I have heard people pray and plead with God to get the devil out of their lives. They forget the words of James.
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
James 4:7
God did not tell us to ask Him to resist the devil for us. We saw in the last post that He has bound Himself to His Word which tells us to resist the devil.
It is our responsibility to resist the devil. He will not flee from us unless we submit to God and resist him!
For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
Mark 11:23
Jesus tells us that it is our responsibility to speak to the mountain. It will not move if we are not speaking!
I have heard people pray to God about their problem. They are not following Jesus’ direction. Jesus did not tell us to talk to God about our problems. He said to speak to the problem!
“If it be thy will please heal this suffering one.”
This is not a faith based prayer. It will not produce results because it is not based in the Word of God.
Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye
Mark 7:13
One of the traditions that make the Word of God powerless in our lives is the teaching that everything occurring in our lives is the will of God. This doctrine has resulted in the early death of countless Christians.
“So and so was a good person though and they were not healed.”
I understand that many people do not receive their healing. This does not mean it was not God’s will for them to be healed. Our faith must not be based on experience. It can only be based on God’s Word which tells us that we have been redeemed from the curse of sickness (Deuteronomy 28).
There are many good people who have had their lives cut short by sickness. Tradition tells us that it was not God’s will for them to be healed. There are also many good people who died without receiving salvation. If we follow the logic used for healing this would lead us to conclude it was not God’s will for them to be saved. This is absurd!
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9
We must examine everything that we are hearing. I do not care if a pastor has been serving his church for thirty years. Anything that I hear taught from the Word must be examined thoroughly in context of the entire Word!
Let’s pause for a moment and think about what people are claiming. They say it was God’s will for a person to be sick or that He is trying to teach that person a lesson through their suffering. If they really believed these things then why allow the sick person to seek medical help? Wouldn’t the doctor be helping them get out of God’s will? Can you see how crazy these teachings are?
He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Mark 7:6-7
There are many people in church today who honor God with their lips but take no thought for Him when they leave service. These are usually the people bound in tradition. Jesus calls this hypocritical!
Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.
Psalms 78:41
God delivered the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. He did this so that they could enter their promised land. Unbelief blocked a whole generation from being able to enter in. It was never God’s plan for that generation to wonder in the desert and die off.
And they returned from searching of the land after forty days. And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
Numbers 13:25-33
The spies were sent by Moses on a reconnaissance mission. They searched the promised land for forty days. Joshua and Caleb came back with a report of faith.
“And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.“
The other ten spies spoke of the challenges.
“But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.“
The Bible calls this an evil report. Israel chose to believe this and were blocked from being able to enter into their promised land.
God had a wonderful plan for Israel. They rebelled and gave up. Israel spent forty years in the wilderness because they chose not to believe God. The spies searched the land for forty days and Israel ended up wondering in the desert one day for each day the spies spent.
Let’s take a moment to consider this situation in light of how sovereignty is being taught today. Would the spies have been able to bring back an evil report if it had not been God’s will for them to do so? If God is control of everything then does this mean He made Israel choose not to believe the report of faith? Can you see how twisted this theology is?
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