The Sovereignty of God in Our Daily Lives: Revised Edition

By David R. Rosen

You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me.
-Psalms 139:3-5


The sovereignty of God. Actively working. Every day. In every way. And He is actively working in you - you who believe in Jesus!

The Gospel of Christ, seeing God’s sovereignty within salvation and now also within our lives, this study should help you see the glory of Christ in your daily walk of faith. Salvation is not a one-time event, and I challenge conventional wisdom -- it is not solely because of your or my efforts. For it is a gift of grace through faith given by God. For beneath our faith in Jesus is God’s active working within our hearts. Now with the Holy Spirit living within us, He works daily in us to the council of His will toward, in, and through us - giving us His grace, wisdom, and comfort each day.

This book, with the Bible in hand, highlights scriptures - with my comments as a flashlight - to showcase the glory of God and to help reveal to believers and seekers alike the high value of Jesus!

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jan 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9781664290525

David R. Rosen

In life, each day is a gift from God. And throughout life, He also blesses us with things expected and unexpected. I have been so blessed, more than I can write. For, outside of my salvation in Jesus, my wife Sandy is right behind the blessings of salvation - in having a Christian woman as my wife and life partner. And from there, my kids and my grandkids are also my blessings and treasures in life. It’s hard to order all that Jesus has done, but to say that I am so blessed to have the family He has given me, and that they, too, are in Christ brings me to my knees in gratitude with thanksgiving. Having just finished my second book about the signs of Jesus’ return and the end of this age – En Route to the Mount of Olives – Matthew 24. I felt the calling to author this book next. I humbly praise God for the honor and privilege of doing so. I pray that He will have me continue to write about Him as my life starts in the next chapter. And I pray that He would help me endure as a witness and testimony of His loving grace and mercy to my family, friends, and you, the reader. As Psalms 139:16 declares: “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” So my ask of you is to pray for God’s glory. Pray that He continues to change your and my hearts to be more conformed to the image of Jesus. And pray that He will keep us both in the faith of, in, and through Jesus. And pray that God will continue to use me to write about His glory for my family, friends, and you as long as He grants me the days. In Jesus’ name, and for and to His glory, Amen!

Book preview

The Sovereignty

of God in Our

Daily Lives

REVISED EDITION

David R. Rosen

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Copyright © 2023 David R. Rosen.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means,

graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by

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except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press

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views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV Bible® (The Holy Bible, English Standard

Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of

Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-9051-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-9050-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-9052-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023901686

WestBow Press rev. date: 01/30/2023

EIGHT LIFE VERSES

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

-Proverbs 16:9

Then the Lord said to me, You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.

-Jeremiah 1:12

The Lord of hosts has sworn: As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand.

-Isaiah 14:24

I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.

-Isaiah 43:6-7

For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

-Philippians 2:13

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

-Ephesians 2:8-10

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might.

-Ephesians 1:17-19

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

-1 Corinthians 10:31

Father, I praise You! For who You are. For Your will be done, and for

the glory You deserve. For Your name is above all names and is to be

highly exalted! May You be glorified in our studies, and that You would

open our hearts to the truth of Your word. In Jesus’s name, I ask, amen.

Contents

Preface

To God the Father

To God the Son - Jesus Christ.

To God the Spirit, the Giver of Life.

To the physical.

To the spiritual.

He is our comforter and witness of truth.

He is our teacher.

He is our surety.

He is power and hope.

Who facilitates God’s love into our hearts.

And He is our wisdom.

Disciples, Apostles, and Pharisees.

Without God’s Enablement, Scriptures Are Just Words.

The Wisdom of God, the Wisdom from God.

For Salvation Is of The Lord.

God’s Perspective--A Treasure to Hold.

The Purpose of This Study

My Purpose in Writing.

Acknowledgments

To My Lord and Savior.

To My Wife and Family, for Whom The Lord Has Blessed Me

To Those for Whom I Sat Under Throughout My Life That God Used to Teach Me His Word and to Instruct Me in Application

Pastors, Teachers, and Friends

About the Word of God.

About love.

About grace.

About sound doctrine.

To Those Who Have Helped Me Pull This Book Together in Edits, Grammar, Content, and Theological Validation.

For the First Edition.

For the Revised Edition.

Introduction

Finding Rest in the Glory and Sovereignty of Our Lord.

God’s glory!

My pre-testimony.

The call to believe.

There is nothing to hold you back, for if you…

Tribute

My Testimony

The Sovereignty of God in Our Daily Lives through the Field of Scripture.

Ascribe to the LORD Glory.

The Last Days.

Chapter 1God Messes with Our Hearts.

The Building Is on Fire Analogy.

Chapter 2Does God Then Work within the Hearts of All Men?

Abraham and Abimelech.

King Cyrus.

Pontius Pilate.

And Then There Is Pharaoh.

God Gives Words and Wisdom to a Donkey!

Chapter 3The Mild Tension to Understand the Differences Between God’s Will and His Desires.

Doesn’t God Put the Desire to Believe into All People?

Adding Another Dimension to the Building Is on Fire Analogy.

Why Prayer Is So Important!

Ransom for All vs. for the Many.

My Will and My Desire for My Children Compared.

Chapter 4Free Will = Willing Choices?

A.W. Pink God’s Sovereignty and the Human Will.

Either Slave to Sin or Slave to Righteousness - John 8:34 | Romans 6:17

Rabbit trail #1.

Choice Making.

Order of Salvation: Does Believing First Make You Born Again or Does Being Born Again Precede Believing?

God miraculously spiritually births a believer to the wisdom of God in salvation.

Does God Limit Himself to Man Choosing Him First?

But Some May Ask, ‘‘What About Resisting the Holy Spirit?"

A journey back into Romans 9.

But who would believe?

So What Is Fair to Your Standards? - A Parenting Analogy.

Chapter 5For God, of God, by God, in God, Through God, Because of God, and for the Glory of God, Lest Any Man Would Boast.

God Works within Us for His Glory - God’s Sanctification in Us.

Chapter 6God Reveals I God Enables.

Open Call - Reveals to Everyone Everywhere.

Private Call - Reveals with Enablement.

Taking a Closer Look to This Is He Who Came by Water and Blood - Jesus Christ.

Recapping.

Paul’s Letters to the Churches.

The Lives of Peter, Paul, and Mary.

God’s declared roles of His choice for their lives.

Peter - what about John?

What about Paul?

Mary, did you know?

Working Where God Has Placed You.

God Saves, but God Also Hardens.

God also hardens hearts.

To the self-centered, self-consumed.

Last days - the wrath of God to come.

Chapter 7Prophesy of Jesus‘s Coming - Foreknowledge or Predestined?

Biblical Foreknowledge Defined.

About Jesus‘s Coming, Foreknowledge or Prophecy?

Foreknowledge or Predestination?

He Foreknew, He Predestined, He Conformed, He Called, He Justified, and He Glorified Us - Those Who Love God.

Chapter 8The Glory of God, the Glory of Jesus Christ - Righteousness, Holiness, Wisdom, and Grace.

Chapter 9The Power of Prayer.

Jesus Prayed.

Sidebar: My grandmother.

Chapter 10Praise, Glory, and Honor in God’s Sovereignty Gives Comfort, Peace, Grace, Love, and Joy.

Chapter 11Enduring the Storms of Life.

Faith.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.

God-Breathed Faith.

The Always Filled Water Glass.

Not Everyone Accesses Faith the Same From Day One.

When Life Hurts.

Rabbit Trail #3:

Faith Walking.

To the Obedience of Faith.

Chapter 12Birds Fly, Flowers Will Bloom - What, Me Worry?

And Now a Word about Fear.

Chapter 13The Sovereignty of God in Our Daily Lives.

Closing encouragement, understandings, and application.

Walking Faith.

Good works that God has prepared

In our birth and in our death.

God’s Working in the World Around Us.

And what about acts of God?

Calamities too?

How We Should Interact With God’s Enablement.

Pressure relief value

God knows us, even our thoughts and our prayers

To the order of life we live.

Chapter 14The Body of Christ as the Church.

The Body of Christ and Individual Members.

God has appointed

Worship, Pray, Give, Teach, Preach, and Fellowship.

And the Lord‘s Supper, Baptisms.

Church Leadership.

Church Divisions and Church Discipline.

Chapter 15The Church: The Holy Spirit – Gifts.

A Walk through 1 Corinthians 12.

Different water glass analogy.

Chapter 16The Gifts of the Spirit Transforming Into the Fruits of the Spirit

Is Love, Then, Both a Gift and a Fruit of the Spirit?

Chapter 17Afterthoughts

The Days in Which I live.

COVID-19 2020.

Shut ‘er down!

Even Our Churches.

What happens next?

So what does one do?

Be encouraged! Be prepared and get ready!

To Tell the Truth.

Fake news, biases, and lies.

Are Things, All Events, All within the Will of God?

All things created.

By Him and for Him

The Topics I Did Not Cover in Detail.

The many wills of God.

Knowing the will of God.

The origin of sin.

The wheat and the tares.

Calvinism vs. Arminianism.

What I Want to See Someday.

Chapter 18Come, Lord Jesus, Come!

God’s Grace.

God’s Wrath.

Heavenly View from the Prophets.

The Mount of Olives.

Rabbit Trail # 4.

Rabbit Trail #5: A Quick Eschatology Lesson.

Last Days.

Conclusion

Parking Lot

Lazarus, Wake Up!

Union with Christ

Jesus is the vine.

The works of the vinedresser.

Index: Scripture by Chapters

Index: Scripture by The Books of The Bible

About the Author

Preface

To God the Father

To the praise, glory, and perfect will of God the Father. Who, before creation, willed all things to exist. In His will, He established all things to be, to the times and epics to come. Who always was, is, and forever! Who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And God the Father is the Great I AM, who revealed a veiled part of His glory to Moses. And God spoke to Moses (Exodus 6:2; Mark 12:26). To Abraham (Genesis 22:1-2). And God the Father also addressed Peter, James, and John (Matthew 17:5). And now - through His Son, with the Holy Spirit, God the Father reveals salvation in and through Jesus Christ to us, for His Glory and namesake! For no man comes to the Father except through Jesus Christ. (John 14:6)

And in all things, it pleased God the Father to have His Son Jesus be the visual ‘doer’ of His will. And always according to the counsel of the Father’s will. And further, it pleased the Father for Jesus to die for man’s sin - in obedience to the will of God the Father. And in love towards Jesus and God’s plan before creation, God the Father also purposed Jesus’s sheep as objects of His love towards His Son.

All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. (John 6:37-39)

To God the Son - Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the creator of all things. Who is in the center of all things, and He created all things for Himself. Jesus then holds all things together. And in all things, Jesus sustains, keeps, and works all things together. To the council of the Father’s will; to the glory of God the Father. For -

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:1-3)

He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach - if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister. (Colossians 1:15-23)

To God the Spirit, the Giver of Life.

To the physical.

The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. (Job 33:4)

To the spiritual.

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. (John 6:63)

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 8:2-11)

By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you. (2 Timothy 1:14)

Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us. (1 John 3:24)

He is our comforter and witness of truth.

So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied. (Acts 9:31)

But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning. (John 15:26-27)

He is our teacher.

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. (John 14:26)

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you. (John 16:13-15)

He is our surety.

He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. (2 Corinthians 5:5)

He is power and hope.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. (Romans 15:13)

Who facilitates God’s love into our hearts.

And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Romans 5:5)

And He is our wisdom.

These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:10-17)

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. (Ephesians 1:15-21)

God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit - they are persons, as best as humans can comprehend. And yet there is but one God.

Jesus answered, The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:29-31)

Disciples, Apostles, and Pharisees.

This book aims to guide you in your biblical studies in seeing God’s work in your life, in the steps He had explicitly designed for you before the world began. So that in knowing it is God who is working within you. His calling, His revealing, in His enabling, saving, and sanctifying you. To the wisdom given to you of His Son Jesus Christ by His Spirit working within you. Through you - to the good works He has prepared for you to walk in. In your living each day. In your walking - through His holding you. To His keeping you and making you a part of the people, He has sanctified you for Himself. And in sanctification, He did so before He created you. You now know you belong to Jesus Christ and are in Christ. That is in His revelation and wisdom enabling you to seek, see and understand His Gospel call for you. To live in obedience and rest in His assurance - that your joy, now known deeper in Christ, will be complete. So by His Spirit, you may fully understand the wonder of your salvation, with His wisdom and knowledge of how precious and joyful Jesus is to you.

The apostles daily walked with Jesus while Jesus was alive in teaching and preaching the Gospel of salvation. Yet, they did not fully comprehend who Jesus was until He opened their minds to the scriptures.

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. Then he said to them, These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. (Luke 24:27, 44-45, emphasis added)

Conversely, the Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducees of the day - the ones who were supposed to know the scriptures and understand what they meant - did not know (or maybe better stated, did not want to believe) that Jesus was their Messiah standing before them. For they wallowed in their stature in society and their self-religiosity; for they despised what Jesus was doing to upset their religious position by constantly trying to trap Jesus, for which Jesus always pointed back to their ignorance of the scriptures:

He said to them, Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath. (Matthew 12:3-8, emphasis added)

Without God’s Enablement, Scriptures Are Just Words.

As the Pharisees used Scripture to add to their stature and wealth, they lacked need – humility. For they received what they saw and not what Scripture showed.

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:21-24)

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:26-31)

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we