Have Your Way

Opening illustration: Consider this scenario, the building all around you is burning. You are too far up to jump, because landing on the ground would surely kill you. The flames and smoke have forced you out of the window and onto the ledge. You are hanging onto the ledge to avoid the flames and smoke. There you are on the ledge hanging on; you can't go back inside; you can't climb down. Below you, a group of firemen are waiting to catch you in their safety net. All you have to do is let go and fall into that net. "Let go," they call. "Trust us; we'll catch you." "Let go. The fire will get you if you keep hanging on." The firestorm that is your life may be burning all around you. Life's situations may seem so hopeless. Do you hear God calling to you? Why are you still trying to take care of things yourself? Let God have His way!

Letting go and letting God in word means trusting Him and letting Him have His way with your life.

Let us turn to Luke 22:42 and see how the Word of God addresses this …

Introduction: Just a Thought: God will have His way; His will, will be accomplished. If this is so, why do we need to bother to do anything? Why don’t we just sit back and “let God?”

Frankly, the doctrine of sovereignty does not relieve us of responsibility. We still have ethical, moral and spiritual reasonability to hear, reason and respond appropriately to the call and commands of God in order to walk in harmony with God. However what the doctrine of sovereignty does do for us is, bring comfort and confidence that God really is in control.

People may think God should do things a certain way - but God is not limited to human thinking! It’s a mistake to tell God how to heal you, how to provide a spouse for you, or how to do any miracle. Let him figure it out, because He is Almighty God!

When Elijah was in the cave, there was an earthquake, a windstorm, and a fire, but God wasn’t in them. Finally came that still small voice speaking in a very quiet and gentle manner, and it was God (1 Kings 19:12). This is the way He works. So, whatever you are asking Him for, believe God—then let Him do it in His way so that He can have His way.

How can God have His way in our lives?

1. Thinking out of the box (Isaiah 55:8)

God doesn’t always do things the logical way, God uses unorthodox methods, He’s illogical and unconventional; it may not always make sense to our mind. If you have these preconceived ideas of how you’re going to be promoted, get well, it will limit what God can do. You have to stay open, let God out of your box; you may only see one way that it could happen, it’s obvious, you need to get that promotion so you’ll have the funds to accomplish your dreams. If you get passed over, if you’re not careful you’ll get discouraged, start thinking’, “it’s never going to happen, I missed my opportunity, God it’s not fair.” No, what you don’t realize is God closed that door on purpose because He has something’ much better in front of you. Just because it’s the logical way doesn’t mean that its God’s way, just because it happened that way before doesn’t mean it’s going to happen that way next time. Stay open; if you’re narrow-minded, you can miss God’s best.

Our attitude should be, “God, I’m letting you out of my box, You can do anything in my life, You can do it any time, You can use any person that You want, God I trust you to do it Your way.” It’s easy to make narrow-minded judgements, and think, “God can’t use her as she’s a sinner. God can’t use him, he likes to party. God can’t use them, they don’t even believe in God.” No, God can use whoever He wants to use, save whoever He wants to save, bring good out of whomever He wants to. God used Rahab the prostitute to save the people of Israel, a donkey to speak to the prophet, Pharaoh’s daughter to take care of baby Moses; God used the enemy to take care of one of his children. God is God, He can do whatever He wants to do; don’t put Him in a box and miss your miracle.

A lot of times, God is answering our prayer, it’s just not the way that we expected. You have to stay open as to how God answers your prayer; it may not be the way you had planned, God may not use the people you were expecting, it may not happen on your timetable, but this is what faith is all about; “God I trust you, You know what’s best for me, what I need, when I need it, who I need.” some of you today are a little discouraged because things haven’t worked out the way you had planned, but you need to take another look; maybe God has answered your prayers, just not the way you thought. Or maybe what you were asking for wasn’t God’s best, and God loves you too much to answer that prayer. Maybe God has given you something better, but because you’re so set in seeing it happen your way you don’t recognize it right now. God knows what He’s doing, He can see the big picture for your life; if you’re only going to be happy if God does it your way, you’re not really trusting; you’ve got to come to the place where if it doesn’t work out the way you had it planned you’re still in peace, you know God is still on the throne, and He will still get you to where you’re supposed to be but you might just delay it with your pride and disobedience.