Paul Tripp: Are you resting or fighting? His rule is our hope, and our fight for rule is our doom. And so, the question is this: "What king is ruling your kingdom right now?"

Kate Crowley: From Paul Tripp Ministries, this is Right Here, Right Now, connecting the transforming power of Jesus Christ to everyday life.

Paul Tripp: Mary sat in my office with tears running down her cheeks and said...

Mary: I think I was so naïve. It seemed so easy. It all seemed to make such sense. I thought I had encountered the most beautiful story, the most beautiful message that you could ever hear. I was raised basically believing nothing, and I did that very well. Then, a friend at church invited me to a Christmas concert. I was afraid to go at first, because I thought, well, I just thought Christians were weird.

I went out of courtesy, and it was a very intriguing evening. For some reason, I wanted to know more, so I went back. I was magnetized by the Biblical story; it seemed to explain me and my life like no other explanation I had ever heard. I studied my Bible, and I determined to know what I believed backward and forward.

But something has happened to me. I have to be honest with you. I'm not sure I believe those things anymore. I'm not sure there is a God, and if there is a God, I'm not sure I want to trust my life to Him. I mean, look at my life! For years, I've tried to believe and to do the right things. And for years, I started out, every day, putting my hopes and dreams in God's hands, and what do I have to show for it? Where was God when all this was happening? And where is His goodness now? I was a person of faith, and look where I have ended up. What am I supposed to do now?

Music: "Pictures of You" by The Cure

I've been looking so long at these pictures of you
That I almost believe that they're real
I've been living so long with my pictures of you
That I almost believe that the pictures are all I can feel

Kate Crowley: Is there an answer to the struggles of life? "May I Speak to the Manager, Please?" a new series from Paul Tripp, Right Here, Right Now. Thanks for listening.

Now, you can find some direction in a variety of resources on subjects like marriage and ministry at our website. This includes Paul's book, War of Words. Go to paultrippministries.org. That's all one word, paultripp, spelled T-R-I-P-P, paultrippministries.org. More from Paul Tripp, right here, right now.

How Did Mary Get Here?

Paul Tripp: How in the world did Mary get to this place? Why is she now struggling with the faith that was once at the center of everything she thought, everything she desired, everything she did, and everything she said? Why has she come to such a fundamental place of disappointment with God?

Why has she even begun to exercise questions of God's existence? Why is Mary about to abandon the faith that seemed so beautiful to her at one time? Why is the very story that Mary found that finally made sense out of her life--the same story that now causes her such personal, spiritual distress? What in the world has happened to Mary?

Mary is in the war that Todd was in. It's that war that all of us tend to be in at sometime because that war is central to what sin is all about. It is a significant war. It is a life-shaping war. It's the war for rule.

Here's the bottom line again: God is in charge, and we are not. God is intent on seeing His kingdom succeed, not endorsing our little kingdoms. We live in a world that does not belong to us. We were not meant to be the central character of our own story, but we will try to be. Sin causes us to want to rule our own lives. Sin causes us to battle God for control, but it is a war that is easy to miss right at the time when it is raging.

"Why?" you may ask...because it doesn't rage just in big, significant moments of life. No! This war is a guerrilla war. It's a silent, surreptitious war. It rages almost without sight or sound in the little moments of daily life. It rages in little decisions and inconsequential conversations. It rages in small disappointments and daily accomplishments. It rages in the incremental history of your family life. It rages in the step-by-step development of your career.

It rages every time you strategize or plan. It rages as you pursue a friendship, or pursue a romance, or pursue any plan. It rages as you start your day and think about what you'd like to do. It rages as you assess your day, at the end of the day. This war is at the heart of your biggest dissatisfaction. This war is at the heart of your deepest joy. It is a big war that is fought in little places. It's a huge war that rages in the mundane.

So, this war can go unnoticed. This war is a silent, surreptitious, subterranean war. So, I want to alert you to what this world looks like as you live your everyday life.

Music: "Forever Young" by Bob Dylan

May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay
Forever young
Forever young
Forever young
May you stay
Forever young
Forever young
Forever young
May you stay
Forever young

Signs of a Battle With God for Control

Paul Tripp: So what are the signs of a battle with God for control? What are the signs of disappointment with God? What are the indicators of a struggle with God's ruling wisdom and love? What is the evidence that we're not only struggling with our life, but even more so with the God who rules it?

Now, I want to give you eleven signs of that struggle. It's unlikely that anyone listening will have all of these traits in their (his/her) life. But I would say this--if there's a cluster of them in your life, then it is an indication that beneath your disappointment with life is a more profound and spiritually debilitating struggle with God.

Here are the traits. Number one: Cynicism about life. When you have a hopeless, 'What difference does it make?' 'I tried that, and it doesn't work!' view of life, it is because you are struggling with the One who holds all the circumstances in His hands. And because you've given up on Him, you've given up on life...Cynicism about life.

Second: Withholding worship and service...Withholding worship and service. When you approve of and appreciate someone, you look for ways to praise them, and you want to do things that please them. So it is with God. When you are excited with the work of God in your life, you want to praise Him, and you want to please Him. So a lack of desire to worship and serve God is a sign of disappointment with God.

Not only cynicism about life; not only withholding worship and service, but third: Anger with the people around you. This is very interesting. The anger that I often express toward people and things in my life is often misplaced anger at God. Although the anger is expressed at the person or the thing that stands in front of me at that moment, it really is about disappointment with the God who brought that person or that thing into my life.

Not only in the cynicism about life; not only withholding worship and service; not only anger with the people around you; but: The craving for power and control. Often, when I think that my life is out of control, or when I've begun to question the One who is in control, I put a firmer grip on the steering wheel of my life than I've ever had before. My way of dealing with my life being out of control very often is to take power and control for myself.

So not only cynicism about life; not only withholding worship and service; not only anger with the people around you; not only craving for power and control; but fifth: Theological doubts. Often, theological questions are more the product of disappointment than they are intellectual questions, analytical questions about what the Bible actually teaches.

When I am having a hard time reconciling what the Bible teaches with my view of my personal life experience, it's very tempting to begin to question Scripture or to begin to reinterpret Scripture in some way. You've heard people say, "If God loves me, then why would He allow this to happen in my life?"

Cynicism about life; withholding worship and service; anger with the people around you; craving for power and control; theological doubts; a sixth trait: Impatience with the circumstances. That grumpy person with a short fuse, who is easily irritated and quickly becomes impatient, is not simply struggling with the circumstances. Think about this. Whenever the size of my emotion is bigger than the size of the circumstances, it is an indication that the emotion is coming from somewhere else. Remember! Anger with life is always anger with the One who rules it.

Cynicism about life; withholding worship and service; anger with the people around you; craving for power and control; theological doubts; impatience with circumstances; seven: Letting go of godly habits. Often when we're discouraged with life and therefore discouraged with God, we quit pursuing the disciplines and habits of the Christian life that we were once so committed to. "I've been doing all of these things, and it hasn't helped me, so why should I continue?" is the logic that we feed ourselves. And so, we let go of good habits in our disappointment with God

.

Cynicism about life; withholding worship and service; anger with the people around you; craving for power and control; theological doubts; impatience with the circumstances; letting go of godly habits; an eighth trait: Willingness to question God's love. God declares Himself to be the ultimate and supreme definition of love. When I look at my life, and it doesn't seem that what God has brought into my life is loving, then, it is very easy to allow myself to entertain questions of His love.

Cynicism about life; withholding worship and service; anger with the people around you; craving for power and control; theological doubts; impatience with the circumstances; letting go of godly habits; willingness to question God's love; willingness to question God's wisdom; in the same way, there are many things in the Bible that don't seem wise on the surface--"Turn the other cheek."..."Do good to those who mistreat you."..."A soft answer turns away wrath."

My willingness to live inside of the Bible's wisdom boundaries is seldom about abstract acceptance of Biblical logic. No! It is the result of trust in God. And when we begin to question God, we begin to question His wisdom.

Ten: Weakening of your witness. It's quite typical to share with others things that we're excited about. When I begin to question God's wisdom and love, it's hard to talk to others about Him.

And eleven: A growing attraction to the world. When I struggle with God's rule, I begin to struggle with the things that God has called me to do, and I begin to be attracted to the things that are outside of God's boundaries.

Cynicism about life; withholding worship and service; anger with the people around you; craving for power and control; theological doubts; impatience with the circumstances; letting go of godly habits; willingness to question God's love; willingness to question God's wisdom; weakening of your witness; growing attraction to the world--is there any evidence of these things in your life? Could it be in ways you never saw that you are disappointed with God? Could it be that you are in a war with God for control of your life, and you never knew it?

Music

We have come to a throne of grace

Where our mighty Savior perfects our praise

Where wrath and judgment have been put away

Where not a trace of all our sin remains

You're the King of grace unending

To your open arms we rush

You're the King of grace unending

We rest in Your unfailing love

And we rest in Your unfailing love

We have come to a throne of grace

Where our Prince of Peace ever lives to praise

For those who sacrifices bought and saved

The saints and angels singing to the praise

You're the King of grace unending

To your open arms we rush

You're the King of grace unending

We rest in your unfailing love

And we rest in your unfailing love

Paul Tripp: Let me go through those eleven traits for you one more time: cynicism about life; withholding worship and service; anger with the people around you; craving for power and control; theological doubts; impatience with the circumstances; letting go of godly habits; willingness to question God's love; willingness to question God's wisdom; weakening of your witness; growing attraction to the world.

One of the most beautiful and personally reassuring truths in the Bible is the one truth that is literally unfolded on every page. It is the backdrop to every event, to every moment in history, to each situation of drama, and every celebration of victory. It's the only reason for hope. It's the only reason to continue. It's the only reason to get up in the morning and fight for what is right in the middle of this terribly broken world. It is the only reason to ask for forgiveness and to determine to do better the next time. It is the only reason to step out of yourself and to give and to serve. What is this central, life-transforming truth?

It is the message of God's rule over all things. His rule guarantees our future. His rule makes all of His promises reliable. His rule reassures that right will win, and wrong will be defeated. His rule means that, someday, justice and mercy will reign. His rule means that what is broken will be fixed, and what is undone will be completed. His rule means that restoration, reconciliation, and peace will come. His rule is our hope, and our fight for rule is our doom.

Yet in the illogic of sin, there are times when the opposite will seem true. When it comes to your life and the truth of the rule of God over all of your life, are you resting or fighting? Are these traits in your life? Is there cynicism about life? Are there times when you withhold worship and service? Do you struggle with anger at the people around you? Do you crave for power and control? Do you wrestle with theological doubts? Do you struggle with being impatient with the circumstances that come your way?

Are there times when, in discouragement, you just let go of godly habits? Are there moments when you question God's love? Are there moments when you're willing to debate His wisdom? Are there times when you have no excitement of your faith to share with the watching world? Are there times when the world becomes strangely attractive to you?

When it comes to your life and the rule of God over it, are you resting or fighting? His rule is our hope, and our fight for rule is our doom. And so the question is this: What king is ruling your kingdom right now?

(Music Interlude)

Paul Tripp: Well, we've spent a week considering the significant Biblical truth of God's rule over all things and the significance of our struggle with that truth. You see, there is a war for rule that rages in your life and mine. And, yes, it will rage in some way until sin is forever eradicated, but I want you to hear this. This is very important for you to hear at the end of this week, but you are not in that war all by yourself.

Listen to what Paul says as he writes to people in the church of Galatia (5:16ff). He says this:

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature, they are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

What is Paul saying? Paul is saying, "You don't battle by yourself; there's a Spirit that battles within you." God lives inside of you, and He battles on your behalf.

Isn't it tremendous to know that the deepest, most important battle, the one battle you cannot win by yourself is being fought for you by your Lord? God now lives inside of you, and He lives there not to battle with you, but to battle for you. He battles so that you can be free from your addiction to your own rule.

And so pray, "Lord, please help me. Please help me to rest in Your rule. Help me never, in moments of despair, to cry out again, "May I speak to the manager, please?"

Kate Crowley: Paul Tripp, with "The Battle Plan for Victory," a gentle reminder from this new series, "May I Speak to the Manager, Please?" on today's Right Here, Right Now.

Now, for more direction, pick up a copy of the book War of Words by Paul Tripp. In its pages, you'll discover the secret to the power of the word in your life. That's War of Words, and you can request a copy when you visit paultrippinistries.org. That's Paul T-R-I-P-P, paultrippministries.org.

Now, if you've been encouraged by something Paul said today, you can listen to this program or previous programs online, or sign up for the daily podcast. And, don't forget to turn a friend on to this ministry. If you'd like a copy of this message on CD, it's available for just five dollars. These and other helpful resources are available at paultrippministries.org, or when you call us at 1-800-551-6595. That's toll-free 800-551-6595.

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Now, next time, Paul continues to look at the power of the Word of God. That's coming up on Monday.

I'm Kate Crowley, and for all of us at Paul Tripp Ministries, remember, in Jesus Christ, there really is help, right here, right now. Have a great weekend.