“At the root of all evil is the suspicion that God is not good.â€� –Oswald Chambers
While this series was
intentionally begun as a series of how I have come to know God outside of the
Bible, this particular entry is in fact very heavy laden with scripture. I sat
down to write that throughout my time in Africa–in spite of playing with HIV
positive orphans, in spite of seeing rampant poverty, and abominable living
standards–the Lord has shown me that He is good.*
The more I pondered and tried to write how He had shown Himself to be good, the
more I could hear the world’s responses flooding my-not-even-posted-blog
because we are a generation, a society that doubts
the goodness of God. We see so much on this earth that stands in stark
contrast to goodness, and so we blame
God. We ask, “How can a good God
allow someone to be born under the poverty line, lose both parents to HIV, be
sold as a sex slave and have no hope of ever seeing a better life? Would a good
God really allow that?� Even in less-extreme cases we still doubt His goodness.
So I began to try to
biblically answer the questions I could hear formulating and came to one, tough conclusion. As the believers, the
elect, the called, the chosen, the disciples of Christ–whatever you want to call
us–we are slandering the reputation
of the Lord, we are the reason that
non-believers across the world can ask the hard questions to which we really
have no answer, “How could a God that was truly good allow this to happen?� If
you’re a believer sitting on the other end of this screen cringing, glaring,
speculating, angry, I ask you to read this with an open heart, and know that my
heart is for people to know the living God who delights in them. So when I
realized that the way I live is part of the problem, I realized I probably was
not the only one.
Now let’s work
through some Scripture as to how I came to this place–beginning in Genesis and
making our way through the Gospels.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And
let them have dominion over
the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock
and over all the earth and
over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.â€� —
Genesis 1:26
Right then. Chapter
one of the book. He told us to rule over EVERYTHING. He put the key to creation
in OUR hands. He gave us authority over EVERYTHING.
Then, what did we do?
We handed the keys to Satan, we gave him the power God had given us. And he had
power…
…Satan shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the
saints of the Most High and shall think to change the times and the law; and
they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and a half a time.
BUT
The court shall sit in judgment, and his dominion shall be taken away,
to be consumed and DESTROYED to the end.
AND
The kingdom and the dominion of the greatness of the kingdom under the
whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; their
kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and ALL DOMINIONS shall serve and obey
them.
Daniel 7:25-27
Reread that a few
times if you need to. It’s juicy.
In laymen’s terms:
Satan had power for a while here on earth. But then Jesus came and destroyed
the power of satan; as in obliterated, shattered, wiped out any power satan
had. Then Jesus handed us back the keys given to us in Genesis 1, only this
time He even told us what that dominion includes.
Heal the sick…and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to
you.� Luke 10:9
And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
Behold I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over
all of the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.� Luke 10:18-19
Self explanatory,
right? We have the power to heal the sick. We have the responsibility and
authority to heal the sick. We have the responsibility and the authority to
destroy every work of the devil.
Am I doing that?
Aren’t those the things that cause people to question God’s goodness?
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Matthew 6:9-10
You’re reciting this
ahead of the pace at which you can even read it, right? These are probably the
first verses from the Bible I ever knew. They became worn, hollow. I said them
every Sunday my entire life in chorus with millions of believers around the
world. I said them so frequently and yet never
stopped to think about what I was saying.
So imagine my
surprise to discover what was only two verses previous to the Lord’s Prayer:
And when you pray, do not heap
up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard
for their many words. Do not be like them.
–Matthew 6:7
What.
This is a prayer that
gives US responsibility. Every time we say this prayer we are asking to partner
with God in bringing heaven to earth. We are to cast out demons. We are to heal sick, to rule with
dominion and authority.
All this time I had
recited the prayer because it was tradition, because it was part of being
re-sanctified for the week.
Too often we think
that righteousness means that we run away from sin, that we lead clean lives.
But. That’s not what the Bible says about righteousness at all. It’s so much
more than just being good in
appearance and in thought.
The first time that
word appears is in Genesis: Abraham believed the Lord, and He counted to
him as righteousness (15:6).
Faith=Righteousness.
Not:
Wholesome=Righteousness.
It does not take
faith to walk on the opposite side of the road from the homeless. It does take
faith to lay hands on the sick**. It does not take faith to run away from a
prostitute. It does take faith to believe that drug addicts and alcoholics are
under the snare of the devil. It takes even more faith to believe you have been
given the power to destroy that stronghold.
More times than can
be counted, people have thanked me or applauded me for “doing good� in the
world. Honestly? It’s hard for me to
receive that simply because it seems silly to applaud someone for being
obedient. We do not give a child a cookie for doing what their parents ask of
them. This is no different. I am here to show the GOODNESS of the Father by
walking in the authority and the love He gave me. But, I am also here to
challenge you to do the same. When he gave us the nations, He didn’t say “but
if you all fall short, I will step in to clean it up so that no one will doubt
my character.� He gave us the nations and they are in our charge until Christ
returns; He’s not going to come back early because we aren’t holding up our end
of the deal. So when the news reports rampant death and destruction, it is
because too many of us are still running away from the devil instead of chasing
down the evil he is still doing.
It’s because too many
of us (myself included) are not walking in God’s intent for us here in the
kingdom.
It’s because we are
still missing what it means to be righteous.
It’s because we don’t realize that WE
are the key to bringing heaven to earth.
It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house
of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains and shall be
lifted up above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it, and many peoples
shall come and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the
God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.�
For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning
hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn
war anymore.
O House of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.
Isaiah 2:2-5
*In time there will
be a blog that details how He has shown Himself to be good. This was more of a
preface to dispel anyone’s notions as to why He isn’t good.
**Yes it takes faith
to lay hands on a sick person–a lot of faith to believe that at the end of your
prayer they will be healed. But. It takes even more faith to lay hands on the
sick, not see them healed, and continue to believe anyway that God is Healer. Faith
is not just praying once, but praying for the sick until they are healed. It is
walking up to the same blind person day after day and praying the 75th
time with as much passion and intensity as you did the first time. Heidi Baker,
from Laguna Beach, lives in Mozambique and goes into towns, lays hands on all
the deaf, and sees healing. Thousands in that country can hear now because she
moves in faith every day. But that women doesn’t have faith because she sees
healing. She sees healing because she has faith. She prayed for over 1,000 deaf
people when she first began her ministry. She sought them out. Not one of them
was healed. What if she had stopped? She knew that she was called to heal, that
she is a saint of the kingdom, so she prayed again. And again. And now her
healing ministry beings Kingdom to unreached people groups. Entire villages at
a time are touched by the Kingdom through her.
Pray and do
not lose heart. –Luke 18:1
