Praying God’s Sovereignty

The sovereignty of God.
We were reminded of it again this Easter season as Jesus’ resurrection demonstrated God’s power over sin, hell and the grave.

So is that what sovereignty means? That God won at the cross and He wins in the end – that by the book of Revelation He sorts everything out, throwing Satan off the premises for good, and setting everything eternally right?

Well, partly. But I don’t think that in between the empty tomb and Armageddon God lays down His power and right to rule. Sure, there’s room for a lot of mystery as I wonder how that fits in with free will and man’s power to make sinful choices... but I should never lose hold of what I do understand about God’s sovereignty, because it’s not just a dry theological fact. It matters when I serve the body of Christ and when I interact with unbelievers, and it matters when I pray.

That’s because Easter demonstrates that God can redeem anything at any point. No matter how far off track things have gotten and how dismal the prospect of anything ever being right again, God has a way back. He did it for the whole world at the resurrection; He offers it all the time in each of our daily lives. There’s never a point at which He shakes His head and says, “What a mess. It’s beyond Me.” He may choose to back off and let consequences occur – but He’s never bewildered or not quite strong enough or low on resources or caught without a plan.

Faith in God’s sovereignty makes a huge difference in the way I pray for myself or for my family or for my world. It’s the difference between little, wishful prayers and prayers as big as God is, as deep as His passion for restoring people to Himself, as powerful as the resurrection dynamis.

How can I grasp this in a practical way? I can pray Psalm 139 - that discourse on God’s sovereignty – and apply its truth to:
• myself... “Lord, you have searched me and known me... see if there is any offensive way in me”
• those I love and am concerned about... “Lord, I know You are familiar with all ---‘s ways... Where can she go from your Spirit?”...
• the unsaved I pray for... Their “darkness will not be dark to You... for darkness is as light to You”
• persecuted Christians, our military, our missionary families... “You hem them in, behind and before; You have laid Your hand on them”...

Psalm 139 is one way to bring God’s sovereignty into our prayers – and into the lives of those we pray for. Try it.