Finished Work - God Is For You!
I wasn’t sure what to write next and it came as a surprise when the Lord showed me that if I think God is out to get me, or that He is not for me, then I will not have boldness and confidence to receive everything that it already rightfully mine through the finished work of the cross.
Let me mention that this post might lead to the upending of your theology - we should not allow what we think we believe to get in the way of what the Bible actually says. We have all grown up with beliefs held dear by family, or even things that were taught from pulpits. Just because your ancestors believed something, or your favourite preacher taught something doesn’t make it truth. The only way for it to be truth is if it is found in the Bible in multiple places - the Bible will always confirm itself.
I listened to someone teach on the following scripture the other day. I have heard many sermons on this particular scripture over the years and I have to say that they did not all reflect the same message. But again, what does the scripture actually say?
1 Cor 10:13 NKJV - 13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
Temptations, tests and trials will come, but God is faithful no matter what we are facing - He will always make a way of escape. In fact, He has already made a way through the cross of Jesus - that is why Jesus is called the way, the truth and the life.
John 14:6 NKJV - 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Temptation is adversity, a fiery trial, an affliction - an experience of evil. So where do temptations or trials come from? Is it God sending it? Have you ever stopped to think where God would get trials and tests from? Does He have a warehouse in Heaven full of evil tests and trials - ready according to the “just in time system” - waiting for the right moment? There is no scripture in the Bible to support this.
The scripture says that temptations and trials are common to man. It is something we all go through one way or another. But you can know that if a trial comes, you will overcome and come out a winner. Why? Because God is faithful, He will make sure that it does not overcome you. He is with you in every trial making sure that you come out victorious. He will make a way so you can bear up under and come out.
1 John 5:4-5 NKJV - 4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
The Devil will try to convince you that the trouble you are dealing with is unique - no one in the history of man has ever suffered the way you are suffering now. If you believe this, then it could lead to a perverse form of pride or it could let you freefall into despair believing that what you are dealing with is sure to overwhelm God to the point where He just gives up on trying to help you. Rest assured that nothing you are faced with will ever catch God by surprise. He has already - even before the foundation of the world - made a way out for you.
If the Devil’s deception doesn’t work on you, then he will try to convince you that God doesn't love you and is not for you. He will whisper in your ear that if God loved you then you would not have to deal with this tragedy, this sickness. God’s love for you is not on trial anymore. It was on trial more than 2000 years ago when Jesus died on the cross. God’s love won when Jesus stretched out His arms wide and died.
John 3:16-17 NKJV - 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
What is on trial right now, today, is your love for, and trust in God. Will you keep standing, keep holding onto the Word, keep enduring the deception and lies of the enemy that contradicts the Word? You can believe that God loves you and that nothing can separate you from that love.
Rom 8:35-39 NKJV - 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
If you are unsure if God is behind something bad, a tragedy happening in your life, then this scripture is a bright light to always, without fail show you the answer:
John 10:10 AMPC - 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).
If something is good, it is from God. If it is bad, harming, killing and destroying, it is from the Devil. God gives the abundance of life. All good gifts come from Him. He is not out to kill you or make you sick or broke. He is not hurting or harming you. God works no evil to us or against us.
Rom 13:10 NKJV - 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
I have often heard teachings on this scripture where people emphasize that God will not put more on you than you are able to bear. If you believe that God is the one who puts bad things on you, then why would you look to Him to help and deliver you.
The scripture in 1 Cor 10:13 says that He will make a way out - a way for you to escape. He has already made a way out. This is where the connection comes to the finished work of the cross and why you can know that God is always for you. He has already made a way out even before you got into trouble. Jesus dying on the cross for you was the way out. Any test and trial or even temptation that may come your way has already been dealt with very successfully by Jesus on the cross. He became the perfect obedient sacrifice and overcame every trial and temptation. You can be confident that God will never tempt you or put trials on you. How do I know this? Because the Bible says so:
James 1:13-15 NKJV - 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
One of the greatest gifts you can give yourself is to find out and believe who God is and how much He loves you. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that you can do that can cause Him to stop loving you or force Him to withhold His love by showing you a cold, ignoring shoulder. God is not like that. One of the biggest lies with the most devastating consequences in the Body of Christ today is that God sends tragedy and disaster to teach you something. Honestly, most people I know who were supposed to learn something, never could tell you what they learned. What is true is that people often draw close to God in tragedy with the result that their relationship with Him starts to blossom. But the tragedy didn’t come from Him. Most of the things people blame on God would make Him a child abuser of the worst kind. There is zero, nil, nada evidence of this in the Bible. I said this in a previous blog post that we need to be mindful of where we “live from” in the Bible. If you take your cues for your relationship with God from how He treated the people in the Old Testament, then you will get totally stuck in religion and you will constantly feel condemned and inadequate when you take the law as your measuring stick. The law was impossible to keep and was given to show people God's standard of living and that through their own performance and effort, they could never measure up. This was to show them that they needed a Saviour - One who was perfect and able to keep the entire law. Because of the finished work of the cross, we now have a better covenant based on better promises bought by the blood of Jesus that atoned for us where we fell short.
But why is there still evil, pain and misery in the world? I have already answered it in part. Evil is here because of the sin and fall of mankind. So, is God not going to do something about this? Is He not going to help me out of the mess that I am in, or the sickness that I face? The answer is no. He is not going to do anything more about it. I can hear you gasp.. SAY WHAAAT?? Jesus already went to the cross and the finished work took care of anything you could possibly ever need in the future. He is not heading back to the cross EVER. He expects us now to renew our minds to what He did for us so we can stand up strong and use the authority He gave us to walk in healing, prosperity, peace... We have the right to resist the enemy and his evil works of tests and trials and temptations.
Rom 12:2 NKJV - 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
But I always thought God is in control of everything and if He sees fit, He will change my situation - if He sees fit, He will run the Devil out of my life. God is in control in the sense that He is paramount and supreme, there is no one higher in authority or power. But that does not mean He controls everything in our lives. He doesn’t want puppets; He has given us the freedom and ability to choose. He is waiting on you to realize that the enemy is defeated, so you can use your authority and resist him. If you don’t resist him, God is not going to come down from Heaven and do it for you. If you allow the enemy to stay, he will make his home with you and continue to create havoc and keep you defeated.
Mat 18:18 NKJV - 18 “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
The belief that God is in control of everything, is damaging to those who believe it. It makes you a powerless victim where you feel you have no control - no choice - whatever will be will be. If you are under such teachings, always check how it makes you feel. If it leaves you feeling deep in despair and hopelessness, then this is not from God. He wants you to know and believe that He is for you and has already given you the victory. Now you get to stand up and enforce it!
Make God your safe place to land that if all else fails, you will know you can always run to Him. He is there - the everlasting, ever loving One - always holding your hand, showing you the way out. God is for you - stop seeing Him as your enemy.
Rom 8:31-32 NKJV - 31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?
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**I added bold format to text in some scripture references.
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