As I said in my last post, we live in a “fallen world”! This means that we must deal with the consequences of not only our own choices, but we also have to deal with the consequences of the evil choices of others. We can be perfectly innocent and yet be negatively affected. In a fallen world, “Hurting people hurt people!”. Show More
the issue of Free-will
You’ve heard it said that “bad things happen to good people”. It is also true that bad things can happen to God’s people, Christians! How can this be? It has to do with the fact that God has given us free will. That is, the ability to make our own choices.
Free will is important because of the following fact. God loves us with an Agape or unconditional love, God has “decided” to love us. In the same way, God wants us to make the decision to love Him in an Agape- unconditional love as well. This fact alone requires that we have the ability to make a decision or commit to this kind of love.
You have heard and perhaps even thought, “why doesn’t God do something about cruelty, injustice disease, and poverty in the world”? Well think about it, is there anything God can’t do? No, He is omnipotent or all-powerful. Nothing is impossible with God.
However, here is the rub, the only way God can sovereignly right all the wrongs today is to violate or over-ride the will of people! You might think, well that’s not a bad idea, but that would mean taking away someone’s free will. It’s easy to think about violating someone else’s free will, but are you willing to give up your free will to make decisions and choices. You see it is a two-edged sword. It cuts both ways. [it rains on the just and the unjust].
This world system is in the control of Satan
Also, keep in mind who has control over this fallen world. I know that there may be many who don’t believe the following scriptures, but let me present a quote from the mid-1850s by Charles Baudelaire which endures even to this day, “The devil’s finest trick is to persuade you that he does not exist.”
- Satan is the ruler of this world in the sense that the world is still characterized by sin. Jesus said. “I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over Me” (John 14:30). This title suggests that he is the major influence over our world.
- Scripture teaches that the whole world is in his power. “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the evil one” (1 John 5:19).
- Satan is the authority over this present, evil world-system. “in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient” (Ephesians 2:2).
- Satan is the deceiver of the whole world. This fallen angel deceives the unbelieving world. “And the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world; he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him” (Revelation 12:9).
I have said all of this to make this point, none of us escape life unscathed. We all bear the scars of making bad choices or suffering the physical/emotional abuse caused by the evil decisions of others.
Satan is a spiritual entity; therefore, his only weapon is to distort God’s truths and insert those lies into our minds. If we obey the lie, then we, in essence, serve him.
Romans 6:16, “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves, slaves, to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness”? this truth makes it even more clear that the battle we fight is a spiritual one.
The Spiritual War- the battlefield is in the mind
2 Cor 10:3-5 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
Let me paraphrase this statement:
Although we live in a physical body, our battle is against spiritual entities. Therefore, we can’t use physical means to battle against a spiritual foe, but Jesus has not left us hopeless or defenseless!
He has given us powerful weapons for pulling down “strongholds”. These strongholds are those false ideas or lies that we “strongly hold on to”. They are mental strongholds. Ideas like, you are not good enough, you are worthless, you are unlovable, you are ugly, you are stupid, you will never amount to anything, you are always wrong, and any other thought that Satan can put into your mind.
The Devil can put these thoughts directly into your mind or through the people you have encountered in life. We have the ability to “cast down those arguments or patterns of thinking that are contrary to what God has said about you and your circumstances.
God has placed His Holy Spirit in you for the purpose of revealing the truth that you are loved, forgiven, accepted, and empowered to resist the lies of the enemy and to accept what is true, but also the spiritual ability to live your life in obedience to your King, Jesus. This is easy to do when you realize that you are a “King’s kid”!
Once you know the truth, the truth will set you free, however, this usually doesn’t happen instantly. Understanding the truth may be instantaneous, but undoing years or a lifetime of lies may take time. It is very much like a physical injury or wound, there is a healing process. The same is true of spiritual wounds.
Next time we will be looking at the process of spiritual healing.
