Put God in Charge of Everything in Your Life!

Good morning, Happy Souls!

Bill Keller wrote a wonderful devotional today
that I highly recommend to you.  He has given
me permission to copy his e-mails, and I'm sure
he would be happy if you would share this with
people you know as well.

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DAILY DEVOTIONAL     WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 7, 2005
(Matthew 10:30, Galatians 2:20, 1 Thessalonians
5:17, Ephesians 3:16, John 15:5)

***CHRISTMAS PASSAGE:  Then Herod called the Magi
secretly and found out from them the exact time
the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem
and said, "Go and make a careful search for the
child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so
that I too may go and worship him." After they
had heard the king, they went on their way, and
the star they had seen in the east went ahead of
them until it stopped over the place where the
child was.  When they saw the star, they were
overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the
child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down
and worshiped him.  Then they opened their
treasures and presented him with gifts of gold
and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned
in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned
to their country by another route.  (Matthew
2:7-12)

Praying even about the little things.   I want to
share with you today a lesson I learned many years
ago that literally transformed my daily life.  It
became the difference between me going through the
day in my strength, feeling like there was a baby
grand piano on my back, and going through the day
in the Lord's strength, effortlessly and free
regardless of what the circumstances or problems
that day brought.  We have no problem praying to
God about the "big things" in our life, but what
about the "little things?"

It is critical to never forget that prayer is an
act of dependence upon God.  We pray because we are
dependent upon God for the answer.  We pray
because we face things in our life that are totally
out of our control and God is the only answer.  Let
me make an important point here that will help you
grasp the lesson today about praying for even the
little things in your life.  It is a false sense of
security we have that we are in control of ANYTHING
in our life.  That is a lie from the depths of hell
itself.  We may THINK we are in control of certain
things, when in reality we are not.

It is rebellion to live your life or even try to
live your life apart from God.  When you confess
Christ as your Savior you are surrendering your
life to Him.  Completely.  100%.  The Bible clearly
says that it is no longer our life, that it ALL
belongs to Him.  The problem is we never really get
to that place of 100% surrender.  We might get to
50%, or maybe 75%, or even 95%, but we never really
give it ALL to Him.  There are certain parts of our
life we hold on to, not willing to give Christ
everything.

What we end up holding onto are those sins that
have become deeply rooted in our life as well as the
parts of our life we think we are in control of.  We
have talked often in the past about dealing with
those "secret sins," those deep-rooted bondages that
we have learned how to live with.  As we mature in
our faith, the Holy Spirit brings us under
conviction and we slowly get victory over and
eliminate those bondages and strongholds, allowing
the Spirit to clean up those areas of our life that
are not pleasing to the Lord.  However, we still
hold onto the things in our life we think we have
some control over.

What I am talking about are those day-to-day issues
that we face that may not seem life-changing, and
in the big scheme of things are pretty trivial.
Getting a parking place.  A problem at the bank
with your account.  Your car needs to be serviced.
An issue on your job or at school.  You find ants
in your house.  They can't find two of your shirts
at the dry cleaners.  I am talking about literally
thousands and thousands of daily issues that arise
as you are simply living your life.  These are the
"little things" that we never pray about and try to
handle on our own.

Don't you know how much God cares about you and
loves you?  The Bible says that He cares about you
and loves you so much He even knows the number of
hairs on your head.  If God cares enough to number
the hairs on your head, why would you think He
doesn't care if your keys are lost or your
sprinkler system is not working?  Let me assure
you, HE DOES!  I'm going to share something with
you that will literally transform your life and
your relationship with God.  START PRAYING ABOUT
EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS IN YOUR LIFE, EVEN THE
LITTLE THINGS!

Years ago, I realized that I was living my daily
life not really depending on God but myself.  I
began to pray about everything, no matter how
insignificant it seemed.  I would pray as I was
looking for a parking spot. That didn't mean a
spot up front magically became available, but it
did mean I got the exact spot God wanted me to be
in.  I would pray when I would decide what phone
to buy.  It didn't mean they gave me the phone for
free, but I ended up with the exact phone God
wanted me to have.  I would pray when I took my
car to be serviced.  It didn't mean that there
weren't things that needed to be repaired, but
God made sure what needed to be fixed was, and it
was in good working order.

The point I want you to grasp is that thinking we
are in control of anything is a myth.  However,
God IS in control of everything at all times.  He
has given us the ability to communicate with Him
at any time about anything.  We are fools when we
don't take full advantage of that opportunity.
Trust me, there is nothing you can do better than
God!  Let me repeat that so you don't miss it.
There is NOTHING you can do better than God.  You
are only making your life more difficult when you
live any part of your life apart from God.  You
are carrying unnecessary burdens when you don't take
everything, even the little things to the Lord in
prayer.

I love you and care about you so much.  God loves
you and cares about you even more.  He loves you
and cares about EVERYTHING in your life, even the
little things.  Have you ever went to your mom and
dad with a problem and they told you, "Don't bother
me, I don't have time right now, figure it out
yourself."  God will never do that.  The Bible
doesn't say, "call upon the Lord with the big
problems in life but handle the little things
yourself."  The Bible tells us to bring ALL of our
petitions to the Lord.  That means not just the
big things in our life, but the little things as
well.

We are actually in rebellion to God when we are
trying to deal with anything in our lives apart
from Him.  John 15:5 tells us that without Him, we
can do NOTHING!   It doesn't say we can do the
little things, it says NOTHING.  When we pray about
those little things we face each day in our life,
we are not only being obedient, we are not only
acknowledging our dependence upon the Lord, we are
taking the pressure off our ourselves.  We may get
it right, we may make the right decision, but we
know GOD WILL 100% of the time.  We are being
foolish not to call upon the name of the Lord and
let His Spirit guide us in everything we do in life.

I will be praying for you today.  Praying that you
will start to consciously make an effort to pray
throughout the day as you are faced with decisions,
with problems, with choices to make.  Simply take a
moment and ask God to show you the way, help you
through whatever the problem may be, guide you in
your decisions.  After a while, it will become
second nature, instinctive, to pray about everything
in your life throughout the day.  You will be
amazed at how it will transform your daily life.
Not only will you be living in the freedom of His
strength, but you will start to live with great
confidence because when God is guiding you and
directing your steps, LIFE WORKS!  Keep praying about
the big things in your life, but now, start even
praying about the little things.

In His love and service,
Your friend and brother in Christ,
Bill Keller

***If I can help you in any way you can contact me
through my personal email at bkeller@liveprayer.com

***ARE YOU 100% CERTAIN WHERE YOU WILL SPEND
ETERNITY?  The fact is you will die one day.  At
that moment, you will either spend eternity with
the Lord or be cast into everlasting darkness
forever separated from God your creator.  To know
for certain you will be forever with Jesus, go to:
http://www.liveprayer.com/bdy_salvatn.html

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(C) Copyright 2005, Bill Keller Ministries.
All rights reserved

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May God bless you as you learn from this message!

Merry Christmas!!

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell