So who exactly is in charge?

I came across a prayer that was posted on Facebook this past week. And it was a prayer for President Lungu. The prayer said in part:

“Let every COFFIN they have prepared for the president catch fire right now and burn to ashes in Jesus mighty name. Let every shrine and every evil altar bearing the Presidents image catch fire in the mighty name of Jesus. May the place they are monitoring him from catch fire and collapse in Jesus name. Every coven assigned to monitor his life with whatever gadgets they are using be stricken with blindness in the name of Jesus. May every spell, sickness or disease manufactured from the underworld that will swimmingly appear as a genuine medical problem expire by fire in Jesus name.”

Prayers like this one have an under lying theology and they force us to ask the all-important question; who is in charge? Is it God? Is it the devil and his evil spirits? Or is it man? Who exactly is in charge of the happenings of life? Who determines what happens, when it happens, how it happens and to whom it happens? People who see the need to declare and decree even death clearly believe the devil is in charge and in control of what’s going on this earth. They are convinced that the devil can frustrate the purposes of God and therefore they have to help God and unlock his power!

Thankfully God has not left us in the dark on this matter, for the bible is very clear on who is in charge and in control on the earth. That God is indeed sovereign is evident from the following texts. “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases” (Ps. 115:3). “All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’” (Dan. 4:35). “Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps” (Ps. 135:6). “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2). God is “the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords< to him be honor and eternal dominion” (1Tim. 6:15, 16).

Our God has both the authority and power to do as he pleases and no one can stop him. Furthermore nothing happens on this earth that is outside God’s purposes, because whatever happens in this world has been decreed by God this includes:

DEATH: “Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass” (Job 14:5).

RULERS: “The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will” (Prov. 21:1).

ACCIDENTAL SMALL DETAILS: “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD” (Prov. 16:33). “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered” (Mt. 10:29, 30).

NATURAL DISASTERS: “Does disaster come to a city, unless the LORD has done it?” (Amos 3:6).

ELECTION UNTO SALVATION: “though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad – in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call” (Rom. 9:11).

DESTINY OF THE WICKED: “For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (Jude 4).

This truth should be a source of great comfort to us, to know that the All powerful, loving, gracious and long suffering God is in total control of our lives and the happenings around us, what a blessing! We can only say with the 24 elders in Revelation 4:11  "Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created"