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MINISTRY UPDATE
– Winter 2001
Have you ever felt like God has let you down? We feel to share some thoughts on this matter, as this year comes to a close. In the aftermath of September 11, many no doubt, may feel as though they have every reason to believe that God has let them down.
The spiritual war of terrorism didn’t officially begin on September 11, did it? It actually dates back to Adam and Eve. Ever since Satan deceived Adam and Eve to do something that sounded good to do … but turned out in fact to be the worse thing they could do … spiritual terrorism began. Satan has waged his war of mental, spiritual terrorism upon those who seek to be pleasing to God. Satan’s weapons of mental terrorism are not to be taken lightly. They will cripple and destroy the most devoted of Christians, if great precautions are not taken.
Perhaps Satan’s most effective terrorist weapon against seasoned, mature saints of the Lord is discouragement. Discouragement that stays fueled with those little “innocent thoughts” of: God has let me down.
Why is this weapon so effective? Because it is so easy to believe that God actually HAS let me down. In fact, it is much easier to believe that God has let me down than to believe that God never let’s me down … no matter how many times I might hear it, if my foundation in God has not been built properly.
Ask yourself if you’ve had any temptations this last year to believe that God has let you down in some particular situation or another. Would the Holy Spirit be the one giving you these thoughts, or would they be coming from some other source?
God tells us in Ephesians 6:16 to be on guard against Satan’s “terrorist” tactics: Above all … (ALL – ALL – ALL) - - taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
Above ALL means exactly what it implies: above everything else you do to keep the enemy from succeeding from poisoning your mind with his wicked, lying thoughts. Use your faith as often as necessary to combat the constant bombardment of fiery darts being fired into your mind.
Does it sound easy? It’s not always. Yet God has given each of us a shield of faith that has these words printed boldly on the inside of the shield for us to constantly remind ourselves of:
Let your conduct be without covetousness, and be content with such
things as you have. For He Himself
has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
So we may boldly say: “The
Lord is my helper; I will not fear.
What can Satan do to
me?”
If you’ll look closely in your Bible, you’ll notice that we omitted man and replaced it with Satan. Why? Because Ephesians 6:12 says that we “don’t wrestle with flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” God is plainly telling us here that our battle is much higher than with mere humans. It is against beings in the spiritual realm. We realize this is elementary to many reading this … but we feel it needs to be reinforced to attack a stronghold that Satan is trying to reinforce in many seasoned saints. Can you hear him saying it now: “God has let you down: now just admit it.”
Perhaps the most effective way that Satan can gain a major victory in the mind of the Christian believer is to listen to Bible teachers who seem to put overemphasis on scriptures like:
“Have faith in God. For
assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast
into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things
he says will come to pass, he will have whatever he says. Therefore, I say to you, whatever things
you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have
them.” --
(Mark 11:22-24).
Does this above scripture mean exactly what it says? Of course it does, when applied in its proper context at the appropriate time in the appropriate situation. When and why, then doesn’t it work when I say out loud: “Lord, I believe I’m going to win this week’s big lottery. I refuse to believe otherwise. It is already mine, and all I have to do is go buy a ticket, because your Word says I have what I say, ask for, and believe for.”
Or, “Lord I’m asking that you heal me of my terminal sickness. I know you took my sickness on the cross, and so I am already healed. I believe it in Jesus’ name. It’s mine! And I refuse to believe otherwise.” Do you know of anyone who has approached their situation in this manner, and you attended their funeral, them dying of the sickness or disease they believed would be taken away? It happens all the time, somewhere around the world. It’s happened ever since Mark 11:22-24 was written. If that’s the case, why did God allow it to be written in the first place, only to have it not work some of the time?
Before we get everyone in a tizzy … which this scripture seems to do very easily in Christian circles … we would like to bring to the readers attention the one word we can easily skip over in this scripture if we’re not careful:
DOUBT.
If we were to say to you that this message from Jesus Himself in Mark 11:22-24 is God trying to reveal to us the way in which our enemy gets a foothold into our belief system ultimately is to get us to doubt God’s faithfulness in times of our discouragement and hardship … then would it become a scripture that’s so explosively controversial? Maybe not.
A person who believes in the good times that God will never forsake them in
the difficult times is a very wise person. Once our soul is poisoned enough with the dart of doubt that
God surely has forsaken me, then
essentially I become so ineffective in fighting the good fight of faith that I
basically quit believing God for much of anything anymore. The assurance of my salvation can then turn to, “I’m not sure I’m EVEN saved anymore, if you want to
know the truth of the matter.”
A person who believes in their emotional healthy times that their very life on this planet is no more assured to them than tomorrow is, are in a much wiser place spiritually when the chips are down, because they will be down. No one follows after Jesus without being tempted with feelings of being let down by God at times. It comes lot and parcel fighting the good fight of faith that 1 Timothy 6:12 encourages believers to fight. If Satan was not allowed to fire his fiery darts of doubt, then perhaps we might be mostly free from feeling like God has let us down when things aren’t going our way. But the Bible assures us this is not the case. Satan’s darts of doubt are only going to intensify as the spiritual battle intensifies on planet Earth between good and evil.
If you will just remind yourself of this the next time you begin feeling like God has let you down: ‘Where are these thoughts coming from? From God? From me? From Satan?’ … it may be the very difference between having an effective shield to cause those darts of doubt to bounce off your head vs going right through the shield and into your mind. Assuming they will always be coming from Satan will be your strongest shield of faith to assure you that they bounce off rather than penetrate your shield.
If the bombardment continues and seems to be gaining a foothold, then begin to speak out loud to these darts of doubt. See them as the mountain that they are becoming. Be determined to cast them into the sea of filth and poison where they belong. Flush them down the cosmic toilet if you need to. Just don’t let them have a foothold in your mind.
The worst place a person can come to is where they believe God has let them down, but refuses to admit it to others and themselves. To a saint who has fallen victim to this type of spiritual terrorism, it virtually assures the powers of darkness that this Christian is essentially put out of commission. The next step that comes after believing God has let us down is apathy. The victim growths apathetic towards the daily disciplines of a healthy spiritual soldier. They quit bathing their spirits and soul with the Word. They quit singing spiritual songs of joy and encouragement to themselves. They pretty much lose most all desire to witness to others about the goodness of God, because they truly feel deep down inside that they are the world’s biggest hypocrites if they do speak encouraging things about God. Their intimate prayer life starts to lose its vitality. Praying becomes such a difficult task, especially with any expectancy or assurance that God is listening to your every word, and will respond just as quickly as He does to anyone else’s prayers.
Too many in the Church in America has been taught to believe that as long as we tithed, God is obligated to bless us financially? What if the economy should slowly grow worse and worse, and we find that giving to the work of the Lord gets more and more difficult, because the money just isn’t there like it used to be? Has God let us down? Not if you believed all along that you’ve been storing up treasures in heaven for yourself every time you gave instead of laying up treasures for yourself here on earth.
Much of the Church has also been nearly overwhelmed to believe with the masses that the Rapture is going to happen any moment, because God is going to spare Christians from undue pain and hardship. What if Christians in America are allowed to go through suffering, torture and even death much like the early Christians were forced to go through before Christ returns for us? Will they believe then that God has let them down? Sure many of them will be tempted to do so, if they don’t realize now that their rapture can come at the next stop light when a drunk runs the red light at high speed, or their heart unexpectedly stops. God has the right to take each of us home to heaven whenever and however He wills. Whether directly causing our heart to stop beating, or allowing Satan’s attack on us to cause it to stop beating … the end result is that God has something more important for us to do in heaven. Always remember – we only see half of the total picture here on this planet. The other half of the picture will not be made clear to us until we pass over to the other side.
When I’ve come to grips that God has never promised me in scripture that I will be kept from suffering for my faith in Him, no matter how much I would like to believe otherwise … then I am preparing myself for the times of setback that might come my way in the future. In fact, when I come to the sobering truth that God has promised in scriptures that I will suffer for my faith in Him, then it makes it much more difficult for Satan to put doubts in my mind that God has let me down when (not if) it happens.
Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. (2 Timothy 3:12).
Persecution from whom? God or Satan? We’re trusting you can quickly answer “Satan!” because that is the only source persecution comes from, if we are innocent in doing good. (God’s Word says that if we break the law and are punished for it, that is merely righteous judgment. Persecution is suffering for doing right. However, never forget who tempts you to break the law in the first place. Satan doesn’t care how you suffer, saint, just as long as you suffer. Tempting you to break the law and you getting punished for it is a victory Satan will take any day of the week.)
When you are suffering for doing right, Satan will always tempt you to ask yourself, “God – why are YOU allowing this to happen?” His motive for doing so is to try to get you to believe that God has let you down.
[Though we have no solid scripture to back this up, we believe the person who believes God would never let them suffer unjustly are the ripest candidates for it. For those who assume it’s probably going to happen to them and don’t fear it and prepare for it, Satan is less inclined to spring it on them. Satan’s greatest delight is catching us off guard. The pain of it is always greater when we’re dull and insensitive to Satan’s deceitful devices.]
As we move ever closer to end-time events, we have to assume that we are going to see an increase of emotional terrorism. Many of those around us who we thought were unmovable and unshakable in their walk with the Lord will be sifted like wheat worse than Peter was sifted as recorded in Luke 22:31-32.
If we find ourselves being sifted like wheat, we need to prepare beforehand how we’re going to stand through the fiery trial. (Our intention of making note of this is certainly not to put fear into believers, but to prepare them in these easier times if in fact more trying times comes upon them.).
God promises us in His Word that: 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. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
In taking an extremely close look at this scripture (because it is one of those that we need to stick in our arsenal of weapons to fight terrorists with), God is saying at least three very important things here:
1) Nothing has or will happen to you or I that is so trying that someone else hasn’t experienced it.
2) God cannot be anything but faithful. Faithful to what? Keep me from going broke? Keep me from starving? Keep me from being tortured? Keep me from dying? Keep my loved ones from dying? Nope. We don’t believe He is promising us those things at all in this promise. He’s saying that when we are tempted … He will not let us be so tempted so much that we can’t put our trust in Him to help us bear up under the trial of the temptation, if we go to Him for the help and direction while we’re being tempted.
My temptation might be to quit trusting Him to heal me of my terminal cancer. Maybe I’m tired of fighting, and just want to go home and be with Him. Is there anything wrong with wanting that? Until you and I have been in that place, who are we to say we know the right thing to want God to do for us? If I decide to quit believing for a miraculous healing, God is promising me that He will give me the comfort that I’m not sinning if all I want to do is go home and be with Him. God will help me bear the pain of my decision, though loved ones around me might not like my decision.
My temptation might be in a prison one day. I might be forced to have to renounce my faith and trust in Jesus Christ or be tortured to death. God says in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that he will allow me a way of escape not necessarily from the torture, but while I’m undergoing the torture itself. My escape may be unconsciousness or even death. Or, it might be that God will give me a supernatural joy or make me impervious to pain, if I ask and determine to trust for it. But I make up my mind now that whatever my temptation might be someday … God will help me bear up under the pain of it so I will not be tempted to believe He has let me down.
God has promised in His Word that trials are going to come upon every Christian believer at one time or another while here on earth. To think that I’m the only exempt one from undergoing trials is a bit naïve on my part, don’t you think?
Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trail which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you. (1 Peter 4:12)
If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. (1 Peter 4:16)
You see - this last admonition from God’s Word is what makes the difference during our times of trial … as to whether we give Satan a foothold or not to make our torment greater. If our primary purpose is to glorify God through the midst of our trial … no matter how hard it might seem … then we will never have regretted doing so through eternity. Why? Because there is a much greater reward of joy through eternity when we do so.
If we have asked God to relieve us of what we are suffering of, and He does not, or choose to delay relief for a season, God wants to teach us how to glorify Him during those extremely difficult times. Only God can show each of us how to do that, but one thing is for certain. We must purpose in ourselves to make glorifying Him top priority. Everything else must become secondary.
No one has a right to tell you to quit believing God for a miracle answer to prayer when one is called for, not even us. Don’t take us wrong when you’re out on a limb believing God to honor your faith and prayers concerning a given matter. All we’re trying to exhort readers to do here is don’t set themselves up to let the enemy make them feel like God has let them down if the miracle doesn’t happen the way they are hoping, expecting, or believing it is going to happen. That’s all we’re trying to do. Purpose in your heart to glorify God no matter what place you find yourself in. The only position we know of that will stand every test and every storm is to purpose to glorify God in whatever state we find ourselves in … until we reach heaven’s gate.
God may allow terrorists to gas, poison, or blow up Christians with explosive devices. If that happens to our closest family and friends, we must not stop that from becoming our trial in purposing to glorify God in whatever shape we find ourselves in. Doing so literally becomes our shield of faith of Ephesians 6:16 that lessons the pain of our trial.
On a different note, for those of you who haven’t taken the liberty lately to check out the www.precious-testimonies.com website, a few changes have been made to it recently that we encourage you to check out. WHY the Cross?: at the top of the front page has been written to enable people to link it to others the Holy Spirit places on their heart. We encourage you to pray about how the Lord might use you to make the most use of it. Yahoo and other free websites allow you to register a domain name and you can post messages on stock boards. What better place to find unbelievers who have a right to hear the Gospel message, to accept it or reject it?
Since August 2001 we’ve started measuring the readership of the ministry website. It has averaged between 1500–2000 visits per day. We thank God for your prayers on behalf of this outreach, knowing it’s because of your faithfulness to pray for us as regularly as God has impressed you to do that has this many people going to the website. Though we realize it can be a dangerous trap to get caught up in numbers, it is only right to share that the intensity of your prayers and the sacrificial financial giving of those who give are being used greatly of the Lord to lead people to the site. We know that if the Lord allows just this average to continue as is, and never increases the number of daily visits, many seeds are getting planted and watered when over 500,000 people a year click onto the site. A number have shared with us that they have made copies off the site, so the seed is getting multiplied in that way as well, all glory going to the Lord.
As Kathleen and I look back over the years of having a call to publish testimonies, we are so amazed at times that God has been so good to us. We always wanted the ability to publish testimonies to share with the world about how Jesus Christ is changing lives, and present the Gospel message along with them, but we were always limited in our resources to do much about it. The Internet has changed all that, because now God has given us a means to multiply Jesus glorifying testimonies via the Internet that staggers one’s imagination. All we can say one more time is, “Thank you, heavenly Father for the privilege!”
As we close out this update, we leave you with a couple final thoughts. The person who believes God has let them down for very long fails to realize that Satan never will let them down when it comes to emotional “terrorism.” If there is anything a born again Christian can count on in this life … it’s that Satan can always be trusted to make their life miserable. Let’s just not give him more room to discourage us than need be, can you shout “Amen!” to that?
When we enter heaven’s gates, and stand in the presence of the King of Kings, we will not be asking Him, “Why did you let me down on Earth?”
In His presence, we will know all things we didn’t have clear understanding of on Earth. God’s wisdom for allowing what was allowed in each of our lives to happen will then make perfect sense. What is our assurance of that?
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” -- (NKJV Romans 8:28)
Norm Rasmussen
DIRECTOR
NOTE FROM EDITOR: If you are questioning in your heart what this Christian life is all about and would like to know more about being reconciled to God, please click here to learn how you can do that. Thank you and God bless you!
