"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME, GOD?!" is often the cry when strife happens. It is so tempting to immediately point the finger at God, seeing him as the one who blesses us, and at the same time curses us. I feel a lot of Christians are caught up in this mindset, living in an 'everything happens for a reason' world that inhibits the full life God intends.
God does not do evil. It's as simple as that. We need to understand there's an enemy who is doing everything he can to bring us down. He will work with all his might to bring strife into our life, so we lose faith and are distracted from our relationship with our Father.
The thing we have to understand is this: at the end of the day, Satan isn't trying to make followers for himself—he wants to distract us from God. If we are distracted, we are powerless—we walk in fear, not faith. He does not care if he has us; he just wants God not to have us.
I do not subscribe to the 'everything happens for a reason' mindset. God is able to use the bad the enemy brings and use it for his good. God is not the cause of evil in our lives. He is a God of blessing, faithfulness, kindness and love. He is the best father—he stretches us only to strengthen us and puts us through seasons of trial to grow us. He loves us more than we can understand, and wants the best for us.
A mindset change
Do not look at evil and attribute it to God. Evil belongs to the Enemy. You have all of the power and the authority to overcome it through Christ who lives in you. Take the promises of peace, joy and blessing and declare them out loud over your situation. Spiritual laws bind the Enemy, and he has to obey the decree of God. If you speak the word of God into the situation, and believe it with all your heart, then he legally cannot stay there—he must move on.
Romans chapter 8, verse 31 says: "If God is for us, who can ever be against us?" If we believe and trust in Jesus, God is never against us. Even when we fall out of line and do the wrong thing He still holds us fast.
Satan is the one who is against us, condemning us and telling us our sin cannot be overcome. Satan tells us our situation is hopeless and evil will win in the end. But Romans chapter 8, verse 31 reminds us that because God is for us, Satan has no power over us.
We need to believe and meditate on this promise until it is so engrained in our hearts. We need to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the Enemy is causing trouble, and remember we have the capacity to call out to our Father.
In all strife we have two options: we can either incorrectly blame God, or we can praise God, take a stand in faith, and pull the rug out from under the enemy's feet.
Samuel James is a Media Communication graduate based in Wollongong.
Samuel James' previous articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/samuel-james.html