Hey, I know you’re probably as shocked as I am at the
title. Give me a few minutes and maybe you’ll not be so shocked. It’s
common to hear good Christians say “relax, God is in control”, we even
have stickers that say exactly those words. It’s generally accepted that
since God is sovereign, King of kings & Lord of lords, He is in
control of the whole world, everything happens according to His will
& nothing happens if it’s not His will. There are even scriptures
that seem to support this belief and can be used to argue that it is so.
For the sake of argument, let’s say that it really is so. Then how do
you explain all the terrible things that happen in the world? How do
you explain it when the wicked prosper and the righteous perish? How do
you explain it when things don’t go according to the will of God clearly
shown in scriptures? How do you explain it when Jesus says we should
pray “thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven”? If it is His will,
why must I pray for it to happen?
A few weeks ago, two beloved Jehovah’s witnesses gave me a pamphlet
and asked me a question: who is in charge of the world, God, man or
someone else? With all the seriousness I could muster, I told them
“Satan”. They said my answer was strange to them because almost everyone
they had met had said it was God. That’s when I really began to wonder.
What do we have to say in response to 2 Corinthians 4:4 that refers to
Satan as the god of this world? Or what about 1 John 5:19 that says the
entire world lies in the laps/grip/control (under the sway) of the
wicked one? What about Jesus who called Satan “the prince of this world”
in John 12, 14 & 16? Ephesians 2:2 calls him the prince of the
power of the air. If all those witnesses are not enough, consider what
happened in Genesis: God made Adam in His image & likeness, legally
gave the earth to Adam to be in charge of it; Adam disobeyed God &
obeyed Satan, Adam lost his divine nature and took on Satan’s nature.
Who walked away with the title deed to the earth? God, Adam or Satan?
Satan did! Satan owns Adam, Adam owns the earth (Psalm 115:16); legally,
Satan owns the earth (Romans 5:14&17).
That is why the natural course of things is decay. That is why the
natural state of things, right now, is evil. In the beginning it was not
so, and, halleluyah, at the end it will not be so!!! One day, after the
rapture, Jesus is going to come back to the earth, slay the wicked with
the breath of His mouth, bind Satan in the bottomless pit and reign on
the earth for 1000 years (2 Thessalonians 2:8, Revelations 5:10 &
20:2-4). That day is not yet here, but over 2000 years ago, Jesus bought
us with His blood, and by extension, bought the earth fair and square.
The fullness of this redemption is not yet in expression, that’s why the
whole creation groans & waits for the manifestation of the sons of
God (Romans 8:19-23). However, RIGHT NOW, we are Jesus’ representatives
in the earth realm. Satan is the god of this world, but he doesn’t have
the legal right to rule us or control us anymore.
Remember, though, Satan is no gentleman, he’s a thief. Though he has
no legal right to afflict, rule or oppress the Christian, he will kick,
slap & punch us around if we let him. It is left to us to stand firm
against his antics & destroy his works ANYWHERE we find them. It is
up to us to spread the influence of the blessing far as the curse is
found. It is up to us to carry the kingdom of heaven and subdue the
earth and the systems thereof under it. We are an occupation force like
the world has never seen: the army of the Lord. And make no mistake
about it, we are in enemy territory! But wherever we plant the flag of
the kingdom, we can tell the devil: this room, house, street, town,
city, state or nation no longer belongs to you, be gone!
If God’s will is to be done in this earth, it is up to us to pray it
out and/or call it forth. When we come into agreement with God’s will
this way, He is able & powerful to move in the earth realm, move in
those circumstances, move in that life according to that same will. But
when we fail to pray, when we fail to take authority, when we neglect
our watchtower in the Spirit, terrible things happen and the world calls
them “acts of God” and the Yorubas call it “amuwa Olorun” (something
that God brought) and the French say “c’est la vie” (that is life). Come
on, we are more intelligent than that!
Even when we pray and declare
God’s will and we still don’t get the desired result, we don’t take the
easy way out and say “it must (not) have been the will of God”. If the
Word makes provision for it, it IS the will of God! We don’t know why
that loved one still died, why that sick one didn’t get healed, why that
plane crash wasn’t averted, but we still know that it wasn’t God’s
will, it was the devil that did that! We may not get to know some
details, even by study or by revelation, but what we do not know on this
side of eternity, we will know on the other side (1 Corinthians
13:9&12).
What we DO know right now, we can bank on & we can have
confidence in is the Word of life, it is a sure anchor. Let us not let
go of the sure Word of God, let’s hold on to it, let’s stand on it,
let’s believe it with everything in us. When it seems not to be working,
let’s find out what is missing and add it, but be sure the Word always
works. Heaven and earth may pass away, but not one jot, not one tittle,
not one bit of God’s eternal Word will go unfulfilled. Embrace it. The
old testament folks were not so aware of this, but there IS a devil who
hates man, and right now he is the one running things in this age, but
we are heavenly ambassadors with diplomatic immunity and a sovereign but
simple mandate: DOMINATE!
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