God cannot answer prayer where there is no faith. And Satan will not flee where there is fear and unbelief. The fact is, we have failed to take our God-given authority over the devil and his demonic empire.
God’s Word tells us that the enemy is not in control. We have power over him!
“Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).
I wonder if the angels are baffled by all the worry and anxiousness of those who claim to trust in the Lord. To those celestial beings, it must seem insulting to God that we worry as if we had no caring Father in heaven.
What perplexing questions the angels must ask among themselves:
“Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek)” (Matthew 6:31-32).
Jesus is warning about the heathen tendency to worry, and His words touch my soul. He tells us that worry—over our job, our family, our survival—is a heathen’s way of living.
A BAD ATTITUDE
Worry is the attitude of those who have no heavenly Father. They do not know God as He desires to be known: as a caring, providing, loving Father in heaven.
We simply cannot explain why many righteous people face insurmountable sufferings. Why do the difficulties increase for those who love God deeply?
“It’s all meant to teach patience.”
“It teaches God’s people to trust Him more.”
Really? Are those actual reasons or nothing more than clichés? Certainly such statements are empty of meaning to those who are enduring critical crises.
During a recent time of great personal testing, I asked the Lord, “If there are lessons I need to know from this present trial, please teach me.”
Is there a point in our walk with God when we become so trusting, so proven faithful through years of testing, that we can expect a respite from spiritual warfare?
Is there ever a vacation from troubles, a time when we can relax free of trials? Does a lifetime of meeting faith’s demands earn us a furlough from the battle? Is it possible to reach a point in faith where a test is no longer necessary?
According to Scripture, the answer to all these questions is no.
King David was known as a man who fully trusted God. He declared the theme of his own life when he wrote:
“The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him” (Psalm 28:7).
These weren’t just words for David. Scripture records event after event in David’s life when he showed great faith in impossible situations.
GREAT EXPLOITS
David did great things through faith in God:
I want to offer a special word to all who have come through many floods and fiery furnaces of affliction. I believe it is possible that your time of testing has nothing to do with chastening. Rather, it is something eternal—something having to do with your life in the new world to come.
The battle you are enduring now is not about this world, not about the flesh, not about the devil. This warfare is preparation for your eternal service in glory. You are being prepared for service on the other side.
DIVINE PREPARATION
In Genesis 22:2 God told Abraham, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering.”
You know the story. God spared Isaac, substituting a ram for the sacrifice. And the Lord told Abraham:
When we first read of Abraham, God is asking him to pack up his family and travel to an unnamed destination (see Genesis 12:1). This must have been an incredible test for Abraham, as well as for his loved ones. Yet, by faith, Abraham obeyed. He lived among strangers in strange lands—unharmed and blessed—and he was delivered from every crisis, through supernatural dreams and visions given by the Lord.
LOOK AT THE STARS
The truth is, we sometimes mistreat others. We separate ourselves from a brother or sister; we wound and hurt someone; we can easily misrepresent others. And we think it is “just between God and me.” So we confess it to the Lord and repent, then go our way, thinking all is well. Yet, we never give thought to how in the process, we’ve not only wounded a brother, we have wounded the Lord. Indeed, we did it to the whole Body of Christ, because if one hurts, all hurt.