Master

TITLE: Master
DATE: December 22, 2019
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Christ is risen. He is risen, indeed.

TEXT: Isaiah 40:31 – ESV  - 31 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.

 "I am master of my fate, I am the Captain of my soul." That sounds good doesn't it? "

The Air Force Officer who had been keeping the peace by flying over Saddam Hussein's territory, may never have heard those words before, but he agreed with them. He had shown he agreed that man is in control by the message which was on the back of his flight suit.  This is what was written:.

Yea, though I fly through the sandy valleys of Iraq,
I will fear no evil, for my rapid fire cannons are with me.
My electronics and laser controlled missiles, they comfort me,
And my radar will never lead me astray - I hope.

No, that pilot may never have heard of William Henley. William Henley was the poet, who wrote the poem, INVICTUS. "I am master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul."

If that is true, why are there wars, battles police actions, skirmishes, and holocausts throughout the world.?

If we are masters of our fate, why don't governments stop war? In the years of recorded history, nations have made no less than 8,000 peace treaties. Each one of those treaties was supposed to bring about permanent harmony.

On the average, those treaties lasted two years. Wars continue because we are not masters of our fate.

"I am master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." If that is so, then why are our nation's streets filled with gangs bent on killing each other? Why are our nation’s homes torn with discord and disharmony? If we are in control, why hasn't the war on drugs been won long ago? Why haven't our young people been able to say, "No." Why haven't people learned from the drug deaths of the past? Drugs and abuse are unabated because we are not masters of our soul.

"I am master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." If we are captains, then why are people more discouraged now than ever before? Why do they have less confidence in the future? Why are suicide rates climbing? Why has alcoholism not been beaten? Why are ulcers and depressions so commonplace? If we are masters of our fate, why are more folks living in poverty, on food stamps, without homes, than at any  other time in our nation's history? These things continue on because we are not masters of our fate.

I could go on. Let me state for the record: it ought to be clear, we are not "masters of our fates, we are not the captains of our souls." And it ought to be equally clear someone IS. Someone is at the tiller of the affairs of this world. It is not fashionable to say it, but all of the things that I have mentioned show us that on this planet Satan's hand has not left the tiller of world history.

Satan is there...but so is the Lord. He offers us a better way; a way of hope and light. A way of faith. It is shown to us in the simple words of God given to Isaiah: "See, the sovereign Lord comes with power."

The Lord has come. He came as a small Child, rejected in His birth and born with the animals in a stable. He came as a Child, ready to change things. Would the world would recognize Him. Would the world would listen to Him.

When God becomes the Leader in our lives there are changes, good changes, miraculous, wonderful, powerful changes. Changes for this world and the next. .

THE PRAYER: Lord, I humbly pray that You will always be Master of my fate and the only Captain of my soul.  In Jesus holy Name I pray it. Amen.

The music which introduces and concludes our devotions was written by Guy Baumann. He along with three of his brothers perform on the album: The Baumann Brothers which may be ordered here: http://thebaumannbrothers.com/index.html