”
US Catholic reported Monday that the Vatican enacted the change on May 22. https://www.ucatholic.com/news/pope-francis-approves-changes-to-lords-pr…
The Pope believes the new version is better because the first translation implies that God leads people into temptation, an action that is against his nature as a good and holy God.
“A father doesn’t do that, a father helps you to get up immediately,” Francis said of the line in question. “It’s Satan who leads us into temptation, that’s his department.”
For years, Christians have wrestled with the actual meaning behind, “Lead us not.” After more than 16 years of study, some biblical researchers say a better translation of the scripture would be: “Abandon us not when in temptation.”
The late theologian Charles Spurgeon explained during a sermon in 1863 that the word “temptation” in Matthew 6:13 actually holds two meanings, both the temptation toward sin and the facing of trials and tribulations.
While, Spurgeon agrees that God does not tempt us, he does argue that God will send us into trials and situations in which temptation toward sin is ever-present.
“God tempts no man,” Spurgeon said. “For God to tempt in the sense of enticing to sin (is) inconsistent with his nature, and altogether contrary to his known character; but for God to lead us into those conflicts with evil which we call temptations, is not only possible but usual.”
I’m not sure how this happens but I think God has a way of getting my attention by repeating things He wants me to take note of. Maybe it has something to do with the prayer a pray to Him sometimes,
“Lord please be persistent with me if I don’t pay attention and miss the things you are trying to get me to see. You know sometimes I am hard to make understand things and I miss what You are trying to get me to notice. Please draw me a picture. I don’t want to miss You.”
When the radio host spoke of the changes to the Lord’s Prayer and why it was changed I thought about my post on May 23rd “God’s Refining or Consuming Fire” where I included many scriptures of God’s way of bringing changes to our character by allowing, even orchestrating tests and trials for our own good and the good of His Kingdom work on earth.
If that were not enough, the bible verse and the devotional reading from MyDailyBible app I read every day was “beating this dead horse” too. It was my last night at work for this 14 day hitch when the clock turned to 12:01am June 4th and I was able to start reading the new scriptures of the day. The verse of the day was,
https://www.mydailybible.org/dv/nkjv/2019-06-04.htm
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. NKJV
What part of “IN EVERYTHING” give thanks “for this IS THE WILL of God in Christ Jesus FOR YOU” is so hard to understand. Or maybe I could ask, “Just how small or observant is your God?” My God is SOVEREIGN over the entire universe including every hair that was ever on my head. Could you ever imagine God being blindsided by some event? That’s IMPOSSIBLE for an Omniscient God!!!
If the article and verses of God’s Refining Fires work in us and IN EVERYTHING giving thanks to God because He knows and allows anything we go through were not enough to get my attention to the changes to the “Lord’s Prayer'” the devotional reading for June 4th on the MyDailyBible app puts to rest if God allows or even brings tests and trials to us. Below the link is the first two verses of June 4th’s reading,
https://www.mydailybible.org/dp/esv/one-year-tract/2019-06-04.htm
Deuteronomy 8:1 “The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.
If the first two verses isn’t clear about God bringing on the tests to Israel in the Exodus, God tells them why they were tested and reminds them the penalty of forgetting the lesson and not applying it to their lives and the lives of their descendents. America would be in a lot better shape today if the government wouldn’t do everything in it’s power to shove God out of it.
11 “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, 12 lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, 13 and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15 who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. 17 Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 18 You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 19 And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. 20 Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.
You may be thinking that it was just a “coincidence” that those verses would be the ones for that day I learned about the Pope professing God as a good father not teaching His children through tests and trials.
Today I got an email from School of Christ International and what do you think that update from their “Alpha and Omega” site was about,
https://mailchi.mp/c9a17f0e8855/alpha-and-omega-issue-10?e=9b391fdeae
INTERCESSION – One accurate meaning for the word intercession is persistence. That is especially true of intercessory prayer. In many situations we can do nothing but pray. In every situation and crisis, prayer is the most effective way to go through the event, and touch God, so that He may work for us. It represents the unwillingness to let this matter pass without being continually brought before God in believing prayer. It means to hold on before God about this thing until it is answered.
The article goes on to link serious intercessory prayer to “travail”
In God’s Word (King James Version), the Word travail in the Merriam Webster Dictionary means “…hard work, especially work that causes pain or requires an extra amount of exertion.” Other translations use words such as toil, labor, anguish, or labor pains rather than travail. Beyond its physical meaning, travail can also have psychological implications, as in ‘the travail of the soul’. Isaiah 53:11 (KJV) uses the word travail, in reference to the agony of soul the Messiah would suffer when He bore the sins of the world. Jesus’ travail is evident in the Garden of Gethsemane, just before His arrest: “Being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” (Luke 22:44) It will come to everyone.
Jesus, the Prince of Peace, said “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) In Jeremiah 29:11 the Prophet wrote, “For I (God) know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”
Then the article brings up again the Deut. 8:2 verse of God initiating tests and trials that teach us and reveal our weaknesses to us so we can address them.
Romans 11:33 says God’s ways are past our understanding. This Great God said His thoughts toward us was peaceful. He also tells us that He, at all times, has proven that people’s love and unfailing devotion was to be to Him alone. He tried His people, the nation of Israel as recorded in Deuteronomy 8:2, “And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.” There are times when our personal actions bring sorrows and troubles. There are other times when God puts us to a time of testing to know our true feelings and heart toward Him. In true intercessory prayer there will be travail for the purpose of proving. But even though God tests us He floods us, before the struggle with the promises given in His Word. In Isaiah 43:2 He promises, “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.”
My home at the peak of a Record Rain Flood Event August 13, 2016. Not a drop of water entered our home, 146,000 other homes were not as fortunate. I can honestly say I never worried about the water coming in. If it did, we’d deal with it then, not before. I remembered and quoted Isaiah 43:2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: and had peace in my heart and mind.
Where will faith to face “Great Tribulation” come from if we can’t muster faith to face the trivial things of life, trusting God will see us through it.
More from the School of Christ Email – Another precious promise is in James 1:12, “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.” And yet again, the promise of God is found in 1 Peter 4:12-13, “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you; But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.”
There are times when our personal actions bring sorrows and troubles. There are other times when God, our Heavenly Father, has a purpose in His ways with us. He deals with us through experiences in which we do not understand His purpose and ways. In true intercessory prayer there will be travail, but we know Who is in full control. Put your need and crisis in God’s Powerful Hands. Don’t let go. Though it seems you are losing grip, persevere. The answer to your prayer and your perseverance may appear to have not been long and strong enough, just be patient and wait. God sums up the conclusion of it all when He speaks of His appearing. Hold on to 1 Peter 1:7, where the Lord said, “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” There is a victorious and eternal end to all tribulations, trials and sorrows.
Robert Turnage
Temptation in the Hebrew Old Testament is H4531 a testing of men (judicial) or of God (querulous): – {temptation} trial
In the Greek New Testament G3986 a putting to proof (by experiment (of good) experience (of evil)
God’s Word reminds Israel of their tests when he says,
Exodus 15:25 KJV 25 And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,
Psalm 81:7 KJV 7 Thou calledst in trouble, and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah.
Proved H5254 to test; by implication to attempt: adventure, assay, prove, tempt, try
Last, but not least, how can anyone say in God loving us, He does not lead us through tests and trials to accomplish His purpose of refining us when the life of Jesus Christ Himself is to be the example and goal of we who love him should set for ourselves,
Matthew 3:16-17 KJV And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: 17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Matthew 4:1-4 KJV Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. 3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
What purpose would denying that God allows us and even brings us through tests and trials accomplish?
I think most of all is would cause a person to question if God is aware of their situation and then waste time trying to bring it to His attention. It may even make them question if God even cares about their situation, maybe feeling abandoned instead by Him. It may also do what the book of Revelation says will happen when God pours out His judgements on the Earth. Those who don’t know what the bibles says and those who don’t know God may very well curse God in anger.
Revelation 16:8-11 KJV And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. 9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, 11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
Keep in mind, this same pope that has decided to change the words and meaning of the Lord’s Prayer is the same pope that said,
GOD Can’t DO Anything He Wants – “When we read about Creation in Genesis, we run the risk of imagining God was a magician, with a magic wand able to do everything. But that is not so,” Francis told the gathering, where he also dedicated a statue of his predecessor, Benedict XVI. God, Francis said, “created human beings and let them develop according to the internal laws that he gave to each one so they would reach their fulfillment.”
There Is NO HELL – Interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica25, Mar 28, 2018: When asked where bad souls are punished, Francis replied: “They are not punished, those who repent obtain the forgiveness of God and enter the rank of souls who contemplate him, but those who do not repent and cannot therefore be forgiven disappear. There is no hell, there is the disappearance of sinful souls.”
Jesus doesn’t only reference hell, he describes it in great detail. He says it is a place of eternal torment (Luke 16:23), of unquenchable fire (Mark 9:43), where the worm does not die (Mark 9:48), where people will gnash their teeth in anguish and regret (Matt. 13:42), and from which there is no return, even to warn loved ones (Luke 16:19–31). He calls hell a place of “outer darkness” (Matt. 25:30), comparing it to “Gehenna” (Matt. 10:28), which was a trash dump outside the walls of Jerusalem where rubbish was burned and maggots abounded. Jesus talks about hell more than he talks about heaven, and describes it more vividly. There’s no denying that Jesus knew, believed, and warned against the absolute reality of hell.
A Thief That Seeks Mercy & Grace From the Dead – Pope Francis confessed that he took the rosary cross of his late confessor from his casket and wears it to this day in a fabric pouch under his cassock. He said he did so telling the late priest, “Give me half your mercy.”
“This man forgave the sins of all the priests of Buenos Aires, but not a single flower …?” Francis recalled. So he went out and bought a bouquet of roses, and when he returned to arrange them around the casket, he saw the rosary the priest still held in his hand.
“And immediately there came to mind the thief we all have inside ourselves and while I arranged the flowers I took the cross and with just a bit of force I removed it,” he said, showing with his hands how he pulled the cross off the rosary. “And in that moment I looked at him and I said ‘Give me half your mercy.'”
Francis said he kept the cross in his shirt pocket for years, but that the cassock he wears now as pope doesn’t have a pocket. He now keeps it in a little pouch underneath.
“And whenever a bad thought comes to mind about someone, my hand goes here, always,” he said, gesturing to his heart. “And I feel the grace, and that makes me feel better.“
Be A Berean and know what the Word of God says for yourself so you aren’t led astray by unbiblical teaching. Most of ALL, Keep Your Eyes on Jesus and The Cross. Distractions and deceptions all come from the enemy of your soul and has one goal in mind, Kill, Steal and Destroy.
I have said many times to many people, Christians in other countries have a way of putting the shallow faith, dedication and obedience to God and His Word of many American Christians to shame. They need immense faith to face the things they do daily and still trust God. Have you ever noticed that not a single one of these men had the look of anguish or fear on their face, facing a cruel barbaric death. Selah, Think About It!!
The 21: A Journey into the Land of Coptic Martyrs
Researching for the book, in 2017, Martin Mosebach travelled to Egypt to meet the families of the murdered men, by then proclaimed martyrs by the Coptic church. He discovered that since their births in the same village, the men’s lives had been shaped by the Coptic church—also known as the church of the martyrs. Having grown up in a country where Copts were a persecuted minority, the men understood the earthly disadvantages of their faith. Yet, Mosebach maintains, “life itself, without faith, would have been worthless to them.”
Remember to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world that are already facing “Great Tribulation” every day. May Father God sustain, strengthen and encompass them in His Love in their trials and tests of faith.
In The Word 