Lindsay Rouse

21D Fishers – Day 1: God is Sovereign

Tonight was Night #1 and while it was far from perfect, God still met us there and it was amazing to feel His wonderful presence.  While we pursue excellence to honor the sovereignty of our Heavenly Father, He is more relational than transactional.  That is the beauty of the nature of God and who He is.  His love is unconditional, his power is unlimited, and His word is final.  Reading through Genesis 1 and 2, we get to see many of the qualities that make God sovereign.

  • God is absolute and final
    • There was noone or no thing that added on to what He created.
    • There is no Type A person or High D person coming behind him fixing or changing what he created.
    • There is no board or directors or management team to consult about these decisions.
    • What God spoke into existence is exactly what and how it happened.
      • But when God created the heavens and the earth, it was final.
      • When He created light and dark, it was final
      • And when He created animals, plants and trees, it was…FINAL.
    • Therefore, God is absolute and has the final say. There is no trump card.
  • God is Boundless and Unlimited
    • There was nothing missing from creation.
    • If the Lord wanted it to exist, He spoke it into existence even down to the smallest details and the largest of dreams that we cannot even fathom.
    • He was not limited in power, or in words, or in human weakness.
    • Everything that He created were good things which pleased Him.
    • The Lord does not have limits, yet, sometimes WE put limits on Him in our lives.
      • Do we limit Him when we pray only asking for things that we feel are logical or attainable?
      • Do we limit Him when we rely only on modern medicine instead of praying for a miracle through the medicine?
      • Do we limit Him when we are afraid the answer may not be what we want it to be?
    • How do we stop placing limitations on the Lord?
      • PRAY BOLD PRAYERS!
      • Pray prayers that you have never prayed before.
      • Pray about those dreams on your heart that no one knows but Jesus.
      • Pray for wisdom, discernment, courage, and grace.
      • And once you pray, be sure to pause and listen for God’s response.
      • But don’t get discouraged if you have to repeat this process. That will help build your faith and trust.
      • Whenever the Lord is calling me to step out and take a leap of faith, I always ask myself 2 questions:
        • What is the worst that could happen if I do this?
        • What would happen if I don’t do this?

I want to challenge you over the next 21 days that as you begin praying these bold prayers and dusting off dreams in your heart that have been stagnant for many years, that you would begin asking yourself those 2 questions.  I think you would be surprised that usually the outcome if you did not do what God was calling you to do is more detrimental than the worst that could happen if you did follow God’s plan.

  • God is unconditional.
    • Later in Genesis, Adam and Eve sin against God and are thrown out of the Garden of Eden. If our Heavenly Father’s love was conditional, He probably would have destroyed humans or started over with others.  Instead, He disciplined them but still wanted to be in relationship with them.
    • The same goes for us, when we sin against God, He may discipline us but He will always want the relationship with us. Nothing can change that.
    • All we have to do is accept His unconditional gift of relationship.
    • All we have to do is get to a place where we can reciprocate that unconditional love.

And if we can get to those places and truly see God’s Sovereignty in it’s fullness then our prayers start changing from “Lord Here is what I want and my expectation.” To where we can say “Lord, this is my prayer and this is my heart’s desire but even if this doesn’t come to pass, You are still good and You are still sovereign and it doesn’t change my feelings toward You because nothing I do can change His feelings toward me.”

And even if…God is sovereign and He is still good.

Corporate Prayer Scripture: Ephesians 3:14-21

14 When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,[a] 15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.[b] 16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 21 Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.