A few nights ago we received a very sorrow-filled email at My Walk With
Jesus newspaper from a young lady. She was questioning: where is God
when I am suffering? How come there is so much pain in my life? Doesn't
God see it? Doesn't God care? Why isn't He doing anything about it?
...such a sad email. That young lady was asking, Why did God kick me
out? Why did God deceive me?
... the Truth is that God never does anything like that. How
could He? He died for YOU! He died for ME! Jesus was willing to die a
shameful death on the cross and be separated from the Father so that
through His death and resurrection He would break the power of evil
over us and give us life... abundant life in every area of our lives.
The Bible is God's Word. It is God speaking to us. The Bible
is filled with the Promises of God to us. Through the Bible we can
learn to know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Through the Bible we
can also learn to know how the Lord thinks, how He acts, how He treats
us. God is not unpredictable. We can truly know Him. Bible and God are
one.
He has promised each of us personally in Hebrews 13:5
"He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you
up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will]
not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake you nor let [you] down
(relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]" He stresses it 3 times
that HE WILL NOT leave any of us helpless nor forsake us nor let down
His loving hold on us! He will never do that!
Whatever we have been through, whatever abuse, whatever pain,
God Himself has been by our side through it all. He has NOT forsaken
us, or kicked us away. He loves us. For HE IS LOVE. (1 John 4:16) Still
many people are asking the question, how come God allows so much
suffering and pain. Why doesn't He do anything about it? Those are
valid questions. God must have known that so many people are going to
ask those questions, that He supplied us with the answers in His Word.
The Bible lets us know that this world is not under the
control of God, but under the control of the devil. God tells us how it
all happened in Genesis 1:
"God said, Let Us [Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] make mankind in Our
image, after Our likeness, and let them have complete authority... So
God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He
created him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them and
said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it
[using all its vast resources in the service of God and man]; and have
dominion over the fish or the sea, the birds of the air, and over every
living creature that moves upon the earth." (verses 26-28) Verse 31 continues to say: "And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good (suitable, pleasant) and He approved it completely."
God created everything absolutely perfect! God created a man and a
woman absolutely perfect and without any sin. God intended it all to
stay that way... but as God creates only what is perfect, He gave a man
a free will. God did not create a puppet for Himself. He created a man
who He desired to be in fellowship with. God is Love and He created a
man to love him... unfortunately Adam and Eve were deceived by the
devil. Through this deception, they surrendered the dominion that God
had given to them over the whole earth, to the devil.
Genesis 3 tells us the story: "Now the serpent was more
subtle and crafty than any living creature of the field which the Lord
God had made. And he [Satan] said to the woman, Can it really be that
God has said, You shall not eat from every tree of the garden?" ...this is the favorite line of the devil. He still comes to every one of us with the same line: "can it really be that God has said...."
Satan came to a woman and gave her the impression that God was
withholding something good from her. Satan gave her the impression that
she could not completely trust God. Thus the devil craftily deceived
the woman... still using the same tactic on us by sowing doubt into our
minds.
The Bible tells in Ezekiel 28 and in Isaiah 14 about the fall
of the devil. God did not create a devil. God created a beautiful arch
angel. The Bible says that Lucifer was perfect in beauty and there was
music in him. But Lucifer became proud and he wanted to be like God. He
wanted to lift himself above God to rule and to reign... and instead,
he fell under God's wrath. Still the devil did not give up. He knew
that God had given dominion to the man. He also knew that if he could
deceive the man, he could usurp his dominion and start dominating
himself. And this is exactly what happened.
As soon as Adam and Eve started to question God, the devil had
them. They disobeyed God, doing exactly what the devil wanted them to
do and the result was this:
"And the Lord God says, Behold, the man has become like one of Us [the
Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit], to know [how to distinguish between]
good and evil and blessing and calamity; and now, lest he put forth his
hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever -
therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden to till
the ground from which he was taken. So [God] drove out the man; and He
placed at the east of the Garden of Eden the cherubim and a flaming
sword which turned every way, to keep and guard the way to the tree of
life."
Before the deception by the devil Adam and Eve had only known good...
now their eyes were opened also to evil. God never intended them to
know evil. Now God had to immediately send Adam and Eve out of the
garden of Eden, lest they eat from the tree of life... which would have
meant that Adam and Eve and thus the whole mankind would have lived
forever... in their fallen state, under the power and control of the
devil. God had to send them away from His holy presence, lest they die
for no sin could ever stand the presence of the holy God. If Adam and
Eve would have stayed in the Garden of Eden any longer, they would have
died in the holy presence of God, thus there would have been no more
humans... or they would have eaten from the tree of life and thus lived
forever in their fallen state, under the power and dominion of the
devil.
God had no choice but to send them out. It grieved his heart,
but He had no choice. He wanted to save the mankind. So, He put into
action His plan B which was to send for mankind a sinless and perfect
Savior in Whom there would never be any sin, thus breaking the power of
sin over us. At the same time He had to send someone born of a woman
who would be tempted just like we all are, though without sin... so
that He would perfectly understand every one of our temptations, our
hurts and pains and sorrows... so that He could have compassion on us.
Hebrews 4:14,15 says:
"For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and
sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and
infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who
has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning."
God sent the Savior to each and every single one of us. John 3:16 says:
"For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even]
gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in
(trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to
destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life." God loved us so that He gave the very best He had for us! Jesus says in John 10:10:
"The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came
that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the
full, till it overflows)."
God loved each of us so much, He prized each of us so dearly that He
gave up His only begotten Son so that we could have and enjoy life to
the full, till it overflows! Wow! This is God's will for us! John 10:10
(above) says clearly that if there is stealing, killing and destroying
going on, it is the work of the devil. Unfortunately he is running
rampant in this world at the moment. The Bible also warns us that
during the last days the evil becomes more evil. So, it is NOT God who
is our problem... it is the devil.
Ephesians 6:12 puts it very clearly: "For we are not
wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical
opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against
[the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness,
against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural)
sphere."
Satan is our problem, not God. God is here to help us and love us and
protect us... if we do things His way. God knows our enemy the best. He
knows his lies and deceptions and He warns us about them through His
Word. God has once and for all defeated the devil - through the death
and resurrection of Jesus Christ. If we accept this precious sacrifice
and ask Jesus to be our personal Savior and our Lord, we have the power
over the devil. This is what Christ's death on the cross is all about.
God had to break the power of the devil over mankind. He could only do
it through a sinless, yet human being... it could only be His Son,
Jesus Christ. Through his death and resurrection Christ completely
defeated the power of the devil. But we in ourselves do not have the
power over the devil. In Christ, though, we have been given all the
power and authority over the devil and over his wickedness.
Listen to what Ephesians chapter 2 says: "And you [He
made alive], when you were dead (slain) by [your] trespasses and sins
in which at one time you walked [habitually]. You were following the
course and fashion of this world [were under the sway of the tendency
of this present age], following the prince of the power of the air.
[You were obedient to and under the control of] the [demon] spirit that
still constantly works in the sons of disobedience [the careless, the
rebellious, and the unbelieving, who go against the purposes of God].
But God - so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to
satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved
us, even when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and
trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with
Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life
with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace (His favor and mercy
which you did not deserve) that you are saved (delivered from judgment
and made partakers of Christ's salvation) through [your] faith. And
this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own striving], but it is
the gift of God." (verses 1-2,4-5,8)
When we by faith accept the sacrifice of Christ, we become saved. We do
not get saved because we are such wonderful people... we only get saved
when we by faith accept the free gift, the sacrifice of Christ on the
cross. Romans 10:10 teaches us that
"with the heart a person believes (adheres to, trusts in, and relies on
Christ) and so is justified (declared righteous, acceptable to God),
and with the mouth he confesses (declares openly and speaks out freely
his faith) and confirms [his] salvation."
When we ask God for the forgiveness of our sins and ask Jesus to come
and live in our hearts and become our Savior and our Lord, we get
saved... we are immediately transferred from the kingdom of the devil
into the kingdom of God. Colossians 1:13 tells us what happens when we
accept Christ as our Lord and Savior:
"[The Father] has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control
and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of
the Son of His love, in whom we have our redemption through His blood,
[which means] the forgiveness of our sins."
When we get saved, we change the Lords. We no longer have the devil as
our lord, we now have Jesus Christ as our Lord. Now we have Christ in
our hearts and all His power and all His wisdom is at our disposal. Now
we can use the name of Jesus Christ against the power of the devil and
the devil will have to submit to us. Far too often though, we as
Christians expect God to fight our battles, when He right in the
beginning of the creation gave us the authority and power to rule and
reign in this life... though not over people... but over the spiritual
forces that are working through people to oppress and torment others.
We have the power and authority over those sprits but far too often
even Christians allow the devil to oppress them. When Jesus sent out
his 70 disciples, they came back to Him with great joy and great
surprise, saying: "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name!"
Jesus answered them in Luke 10:19: "I saw Satan falling
like a lightning [flash] from heaven. Behold! I have given you
authority and power to trample upon serpents and scorpions, and
[physical and mental strength and ability] over all the power that the
enemy [possesses]; and nothing shall in any way harm you." I
recently heard Billye Brim say that a man either dominates or he is
being dominated . She is so right! We either take the authority that
has been given to us over the devil and his bunch... or we will be
dominated by them. We do not dominate people, we dominate the powers of
the devil who are sent to oppress us or other people.
That is why Ephesians 6:13 tells us to "put on God's
complete armor, that you may be able to resist and stand your ground on
the evil day [of danger], and, having done all [the crisis demands], to
stand [firmly in your place]." We are not strong against the
devil in ourselves. We are strong only through Christ - the perfect
sacrifice - who broke the power of the devil over us. We, in Christ
have the power over the devil and we will have to use it. The devil
will never leave our lives unless we command him to. God is a
gentleman, He never ever intrudes. He never forces Himself into our
lives. Even when we are in difficulties, if He is not asked to come and
help, He can't do it. He has given us a free will. The devil though
does not care. He only wants to control. He comes into our lives
uninvited and he steals, kills and destroys. He will not leave until we
take the authority that we have in Christ and command him to leave in
the name of Jesus Christ.
This is the perfect victory that Christ won for us on the
Cross! This is the greatest victory ever... and we are going to
celebrate it again this week end... with great joy and thanksgiving!
Christ won perfect victory for us so that we might have life and have
it more abundantly! Wow!
Eve Juurik
Body-Mind-Spirit Health, Fitness & Beauty in Organic Way
Eve Juurik is a writer and speaker. She has
taught style and make-up to young models at a modeling school, written articles
for health and beauty magazines in Estonia, including Style and Health
Newspaper. At present Eve is a Health and Beauty Editor of a US based My
Walk With Jesus newspaper and website. She is a regular speaker at women's events.
Eve has been
invited to write for Recipes 365,Connecticut Herb Association’s
Newsletter and US
certified fitness expert Amy Lundberg’s Aim For It Newsletter. For 5 years she has been
teaching the Bible through weekly spiritual-inspirational articles. Eve
regularly writes for a US Christian newspaper and website My Walk With Jesus, website HandMaidens, and Estonian internet magazine The Voice of
Victory.
Eve promotes and sells certified organic skin-, body-, hair-, oral-,
men's-, home-care products through her website: www.TheSpringOfLife.net
The author of this article has chosen to make this article available with free reprint rights. Click here to copy this article.
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