Move Over I'm In Charge Here!
A Devotional
©2001 Steve Lattier and Men's Help Ministries


No, not me personally. I am not in charge of any of you. However, each one of you are, through Christ in you, in charge of the world around you. What would you say if I told you that you personally are in charge of what goes on in your life. Yes even the bad things too! Yikes! Did I say the bad things? Well I guess I did now didn't I? Now before you light the torches and get out the pitchforks let me explain what God said about it.

The Word:
Genesis 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth,* and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

Ok, so in a fashion we are to rule over this world. No I haven't explained it all yet, bear with me for a bit. First let me point out that God is talking about mankind not just men. God has awesome plans for the fair sex just as much as He does for the males. I rather like the way that the King James version says it. It says that we shall rule over “every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” In a nutshell God is telling us that we are in charge of all the creepy stuff as well! On the surface this passage looks deceptively simple, it appears as if God is telling us that we are in charge of the animals and the natural resources of the planet, and we are. If you will look a bit deeper into what God is saying you will see that God is giving us power over our circumstances as well. Now I am not going to pretend that God does not send us trials and tests. Heck I can't even infer that we can make bad people into good ones, we can't. For almost as long as there is recorded history people have been sinning, sinning against God and each other. These instances and seasons of trials and just downright awful things will come and go. What gives us the authority over our situation is how we react when something goes sour. Have you ever had a relationship of many years blow up in a heated moment? How did you react. Were you exercising the ruling authority that God gave you, in that moment? Remember the sage words that Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus?

The Word:
Ephesians 4:26 "In your anger do not sin"* : Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, [27] and do not give the devil a foothold.

Uh-oh. What was that? “Don't give the devil a foothold?” How does me getting angry give the devil a foothold? Did Jesus get angry, wasn't God angry before? Well yes, is the answer to those questions. Jesus was just about as angry as a person can get when he threw the money changers out of the temple. David pled with God to not punish him in His anger. The difference lies in what you do when you get mad. The bottom line is don't sin. When you lash out or say something unretractable, or possibly even physically sin you have let go of the God given authority over your life and handed it over to that punk devil. Yes I did just call the devil a punk. I do so because I have no respect for him, he is nothing but a disrupter a thief and a liar. When one of God's own stops exercising control it must revert back to someone or something. Guess who is waiting to help you run your life Christian, yes that punk is waiting right there every time your stress level is high hoping you will just let him drive for a while. Getting angry is not the extent of the bad or tough things that can happen to you during your walk on this earth. Sin, travesty, desolation, it can happen even in the staunchest Christians life, just look at Job! But like Job it is how you conduct yourself in these times that lets others see whether you are exercising scriptural authority over your life. God gave you the authority to rule in your life, God gave you the authority to rule over the devil too! Through the power of the Holy Spirit in you, you can boss him right out of your life.

The Word:
Psalm 8:4 what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? [5] You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings*(some manuscripts read “than God” ) and crowned him with glory and honor. [6] You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet:

Oooh I like that! The devil is under your feet! I have a friend, here in Texas, who walks around with scripture handwritten on the bottoms of his shoes, just so the devil will have something to read while he is down there! That is the attitude of authority that every Christian needs. The only real power that the devil has over a saved Christian is that he can disrupt their life and try to get them to believe a lie. In the midst of turmoil is where most Christians stop believing that God can or will help them. In times of trials or tests Christians are more likely to turn to worldly efforts to fix their problem, and that punk is right there with a really neat sounding logical, big, fat lie for them. Let me see if I can name a couple. We have grown apart, He cheated on me first, its not cheating if we didn't actually complete the act, I can worship at home just as well as in a church, you can get to Heaven by being good and going to church. Ouch! How many of those have you heard before? Lies from that punk will sound appealing, workable and on the surface a quick and easy solution to a rough situation. I can't think of a single instance where God says that the devil or any of his minions can even touch one of those people with their name written in the Lamb's Book of Life. It would be kind of a discredit to all God stands for if it were true don't you think? Think about it, if Jesus is in you then how can some cast out of Heaven, belly crawling, dust eating punk get in? It can't happen! Now all you have to do is start exercising your own God given authority over your life. Unless you relinquish control to him the devil cannot touch you! Give God the credit He is due, after all He did speak the universe into existence, quit worrying about what new trial tomorrow will bring. With God ALL things are possible. He wants you to get out there and start ruling over your life like a true child of The King should. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Great I Am, He can and He will be with you as you rule over this world and all the things in it!

Pray With Me: Father, once again I need to rely on your strength, I am weak. Forgive me of all my sins Lord. Father I have not taken the gift of authority that you have given me, heck I haven't even unwrapped it. I am not prepared to rule, I am scared to walk that boldly. I come to you Lord for strength, boldness and confidence. I know it all relies on me having faith in you. Grow that faith in me Father. Show me that the devil really is under my feet, help me to trust you in my trials and not go running after the first lie that looks good. Help me in Jesus name. Amen!


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[ 07-23-2001: Message edited by: SLattier ]