DON'T BLAME GOD!

             Many people when faced with adversity, disease, tribulation and other personal problems say that God did it for one reason or another.  An "Act of God" is a common accusatory statement heard after natural disasters.  Some say that God is trying to teach them something or to chastise them for not being in His favor even though this contrary to Scripture.  IF it is God's will for some to be sick or to be poor or if He is trying to chastise someone, then why are these people so quick to violate what they perceive to be His will by running to the doctor, taking drugs or trying to obtain more income? ? ?

            Reading the accounts of the life of Jesus as the Son of Man reveals not one time that He brought or caused adversity or disease.  In Matthew 7:11 He tells us:  "If ye being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more will your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask them."  The key here is to be able to claim God as your Father through the saving grace of Jesus Christ as Lord of your life.  Since Jesus Christ is the Word of God incarnate then one must allow the Word of God to be Lord (the ruling factor) of one's life.  God does everything through His Word.  Have you ever been rebuked by a loved one?  It can hurt worse than a beating and is an example of how chastisement by the Word of God works.  If you are not subject to His Word then you are automatically subject to the god of this world; Satan (who, incidentally, does not have mercy).

            Satan is determined to debase the human being because God created man in His image and gave man the right to be sons through Jesus Christ.  Satan was created an angel and although he is very gifted he lacks creativity.  His works can easily be identified because they are only a perverted imitation of the works of God.  He has even set up his own "Trinity" in the form of the Antichrist, false prophet and the beast whose only purpose is to kill, steal and destroy whereas Jesus has come that we might not only have life but have life more abundantly.  Jn 10:10  Jesus tells us in John 14:26 that the Holy Ghost will teach us all things.  Psalm 103:3 tells us to bless the Lord who healeth all our diseases.

            Job, while suffering immensely from Satan's work, would not curse God but rather rebuked his wife for suggesting that he do so.  Job's wife had concluded that he was suffering because God was unfair - a popular explanation for suffering but totally contrary to the nature of God.  Because of his transgression of God's Law, man became the prodigy of the father of this world: the devil.  His nature is one inclined sin just like Satan: to kill, steal and destroy.  God does not tolerate evil in His presence and the only way for man to justify himself is to pay the price of sin.  The wages (or price) of sin is death: eternal separation from God.  Since the life is in the blood man could only gain access to God by the shedding of his blood, but the problem was that his blood was corrupt from sin and therefore not worthy of the price.  A limited access to Himself was provided by God for man: the substitutional sacrifice of the blood of innocent animals with strictly prescribed procedures  to follow.  But it remained that the only full and permanent solution was for an innocent, sin-free man to give his blood for all, but alas, man was not innocent.

            With foreknowledge, and planned before the foundation of the world, God provided the solution to man's dilemma.  The Word was made flesh, conceived in the Virgin Mary by the Holy Ghost.    The Child was born without sin and is the express image of God.  His Name is Jesus, the only begotten Son of God.

            Even though He is God, Jesus lived as a man, a prophet and a preacher and teacher of the God and His ways, without any sin in Him at all.  This made the multitudes hate Him because they could see themselves for what they were when they looked into the Perfect Mirror called Jesus.  The High Priest offered this innocent Lamb of God, Jesus, to the Romans who crucified Him.  Jesus then spent three days and three nights in the depths of Hell and came back victorious with the keys of Death and Hell.  He was justified, was resurrected, and was seen by more than five hundred before He ascended to the right hand of His Father.  He is now crowned King of Kings, is set at the right hand of His Father (and our Father), waiting for the Father to tell Him to go and fetch His Bride.  Whosoever will can now approach the Father freely in the Name of His Son Jesus who gave Himself a ransom for all.

            God paid the ultimate price for the salvation of man which was necessary because of his rebellious ways.  Revelation 21:8 list those who will have a part in the second death.  At the top of the list are the fearful; those that are afraid to live in the power and authority of His Name, and the unbelieving; those that do not believe there is any power and authority in His Name.

            Through the prophet Hosea God tells us that:  "My people are destroyed through lack of knowledge. . . ".  Knowledge of God and His will is available through His Word which we know as the Holy Bible.  This is the operating manual for man that, if followed, not only will result in a healthy and satisfied life here but also eternal life after our time is finished in this world.

            There are many reasons given that Christians as well as the non-Christians fail to receive from God.  One of the most prevalent is unbelief; failure to believe what God has said in His Word.  In Matthew 19:14 Jesus said :  "Suffer the little children, and forbid them not, to come unto Me: for such is the kingdom of heaven."  The lesson here is that all who desire to take part in the kingdom of heaven must come as little children; trusting, believing and obeying the Lord.  We are told how to study God's Word in Isaiah 28:10:  For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, and there a little.

            These are a few of the reasons that a person's prayers appear to be fruitless:  Do not keep commandments (1 JN 3:22, 1 COR 14:3),  Ask without faith (HEB 11:6, JAS 1:6), Failure to Love (GAL 5:6), Do not ask in the Name of Jesus (JN 14:13, JN 16:23), Do not believe in the Name of Jesus   (1 JN 3:22, 1  JN 3:23), Use vain repetitions (MT 6:7), Do not ask (JN 16:24), Ask amiss (JAS 4:3), Ignorance of God's will (1 JN 5:14, JN 15:7), Do not believe (MT 21:22, HEB 11:6), Double-minded (JAS 1:8), Is not really a Christian (JN 9:31, MT 6:14), Does not discern the Body of Christ (1 COR 12:12,  1 COR 11:29,30), Tradition (MT 15:6), Cares of this world (MT 13:22), Offended (MT 13:21).

            "EXAMINE YOURSELVES, whether ye be in the faith; PROVE your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?"  "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.  That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.