When we begin to see people going off course, share the Word of God with them.  They may not quickly hear it.  They may not readily hear it.  You share the Word with them, and they’ve become dull in their hearing, in their conscience.  But be assured of this one thing: God is doing whatever’s necessary to set them right.  Let’s have confidence in His sovereignty.  You will never set them right, but God can, praise God!  And we get frustrated because we’re trying to set them right; we’re trying to fix this thing, and only God can do it.  So, we pray and leave it with God.  I’m not saying we don’t speak the Word to one another.  You get the point that I’m making.  True faith—we’ve got to pray in faith.  It doesn’t do any good to pray if we don’t believe, if we don’t have faith in God’s ability.  If you’ve got faith in the sovereignty of God, you can sleep at night; you can find rest; you can be at peace.  And we cast our bread upon the waters, and after many days… (Ecclesiastes 11:1).

I love the passage in Daniel, “The moment you prayed,” God told him, “I heard you” (Daniel 10:12).  Amen?  “And the moment you prayed, I set things in motion.”  Are you waiting for the answer to some of your prayers?  Can I encourage you tonight: God’s plan is in motion.  Amen?  God’s plan is in motion.  Don’t see it?  No evidence of it?  God’s plan is in motion.  You need that cancer to die?  God’s plan is in motion.  You need your mind to be calm?  God’s plan is in motion.  You want that besetting sin destroyed in your life once for all?  God’s plan is in motion, hallelujah!  Are there things that are slowing this down, that are hindering it?  Yes, and we could name a number of things.  His ears are open to the righteous (Psalm 34:15), but what if we’re not living righteously?  We’re believers, but we’ve been making some awfully carnal decisions lately.

Have you ever noticed: when you’re carnally minded, when you’re living in the flesh, you know God’s not hearing your prayer.  Why?  You’re anxious.  You’re fearful.  We become judgmental of Father and whether He really is good.  Oh, we may not verbalize it.  It may not even be the prominent or dominant thought in your life.  But “he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those that diligently seek him,” Hebrews 11, right?  Does God—people ask the question—does God hear a sinner’s prayer?  Well, that’s a different story than what we’re talking about.  The question we might be asking tonight is, “Does God hear the carnal Christian’s prayer?”  Yes.  Because we’re abiding in Him.  Amen?  And He is in the process of setting us right.  Praise God!  Don’t quit.  Don’t faint.  The Scripture makes it very clear.

As we’re resting in this sovereignty of God—listen—His sovereignty is what allowed you to get here.  He already knew this part and time in your life was coming.  But He will not allow us to be tempted past that that we’re able to stand and, with every temptation He makes a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13).  Your next step is the way out.  Your next choice to obey is the way out.  Tomorrow, to take up the cross and deny yourself is the way out, praise God.  Amen?  That’s why He says, “Count it all joy when you fall into different temptations” (James 1:2).  When James is writing that to us, he’s saying, “Count it joy!  It’s working in you patience, endurance, consistency.”

God, in His sovereignty, has already made provision, and because He is God, and because He is omniscient, He can take all of these different negative things in our lives, and down the course that you and I are on, that He’s already predetermined, He sets this trial up, this temptation up, this person to cross your path and speak a word here, a brother or sister begins to intercede for you and go to the throne of God with a great anointing on your behalf.  He’s setting it right.  He’s sovereign.  He’s already declared that if we would abide in Him, we are predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus.  There’s nothing that can stop it. 

We can approach it from two different ways.  Some can become lax.  Others that have the tendency that I do, become self-destructive, critical, overly harsh on yourself, prideful—it comes from pride.  We’ve shared this many times—my Lord, how many hours have we put in, in the last few years, on humility?  I think that’s what has made us a better church than we’ve ever been, is those last few years of this teaching, over and over again, on humility.  And as we learn to be more humble, we stop beating ourself up over our failures.  We stop thinking that there’s something we can do in our own strength that would finally please God.  “I want to earn my own way!”  This pride factor, that you become so concerned and so critical that you can sit there and go…  I know myself in some of those years, having been in that vein and thinking that way.

You don’t realize that pride and that self-righteousness that’s in you, and you can be so kind and loving and patient with other people.  “But those are the other people.  This is me.  I can’t believe I did this.  I can believe you guys did it, because you know, you’re you!  But me?  Fail God?”  And He begins to set things right.  And sometimes it takes months, and sometimes it takes years, and it’s going to go on for a lifetime.  Amen?