Turning afflictions into weapons.

Have you ever felt condemned because someone else did not have any problems, and you were hurting? You know, they say, "Oh, God is really blessing me for my obedience and is really answering my prayers. I just got a raise, my kid just got a scholarship to a Christian University and they want to be a missionary, etc., etc. My wife just got healed instantly when the pastor prayed for her.

Then you look at your life and you think that God must not think very much of you. All you are experiencing is trouble, grief, sickness, lack, and you blame yourself. You sense your life is barren, that you have no purpose. You begin to justify your situation by thinking this is your ordained suffering, that God is punishing you for being the low down creature you are. You know you lack faith, but you hate hearing those people tell you that all you just need more faith. Sure you should be happy for that person who is being blessed, but it can make you feel like something is wrong with you.

You know your are going to Heaven when you die, but you are living in Hell before you get there. You try to study the Bible, but it seems distant and cold. All you can do is look up those Scriptures that justify your pitiful situation.

Perhaps you have attempted to believe God for blessings but it has not worked. Or perhaps you are a new believer and really don’t know where to start.

God has a message for you! He has a message that will encourage you where you are, have compassion for your present situation without condemnation, and at the same time pick you up and put you on the path to blessings, purpose and fruitfulness. The beginning of this message is:

"Your problems carry in them the very raw materials I need for your success. If you had your life together, you would not have the materials I need to bless you, use you and make you fruitful for My Kingdom." "Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3).

 

"Evil can be removed by prayer and spiritual authority, but it can only be totally eradicated by the overcoming affliction of the righteous. Jesus removed demons from people as in Mathew chapter 8:28-34. He cast the demons from the man and they went into the pigs. The pigs drowned and most likely the demons found their way back into another man. The demons even told Jesus that it was not yet their time (verse 29). However when Jesus defeated the Prince of Evil with the affliction of the Cross, he was totally defeated. Now we righteous Christians (meaning little Christs or little anointed ones) have the honor of defeated and eradicating the little evils ones by overcoming our afflictions. This is God’s secret weapon, and so many Christians do not recognize it."

 

The key to understanding dilemmas like this is often found it the word "overcome."

Larry Chkoreff July 2001

Continued…