So many times people don’t know whether God or the devil is doing certain things. “Well,” they say, “maybe the Lord is trying to teach me something.”
I remember hearing an evangelist years ago. He had a tent that seated 20,000 people. But when he put it up down in Texas, a tornado came along and blew it away. At this meeting they were taking up a special offering to help him get another tent. I remember he said, and I almost fell off the bench when I heard him say it, “I don’t know whether God or the devil blew away my tent.”
God is not blowing down gospel tents! God is putting them up!
“Yes,” somebody said, “but God allowed it.”
God is not the god of this world. Second Corinthians 4:4 calls Satan the god of this world. And the laws governing the earth today came into being largely with the fall of man.
It is because people do not understand this that they accuse God of causing accidents, sickness, the death of loved ones, storms, catastrophes, earthquakes, and floods. God is not responsible for, nor the author of, any one of those things.
It is important to recognize that the source of the opposition is Satan—and to stand your ground.
Jesus set aside these natural laws, as we understand them, in order to bless humanity. Jesus stood on board a ship and rebuked a storm, saying, “Peace, be still” (Mark 4:39). According to John 14:10, it was God in Him Who did that work. If God caused the storm, God would be working against Himself in causing it to cease.
That cannot be. For Jesus said, “If a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand” (Mark 3:24–25).
Determine the Source
It is very easy to find out where things come from. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself contrasted His works with the works of the devil in John chapter 10.
JOHN 10:10
10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
In contrasting His works with the works of the devil, Jesus is contrasting God’s works with the works of the devil. For on one occasion Jesus said, “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work” (John 9:4). On another occasion when one disciple said to Him, “Show us the Father,” Jesus answered, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. . . . The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works” (John 14:9–10). If you want to see God at work, look at Jesus.
It would absolutely erase all confusion as to where a thing is coming from if we would listen to the Word of God.
If you will get into God’s Word, it will straighten out your thinking. Think in line with what the Word says—not necessarily with what you have been taught it says, nor what somebody told you it says. Ask yourself, “What does the Word of God say?”
Don’t Blame God
You need to realize this: Many times, particularly in the Old Testament, when it talks about God doing something, He did not actually perform it. In other words, He was not the agent who did it. He did not send evil on anyone. God already had warned them, “If you sin, these things will happen to you.”
Suppose, for instance, a man climbs up on a house, then falls off and breaks his leg. God put into motion the law of gravity. But the man could not say, “God broke my leg,” or, “God pushed me off the roof,” or even, “God did it.” No. God put into motion the law of gravity; the man violated it and reaped the results.
Now then, when certain things happen in life—such as sickness and disease, catastrophe, and so forth—and people say, “God did it,” no, He did not. They happen because man sinned. Not the individual involved, necessarily, but Adam sinned—and all mankind fell heir to the terrible results. As John Alexander Dowie said, “Sickness is the foul offspring of its mother Sin and its father Satan.”
But, thank God, we do not have to let Satan dominate us. Even though he is the god of this world, he does not have the right to dominate the Church. He does not have the right to dominate us as believers.
Stand Your Ground
It is important to recognize that the source of the opposition is Satan—and to stand your ground.
Too many people are ready to give up on something instead of recognizing that it is Satan who is trying to keep it from happening. Many of the things we pray about—finances, healing, and so on—have to come to pass in this world realm. And Satan is at work here. He will put up every block he can to keep it from happening. Then if there is a delay, some people say, “Maybe God doesn’t want me to have that after all.” They lose out when they should have recognized the source of all opposition is Satan and not allowed him to defeat them.
God revealed to the Apostle Paul exactly what we are to do when opposition arises. Paul, writing to the Church at Ephesus, plainly said, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord.” (Eph. 6:10).
It does not say a thing in the world about us being strong in ourselves. That’s where people miss it. They drop back into the natural and try to do it themselves. It says, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.” Just wrap yourself in the promises of God and enjoy yourself.
If you want to walk in victory, recognize that the source of all opposition is Satan, and stand against him. We need to realize that we have authority over the devil in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We can stand against him. We can be victorious through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Author
Kenneth E. Hagin
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One Comment on “The Source of Troubles”
I have read this article several times in my paper edition of The Word of Faith magazine. This message is so true, but sadly people in the world do not know or understand that God is a good God. He does not put things on us that we’ve been redeemed from. God is not the author of sickness or poverty. He is not trying to teach us lessons in that manner. Jesus became sin on the cross for all of mankind so we could be redeemed from all of the sins listed in the Old Testament.