DAY 43 – WHAT IS THE ONLY THING YOU ARE IN CONTROL OF?

WHAT IS THE ONLY THING YOU ARE IN CONTROL OF?

Merriam-Webster defines “control” as having the power to influence or direct people’s behavior.  Over the years, I have been fortunate to coach, teach, manage, and lead others to success, but never once did I think I was in control, but I knew who was.



I remember coaching a U16 all girl soccer team and somehow thinking I was in control of the practices – after all, I was the coach. Not!  I held a player meeting and simply asked them, “What do I need to do to get you to practice hard and not goof off?”  One of the girls spoke up and simply said, we need time to talk to each other.  Being a dumb male coach, I said, “What do you mean?”  Once they explained it in terms I could understand, I changed the practice to accommodate them.

Our practices went like this:
6:00         Arrive
6:05         Talk time
6:10         Warm up
6:25         Talk time
6:30         Training
6:45         Talk time
6:50         Scrimmage
7:05         Talk time
7:10         Scrimmage
7:25         Talk time
7:30         Coaches update
 
To get the best out of my players, I needed to learn from them and give up control.  I needed them to tell me how to help them be successful.

Have you ever considered the possibility that “control” is simply an illusion and does not exist?  Maybe, we are looking in the wrong place?  Take a moment and scroll down to read ALL the scriptures posted below. They will declare who is in control in every aspect of life.  Let them speak to you about who He is and how He is with you all the days of your life.
 
“What is the only thing you are in control of?”

What you believe!  You and only you, get to make that decision.  It is the only decision that has eternal significance and it is up to you.  What do you believe? 

I have met and interacted with people from all walks of life while on this journey and like most communities, faith or a lack thereof can be categorized into three bullets:

• Those who believe … they are all in and sold out! They chose to believe in and follow Jesus.
  
  
• Those who don’t believe … they are lost.  They have heard it and rejected it or they simply haven’t considered the truth.  They chose not to follow Jesus and instead they tend to follow the ways of the world, which includes following false religions. It’s not too late, if that is you, you can change that right now by simply praying and asking Jesus into your heart as your Lord and Savior.
  
  
• Those who believe, but are living with pain … they are suffering.  At some point in their life, their faith was shaken. They now live day in and day out with pain or doubt from the past. Their heart may have become hardened and the pain may have imprisoned them, but now they need reconciliation and they need their faith to be restored. People in this category tend to avoid any conversation about faith, they tend to say things like “thoughts” or “positive vibes” or anything else to avoid giving any power or authority in faith to Jesus.  They may be holding on to a time they prayed and they didn’t see God act.  Sometimes fear drives these responses.  People do everything they can to avoid being hurt or suffering again, so they deflect it rather than embrace it. It doesn’t have to be that way, you can turn and run to God - not away.  He loves you and wants to restore you. He wants to make you whole.  Just talk to Him and he will fill your void and restore you to a right relationship with him. There is nothing you did or could ever do that prevents Him from loving you.  Come as you are and allow Him to minister to your heart.

  
LET’S PRAY
Romans 10:9-10, 13 remind us, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified (declared not guilty), and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved (promised eternal life).”  “… for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
 
If you are reading this blog, I am praying for you.  I am praying for your faith to increase, or I am praying for you to accept Jesus into your heart or I am praying for your relationship to be restored.  I love ya and Jesus loves you more!

TGBTG,
Tom O’Keefe 

GOD IS IN CONTROL

Proverbs 19:21 ESV - Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.
Romans 8:28 ESV - And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Jeremiah 29:11 ESV - For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Joshua 1:9 ESV - Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Isaiah 45:6-7 ESV - That people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things.
Isaiah 41:10 ESV - Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Matthew 19:26 ESV - But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Isaiah 55:8-11 ESV - For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
Matthew 6:34 ESV - “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Proverbs 16:9 ESV - The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
Proverbs 16:4 ESV - The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.
Job 12:10 ESV - In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.
Psalm 22:28 ESV - For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.
Psalm 115:3 ESV - Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.
Ephesians 1:11 ESV - In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,
Isaiah 45:7 ESV - I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things.
1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV - No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
Isaiah 14:24 ESV - The Lord of hosts has sworn: “As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand,
Hebrews 2:8 ESV - Putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.
1 Chronicles 29:11 ESV - Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.
Exodus 9:16 ESV - But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.
Daniel 4:35 ESV - 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?”
2 Timothy 1:7 ESV - For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
Jeremiah 32:27 ESV - “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?
John 16:33 ESV - I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Romans 9:21 ESV - Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
Proverbs 21:1 ESV - The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.
Matthew 10:29 ESV - Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.
Philippians 4:13 ESV - I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Jeremiah 10:6-10 ESV - There is none like you, O Lord; you are great, and your name is great in might. Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? For this is your due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like you. They are both stupid and foolish; the instruction of idols is but wood! Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz. They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith; their clothing is violet and purple; they are all the work of skilled men. But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation.
Genesis 50:20 ESV - As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
Revelation 1:8 ESV - “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Revelation 4:11 ESV - “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.”
Psalm 24:1 ESV - A Psalm of David. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein,
Psalm 99:1-9 ESV - The Lord reigns; let the peoples tremble! He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake! The Lord is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples. Let them praise your great and awesome name! Holy is he! The King in his might loves justice. You have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt the Lord our God; worship at his footstool! Holy is he! ...
Psalm 37:23 ESV - The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way;
1 Chronicles 29:11-12 ESV - Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.
Psalm 46:10 ESV - “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
Psalm 9:10 ESV - And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
Hebrews 1:3 ESV - He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
James 1:13 ESV - Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.
Romans 8:31 ESV - What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Isaiah 14:27 ESV - For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?
Revelation 1:17-18 ESV - When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
1 Corinthians 14:33 ESV - For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints,
John 14:6 ESV - Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Proverbs 29:26 ESV - Many seek the face of a ruler, but it is from the Lord that a man gets justice.
2 Chronicles 20:5-12 ESV - And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, and said, “O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? And they have lived in it and have built for you in it a sanctuary for your name, saying, ‘If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you—for your name is in this house—and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.’ ...
Psalm 27:1 ESV / Of David. The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
1 Peter 5:7 ESV / Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
Acts 2:23 ESV / This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
Acts 17:26 ESV / And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place,
Isaiah 55:8 ESV / For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
Genesis 1:1 ESV / In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Psalm 23:1-6 ESV / A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ...
1 John 1:5 ESV / This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
1 John 2:5 ESV / But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:
Philippians 4:6-7 ESV / Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
1 Samuel 2:6-7 ESV / The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts.
Deuteronomy 33:26-29 ESV / “There is none like God, O Jeshurun, who rides through the heavens to your help, through the skies in his majesty. The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. And he thrust out the enemy before you and said, Destroy. So Israel lived in safety, Jacob lived alone, in a land of grain and wine, whose heavens drop down dew. Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, the shield of your help, and the sword of your triumph! Your enemies shall come fawning to you, and you shall tread upon their backs.”
Psalm 34:7 ESV / The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.
2 Chronicles 20:15 ESV / And he said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God's.
Exodus 14:13 ESV / And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.
John 14:27 ESV / Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
Genesis 1:2 ESV / The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
John 3:1-36 ESV / Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ...
1 John 4:18 ESV / There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
Revelation 21:22-24 ESV / And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it,
John 13:7 ESV / Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”
1 Timothy 6:15 ESV / Which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords,
Psalm 135:6 ESV / Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.
Joshua 24:15 ESV / And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Revelation 1:17 ESV / When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last,
John 17:17 ESV / Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
John 3:16-17 ESV / “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Psalm 46:1 ESV / To the choirmaster. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A Song. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Psalm 34:19 ESV / Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
Ephesians 1:11-12 ESV / In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
Psalm 94:19 ESV / When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.
Revelation 1:1-20 ESV / The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood ...
Luke 21:8 ESV / And he said, “See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them.
Psalm 23:4 ESV / Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Psalm 3:1-8 ESV / A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son. O Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God. Selah But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. ...
2 Peter 3:2 ESV / That you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles,
Hebrews 11:1-40 ESV / Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. ...
Matthew 28:20 ESV / Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Isaiah 40:31 ESV / But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Psalm 148:1-14 ESV / Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts! Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars! Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the Lord! For he commanded and they were created. ...
Joshua 1:5 ESV / No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you.
Philippians 4:19 ESV / And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Romans 13:1 ESV / Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
Romans 8:29-30 ESV / For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Revelation 3:7-8 ESV / “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. “‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
John 19:11 ESV / Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.”
Matthew 4:1-12:50 ESV / Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple ...
Zechariah 4:6 ESV / Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.
Jonah 1:4 ESV / But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up.
Amos 3:6 ESV / Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it?
Psalm 55:22 ESV / Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.
Psalm 31:14-15 ESV / But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.” My times are in your hand; rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!

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