Is God In Control

I was praying for someone recently concerning healing. When I pray for people I like to talk to them and find out what level of faith they are operating on. By doing that I can more effectively minister to them. When I asked this person if they believed God would heal them when I laid my hands on them, this person said, well you know Brother Ken, God is in control. When I left that meeting and got on the plane going home, I couldn’t stop thinking about what that person said to me. I thought to myself, is God in control? It seems to me that if God was in control that person would have never been sick in the first place. John 10:10 says The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. Notice Jesus did not say I have come to make them have life or to demand that they have life. We see in this verse that Jesus said that they might have more abundant life. We see here that Jesus came and made abundant life available to us. The word control means to command, direct, or rule. Now let’s look at Deuteronomy 30:19. (19) I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live. If God was in control why would He give us the option to choose the quality of our lives. We have the choice of blessing or cursing, life or death. God does, however, indicate to us the best choice but He does not make demands on what choose. Matthew 16:19 sheds more light on this subject. (19) And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. God makes the keys of the kingdom of heaven available to us. Whoever has the keys to anything has control. Whatever we lock up on earth is locked up in heaven. Whatever we unlock on earth is unlocked in heaven. Notice here that God moves in response to what we do. If we just sit around and wait for God to do something we are going to be disappointed and defeated. God is waiting for us to do something. He will allow whatever we choose to come to pass in our lives. God bless.