101 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT HEALTH AND WEALTH

January 2015 – Week 6

WADING OUT DEEPER

I pray that throughout these articles no one becomes offended. I do not claim to be a faith healer nor an expert about healing or prosperity. I am just a man with many questions. I have read and closely observed the life of Jesus and I KNOW that He came to heal and deliver. He did not pick and choose who He wanted to heal – He wanted to heal everyone just like He wanted to SAVE everyone and I believe He still does! For example with healing, those who asked if He would heal them, He always replied, “I will.” With prosperity, the parable of the talents is not just for a few – it is an illustration for every Christian to increase what has been given to them so they can provide resources for others. If God had not wanted us to be prosperous and increase, He would have told them to give the talents away and not worry about it. Have you ever asked, “Does He still feel the same way?” To be a steward over little is to be blessed with more and this is another principal of His order. I remember as a teenager asking questions like these and the lack of answers launched me on a journey that I am just as passionate about now as I was then. What I am saying is this; if Jesus wants to use us to perform His miracles and to become an image of whom He is, then why aren’t we seeing them more? I know there are needs everywhere and that God wants to help everyone; I just want to know what I need to do to make it happen!

11. In the realm of life and death, did the Father allow Satan to take the life of Jesus? This is a very interesting question and the answer is NO and YES. No, in the fact that Satan cannot take the life of anyone because man’s days are determined by God, “Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with Thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass.” Job 14:5). And yes, because God allowed the wounds that were inflicted and these attributed to His death. “And it was the third hour, and they crucified Him” (Mark 15:25). So we can see that God can use situations and direct them according to achieve His will.

In John 10:17-18, we find Christ Himself speaking specifically about His death and He says, “Therefore, doth my Father love Me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it up again. NO MAN taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” I believe we can see this in anyone that has willingly laid down their life for God. If the Lord gives us a mission to stand for His truth and become a martyr, this is between us and Him no matter what outside forces contribute to the result! Let’s look down the page at what Jesus said in verse 27-28, “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave to Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hand.” We can agree that the first scripture is talking about the physical life of Christ and the second one is talking about the eternal life of His followers but in both cases the message is clear that God is in control. We look around us and see that many are suffering and dying that are members of God’s household and many times it is difficult to determine to what extent Satan is involved.
First, let us agree that God is the ultimate authority. God has set everything up to work within the principals of His truth. I believe instead of God “using” the devil to do His work, the devil takes advantage of humans whenever he has the chance. The creator of all things does not really NEED to depend on anyone to work for Him but is fully aware of the tactics of the devil. You see, the enemy is not waiting for God to tell them what to do – they are seeking those who do not have the knowledge of God’s will and are taking the opportunity to kill, steal and destroy. God’s PERFECT WILL is for everyone to accept Jesus when they are young and to live close to Him the rest of their lives but when they do not – they become vulnerable to attack and becoming calloused. Let us remember that Jesus was without sin, so we cannot say that in his mistakes the enemy took some cheap shots. We also know that Jesus not only knew the Word but was the Word and boldly confessed it in Satan’s face whenever he came around. I want us to also notice something else very important. The cross was a part of His specific blueprint. There are cases of people dying every day from drug addiction, alcoholism, involved in crime and so on and we are convinced this is NOT God’s perfect will. However this is not the same as someone being tortured and killed in the prime of their life for their faith because may be a destiny that was included in the blueprint just like Jesus which was the will of God. There is a huge difference between fulfilling our mission in the name of the Lord and failing our mission in the name of our disobedience. We know that God creates all things but we must consider that we have a certain amount of responsibility for how we live. We as mortals usually only see the immediate result of an event and focus on how it affects a very small circle. God sees how one situation involving one person’s obedience can have a positive life changing impact on thousands of people. God knows when every heartbeat will stop and the devil may not be able to steal anyone but he sure works overtime with negative influences.

12. Do you believe there are such things as accidents that cause disabilities or death where neither God nor Satan was involved? This is a very good question. As we repeat the view that God can see everything before it happens as well as while it is happening, this cast a definite light on the subject. Yes, there are times when God prevents something from happening and times when He does not. Each situation is unique and has many strings attached to it that are connected to God’s perfect will. Nothing happens that God is not aware of, but the question wants to know if the Lord was involved and I believe we can say that in all things He is involved by association. He lives inside of His disciples and knows our thoughts and is AWARE of everything all around us. For example, if we are doing electrical work and are handling dangerous voltage, He already knows what is going to happen whether He can get our attention or not. If He says do not touch that wire and we cannot hear Him, we suffer the consequence. Should He jerk the wire out of our hands or shut the power off Himself? Is there a demon watching and whispering in our ear for us not to worry about a little old wire that has no current in it? Since the question did not contain the word chance or luck the Christian should try to eliminate these from their philosophic and theological file because it makes it seem that God is continually surprised. So, do we conclude that it is possible things happen and no one is at fault? We know the devil would love to harm us but are there times when even he is not paying attention and we accidently fall over a cliff? Let’s look at one more thing as we keep contemplating. The word accident means; “an unforeseen, unplanned event or one without apparent cause rather than by design. Anything that occurs unintentionally, a misfortune or mishap. Lack of intention or necessity, an unfortunate event resulting especially from carelessness or ignorance, an unexpected happening causing loss or injury which is not due to any fault or misconduct on the part of the person injured.” Are there times when there are no answers? Probably. God has them all – but we do not. And yes, there are obvious reasons why things happen like, “they were texting and driving” nonetheless, in all of our times of crisis and emergencies we not only seek Him for comfort and the reasons why but also the strength to keep listening and learning.