We are in perfect union with Jesus, as a wife is in union with her husband. Jesus set very high standards for His bride. In John 14:12, Jesus said that whoever has faith in Him will do the works He has done and even greater. Translation: All things are possible. Reality bends its knee to the name and authority of Jesus. As a believer, you carry His authority and have taken on the name of Christ, just as a bride takes on the name of her groom. It was Jesus’ will for His bride to have dominion on the earth and subdue evil. Then why is the church quick to blame God for something bad? Matthew 12 is a beautiful picture of Jesus clearly telling the religious folks that He is not operating with or under the influence of the devil. In retrospect, the devil is also not under the influence of Jesus. The devil is in an nonredeemable rebellion against God. When we are under the influence, we are full of life, love, joy and the fruit of the Spirit. The devil has no life, love, joy, or any fruit of the Spirit. The enemy came to kill, steal, and destroy. He is a defeated foe. We have Christ in us… the hope of glory! Heaven would be bankrupt of glory if we needed anymore. We have the fullness of God within us. We do not have a portion of the Holy Spirit. Even Jesus said that God gives the Spirit without limit. His goodness and glory fills us. There is none to spare for the devil.
With that being said, Jesus does not use the devil to accomplish something intended for His bride. A husband seeking sex apart from his wife with a prostitute is still fulfilling his desire for sex but it makes him an adulterer. That husband’s desire, as pure as it may have been, becomes tainted in its satisfaction outside of marriage. Jesus doesn’t seek to fulfill His will and desires through someone outside of His bride. Jesus and the devil are not having a secret love affair behind our backs. When the church awakens to this, we will stop blaming God for “using” sickness, pain, disease, poverty, natural disasters, and a life of hard knocks to bring Himself glory. Remember, in John 9, Jesus said the man was born blind to bring glory to God. If the glory was in the man’s blindness, then Jesus brought an abrupt and swift end to God’s glory. But He didn’t! Glory was not in the handicap but in the healing. Jesus heals the man of blindness. He works all things together for good. All things include some bad things. He turns bad situations around in confident triumph over our defeated foe.
In conclusion, God doesn’t bring storms, make people sick, or humble you through bad situations. He loves you faithfully.
“If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is.” –2 Timothy 2:13, NLT
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzX0jIS-zro?rel=0]
Jonathan Fawcett
