In a difficulty? Your thoughts can determine the result!
ARE YOU TROUBLED BY A SEEMINGLY NEGATIVE SITUATION?
YOUR THOUGHTS CAN SET IN MOTION GOD’S POSITIVE OUTCOME!
The following letter was written to a couple in the Lord who were caretaking a home for us. The wife had had a couple of accidents soon after moving into the home, and they were concerned that it had something to do with the fact that very worldly people had previously owned the home. The couple was concerned about the possibility of “spiritual warfare.” This was our reassuring reply:
We wanted to send you a few thoughts that might be of comfort to you and your wife regarding spiritual warfare. Although this is a little lengthy, we hope you will take the time to read through it all as we believe there is much in it that can be of spiritual benefit to you both.
As always with every concept or question that is posed, God requires us to turn to Scripture to find our answers. We have found that in many church circles there is a lot of unnecessary and unscriptural emphasis given to the darkness of this world. Just like the media, darkness sells. Ministers who focus and preach heavily on the darkness of this world create debilitating fear in the minds of people. However, Scripture reassures us that “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love,” 1 John 4:18. Also note that we are told to “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,” Mark 16:15.
If we are commanded to go into all of the world, the Lord must have equipped us to truly go anywhere. For example, in Acts 17 we see that Paul went into Athens, a “heathen” city: “Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you,” Acts 17:22-23. Paul went into the midst of those who were involved in false worship and caught up in superstition, yet he did not fear or run away even when he found himself in the “thick of things.” He simply preached the truth. That was his calling and he knew it. He had confidence and he had peace. As 1 John 4:4 says, “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
Now compare the above situation with the following scripture. In 1 Corinthians, God clearly instructs us regarding our involvement with the world versus our involvement with brethren that are walking disorderly: “I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat,” 1 Corinthians 5:9-11.
Here we see we are instructed of the Lord to go out into the world and be amongst the wicked of this world so we may preach to them. He did not tell us, “Do not enter their homes where they have committed sins because I have cursed their homes and trouble may come upon you.” God simply commanded us to go out and be amongst them, but to be mindful not to follow after them. Yet, God did clarify that if a BROTHER (OR SISTER) IN THE LORD is a fornicator, etc. (i.e. walking disorderly, against God’s will), we are not to keep company with that person. This is not because their home is cursed, but rather because our socializing and fellowshipping with them can be regarded as condoning their wayward choices. Separating ourselves from a brother or sister who is walking disorderly also allows shame to work upon the person’s heart so that hopefully they may recognize the error of their ways and be brought to a place of sincere repentance.
The “world” and the people therein live and function in sin. The Lord knows this. Jesus sat amongst the sinners of this world. He did not fear that He would be cursed for being around their sin because He knew He was greater than their sin and that He was amongst them as an influential light. Matthew 11:19 says, “The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.”
When seemingly negative or unexplainable things happen in our lives we need to look at what God says. The natural mind of man can immediately conjure up all sorts of negative reasoning. A good example is in Judges 13 where the parents of Samson are told they will have a child. It’s important to see that though the husband (Manoah) knew he was dealing with an angel of the Lord and was being given a blessing and a promise from God, he still feared and assumed he would die because he had seen an angel/the Lord (it references both). His wife had a great answer for him in verse 23:
Judges 13:
16 And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto the LORD. For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the LORD.
17 And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honour?
18 And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret?
19 So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the LORD: and the angel did wondrously; and Manoah and his wife looked on.
20 For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground.
21 But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD.
22 And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.
23 But his wife said unto him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these.
The Lord knows we can tend to look negatively upon a situation, but He instructs us to meditate on the positive aspects of things. In Philippians 4:8 God tells us, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” God would rather that we immediately view a seemingly negative occurrence according to his encouragement in Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” If we immediately start verbalizing this scripture from Romans whenever something happens in our life that seems negative, including encouraging each other that something good is going to happen from it to glorify God, we will set in motion a positive outcome.
Remember how the children of Israel had a chance to believe Joshua and Caleb when they returned from the Promised Land with their report. Joshua and Caleb stated the facts, but they encouraged the people that God would give them the victory over all things IF they moved forward in faith. The Lord was waiting to see what the people would do. However, the Israelites listened instead to the ten spies who lacked faith and who brought back a fearful, doubtful, negative report. The people allowed themselves to be discouraged to the point of inaction and disobedience. They had a choice regarding which report to listen to and believe, and choosing to listen to the majority led them to another 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. Likewise, we also must be careful with our choices. Just because the majority is voicing a certain belief, it doesn’t mean it’s right according to God’s Word and His will for us.
We believe it’s also very important to recognize that the land the Lord was going to give them was a land that was previously filled with people that were living sinful lives and doing many abominable things in the eyes of God. God didn’t care about what had gone on in the land beforehand. That wasn’t a concern at all. God would have brought (and eventually did bring) His people into the land and expected them to live according to His ways from that point forward.
Anything that has been done by other people in our house in the past has no bearing on a person living in it now. It is not a physical house (or any other material thing – except for idols/false Gods) that the Lord is concerned about, but rather our personal relationship with Him. God tells us in 2 Chronicles 16:9, “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.” As long as we are doing our best to put God first (including following after His good and upright ways), we have the following promise: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you,” Matthew 6:33.
We can attest to all of the above from personal experience. For example, quite a few seemingly negative things happened to us on our recent trip. However, the first words out of one of our mouths were always, “All things work together for good…” We proclaimed, “Maybe there is reason behind this,” and all of the group unanimously and wholeheartedly agreed. Here are a couple of examples:
1) We had two flat tires on the way to Belize City to drop off our crates to be shipped. We had just finished praying for the Lord to bless our trip and the first tire blew. We installed the spare and were able to purchase a used tire from a villager across the road from where the tire blew, so we would still have a spare. Shortly thereafter the second tire blew and we now had no spare. This caused me to stop at a little gas station in the middle of nowhere in search of a replacement spare, so we would not be without one for the rest of the journey. Just then, a young fellow named Rennique showed up on his bicycle to get ice. I had prayed with him about ten days earlier when he was doing some field clearing for us in our small town, an hour north. He had asked for us to lay hands on him and pray that he would have a heart’s desire for the Holy Spirit anointing. This day that we had the two flat tires, Rennique was swimming at a jungle river that was two miles away from the little gas station. His family lived in a tiny village there. So, I offered him a ride and on the way we got talking more about the Lord. Very shortly we stopped and prayed right there in the car for Rennique to be filled with the power of God’s Spirit. He received the Holy Spirit anointing, with the evidence of speaking in tongues, and we then drive into the jungle toward the river (with no spare tire!), trusting that God would get us in and out of there so that Rennique could be baptized. All went very well, and we even got to meet Rennique’s family and share the Word of God with them.
2) I lost my glasses getting off the plane in Florida. We spent the next morning trying to get replacements. We were short on time and two optometry clinics couldn’t fit me in at all that day. The third clinic said they would squeeze me in. There were pictures on the wall about love, faith, and hope, so we asked if the owners of the clinic went to church. The gal behind the desk (Mayola) said yes, and she added that most of the clinic workers went to church, too. We asked Mayola if she had received the Holy Spirit since she believed (according to Acts 12). She said, “No.” We asked if she would like to pray for the Holy Spirit anointing. She replied, “Yes.” Mayola wanted to go pray in the little back room right then and there, and she invited two co-workers to join us all. (Little did we know that one of the co-workers had literally just been saying – only moments before being asked to join us for prayer – how lost he felt with his relationship with God and that he didn’t know what was wrong with him.) We ended up laying hands on and praying for Mayola and her two co-workers, and within minutes all three of them were filled with the power of the Spirit. We were only able to talk for a short while before they all had to return to work, but we made sure we spoke to them about the importance of baptism to complete their salvation, reading God’s Word, and walking in God’s ways until the return of Jesus Christ.
The Lord will always be pleased with us and He will bless our daily lives if we always have the mindset of asking ourselves, “I wonder what positive thing this could lead to?” If we have on our “spiritual radar” constantly then we will never miss opportunities to do the Lord’s work and glorify His Son’s name. Also, we will never miss opportunities to improve our relationship with God. Sometimes, seemingly negative things can occur because God is trying to encourage us to draw nigh to Him, search out answers in His Word, and/or pay better attention to the “voice” of the Holy Spirit within us. If someone is waning in their relationship with God then they should expect that their Father in Heaven will do something to try to kick them into gear!
We are truly sad to hear that your wife has been hurt with her two falls at the house, but we wanted to share with you these thoughts with the hope that they will encourage you to look at things in a positive light. For example, there may be someone sitting in the hospital or clinic that is thirsting for the truth and God is sending you to that person, to help them see the way to eternal life. After all, isn’t that what our lives are all about? God aches to be reconciled with those that are separated from Him because of sin, and He wants to use us as His willing vessels to help reunite the lost sheep with their shepherd.
About nine years ago, I was rushing to close a garage door and as I jumped out of the car to do so, my sandal caught the bottom of the open car door. The top of my foot got pulled into the sharp bottom corner of the garage door and it ripped open the top of my foot, putting me in hospital. Although we prayed fervently for a healing, I literally could not stand up for two weeks and it took another few weeks to become reasonably mobile on crutches. I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t receiving a healing, and the hospital costs added up to $5000.00. I had no spare money at the time, but I quickly saw how God blessed me. Without asking, a business friend covered the hospital costs (I later paid him back), and I soon realized that my foot injury had completely altered – for the good – the direction I was planning on heading in my life. In fact, it altered it in a dramatically positive way. I needed to be hobbled for a length of time in order to put me in the right place at the right time, to bring to pass a greater blessing in my life.
Continuing on, here’s another thought regarding the possibility of a house being cursed because it was previously occupied by very worldly sinners: God knows the people of the world are born in sin. Everyone is born in sin. Even a sweet little old lady who seems to be quiet and gentle was still born in sin, and she is actively living in sin until she is born again of water and of the Spirit (John 3:5, Mark 16, Acts 2:38). It is only the born again process that can free us from the state of sin and make us new creations in God’s eyes.
Many people in the Lord have homes that have “seen” even extreme sinful acts in the past, yet these houses have later become a joyous place for preaching, baptisms, people receiving the Holy Spirit anointing, healings, and other miracles. The Lord does not expect Christians to sell their homes because of sins that had previously been committed on the premises. He simply expects His people to honor Him with their lives, regardless of where they live. And, no prayers warding off evil spirits need to be conducted around the home and even in every room as some extremists believe and do. Hollywood has done much to cause people to adopt the thinking that inanimate objects can be possessed.
The spiritual warfare we do face is that of doctrines and compromises. That is where Satan is working as a roaring lion to devour the unwise. Satan’s devices are also in creating conflict between people and between man and God. And, he wants to create doubt in the all-powerful presence and protection of the Lord.
If we come across anyone who deals with occult practices and wants to toss around the concept of a curse, again we do not have to fear. Our mindset is scriptural:
Romans 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
Hebrews 13:6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
1 John 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
Matthew 16:23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. (In this instance, Jesus was rebuking spiritual concepts. He wasn’t implying that Peter was Satan in disguise.)
We have nothing to fear! The Lord is on our side. He wants to glorify the name of His Son Jesus Christ in our lives, and He will use our natural circumstances for spiritual benefit. Remember Paul and Silas who were cast into prison:
Acts 16:
22 And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.
23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:
24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.
25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.
To an observer, the situation would have seemed extremely negative for these two men of God, but the attitude of Paul and Silas was to trust and praise the Lord. Then God not only delivered them, but we also read later that the jailor was humbled and got saved because of what he saw. The jailer witnessed the testimony of Christ in Paul and Silas and then the power of God in the earthquake, which led him to believe and be baptized – along with his whole household.
Similarly, the negative things that happened to Job (in the Book of Job) were allowed as a test to prove his faith, and they were given to us as an example to never assume that the seemingly negative things of this natural life are an indication that the Lord is against us – as long as we are walking in the Spirit according to the Word of God, and not compromising the true doctrine of salvation. When we are doing that which is right and pleasing in the eyes of the Lord, we can expect good things to come of all situations in our lives. Even then, if we are allowing our spiritual walks to weaken, we can accept the Lord’s seemingly negative action in our lives as a welcome and beneficial “wake up call” to get on the right track with Him. Either way, all situations will work for our good when we are in the Lord as long as we recognize God’s hand behind them.
Sometimes a difficult situation may even be a direct answer to an earlier prayer. When we were living in a third world country, my wife developed a massive lump in her left breast. Quite some time earlier she had actually asked the Lord to help her have a better understanding of His healing power. She had prayed for God to “help her unbelief” according to Mark 9:24 because she had never experienced a notable personal healing and she wanted to preach about healing with greater faith. Yet, when the lump occurred in her breast, my wife did not remember her previous prayer.
Soon after arriving at a medical clinic to undergo a mammogram, my wife was healed right in front of our eyes as she and I sat and prayed in tongues while waiting. Our minds could have thought, “Lord, why is this happening? Aren’t we trying to do your will?” Her lump had nothing to do with anything that had happened in our house before we lived there, and it wasn’t a chastening for allowing our relationship with God to weaken. It was simply a blessing of the Lord, a miraculous answer to prayer, and it has become one of our most amazing healing testimonies. The huge, ugly lump dissolved before our eyes. It completely disappeared within less than three minutes while we were praying in the examination room. Praise God!
We hope that within these above scriptures and thoughts you might find comfort that the Lord is on your side and that you don’t have to fear the darkness of this world. What we need to be aware of is the corruption of the Word of God (true spiritual warfare), and we need to be uncompromising in upholding the truth. I have personally walked in peace and free of fear of the darkness of this world for 30 years because I have carried these thoughts with me from the beginning of my relationship with Christ. Remember what God has told us:
Romans 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.