Genesis Chapter 3:11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13 And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
Most people need to blame someone when something goes wrong. No one likes to say ‘I blew it’. It’s part of our fallen nature. There’s a pattern to all continuous losers. It is never their fault. They blame their bosses, their wives, even their kids.
Worst of all, almost invariably, consistent failures in life blame God! God is always their principal culprit. In evangelizing, people say to me that they won’t believe in Jesus to be saved because they are mad at Him. They blame Him because their chain smoking wife died of lung cancer. They blame God for their ‘bad luck’, their words not mine. Because of that they have no faith.
I know from my own experiences, that there were questions in my mind that needed to be resolved before I could have faith. Also, I needed to take the blame and accountability for my actions. Even in my own mind, I needed to hold myself responsible. I needed faith to be effective. And I only could have faith when I saw how faith was from God, a gift that affected my actions and decisions. As I improved my faith and actions, it removed most of the doubt. We need faith to believe in God. I believe the more we decide to have faith (which is a decision impulsed from God as well), our faith will grow, and thus our belief. And doubt diminishes. The more we believe, the more prayers will be answered, the more miracles we’ll see. Believe me, we see miracles every day when we pray, we usually just don’t believe they’re miracles. We often don’t thank God for answering most of our prayers.
Mark 9:23-24 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
For a long time, even as a believer, I fell into the trap of blaming God. I felt like He was torturing me, humiliating and punishing me for the sins and just plain wrongdoings of my life.
Sometimes, the devil would say, “You’re suffering because you did something wrong, you deserve it.” This is exactly what the disciples thought about the man blind from birth. They asked Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2). Some twist Jesus’ answer in verse 3 to say, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned. He is sick simply so that God might heal him.” But Scripture doesn’t say that: “But so that the works of God might be displayed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me…” (verses 3, 4).
If you stop reading right here, you might say, “He is suffering simply so that God might heal him.”
What a terrible thing to say against God! Here is a grown man, blind from birth, and you are saying that God blinded him simply so He could heal him? If that were true, God wouldn’t be a good God if He did that, would He? But thank God that’s not true! God is Good!!
Notice that Jesus said, “I must work the works of Him who sent Me.” He immediately did just that, healing the man. People say ‘so and so died young because God needed him’. That is pure blasphemy. That is mis-representing God’s goodness.
When I pray for healing for myself or another, the devil tries to convince me that it isn’t God’s will for me, or others, to be healed. He says something like, “Healing does exist, but God doesn’t heal everyone. You guys are not among those God wants to heal, at least not yet”. Praying for the salvation of someone as well. Satan says ‘he’s never gonna get saved’. God never says that. He wants us to pray for the lost, without doubting. God wants all to be saved!
Many people believe this lie that God is cruel, and they always end up blaming God, even atheists! They believe that it’s not God’s will for them to be healed; however, it’s completely illogical to believe that. To say God heals and, at the same time, not believe that He wants to heal you or the people you pray for, doesn’t make sense. We bury a lot of little caskets down here. It would be so. Easy to blame God. But death and disease and accidents is on Satan, not God. There is no death, nor sickness nor crying in heaven.
It doesn’t make sense. All I knew was limited to the sermons I’d heard and what other people said. Some said, “Illness and injury is God’s doing. It’s all from God.” ‘Your problems are on you, live with the consequences’. ‘This relationship is beyond repair’. I wasn’t satisfied with those explanations. Others said, “Well, maybe God isn’t the author of this illness, or problem, or this persecution, or war, or hurricane, but He allowed it for a purpose.” It’s almost the same thing. Not God’s fault. It’s Satan’s.
Blaming God is not even an option. That’s what Job’s wife was insinuating when she said ‘curse God and die’. Blaming God is cursing Him, not a good idea. Is God the author of the suffering in the world today? I remember asking myself: Who is responsible for all this? “Why me?” I asked God.
“Why do I always blow it so bad? Is there even hope for me to go to heaven? I’m a sinner, have mercy on me.” Then I remember the cross. Jesus doesn’t have to be crucified again and again. He died once for all of our sins, past, present, and future. Who’s accusing us then? Satan, the accuser of the Brethren. We know we are saved by grace, by Christ’s suffering and dying for us on the cross, but sometimes it’s really hard to grasp it.
I ask God, while looking at the kids we serve, ‘Why did you cause us to be born with so many flaws in our character only to cause us to suffer?’ ‘Why all the poverty and despair? Even for the kids who get saved!’ ‘Is it our fault?’ Why God? ‘I pray in as much faith as I can muster up, why no results?’
And the temptation (sin) is always there to blame God. One of the guys I’ve been discipling for a while might lose his leg. Jose Danilo. Pray for him. I am, but I am doubting. It’s not God’s fault, it’s Satan’s. Even if I doubt, and Jose loses his leg, it’s still Satan’s fault. When did God create Cancer, infection or diabetes?
I ask “Why do I and others have to suffer?” These questions need answers, but no one can really answer them; they might give you some theological theory that’s not worth much, especially when you are like Winnie and I, in the heat of battle, getting heat from literally all sides. It’s easy to blame God. ‘If God hadn’t called me to the mission field I’d be retired and playing golf with my kids right now’. Not so, following God on the mission field is the most exciting, pure thing in my life. All our problems come only from Satan and our own mistakes.
But thank God, the answer is in the Bible. By believing in God’s Word, we can be free, but by doubting, we remain bound. Doubt is the opposite of faith, as I said. Doubt and fear cannot inhabit the same room as faith and belief.
I’m so glad I found the answer. I found it in Acts 10:38: (after reading it about 3000 times) “…God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with Him.” Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil. How wonderful, isn’t it? This verse taught me that Satan is an oppressor. Satan was the reason I along with others suffer. Satan was the reason I sinned and blew it. Satan was the cause of my health problems and of hunger world-wide and of disease. Satan was the cause of death of my buddies, loved ones, children and of my parents. Satan is to blame for everything. We are in a fallen world, run by Satan, for now. But the good news is;
Jesus is the Deliverer!
Jesus is the Giver of Life!
Jesus is the Savior!
Jesus is God in the flesh!
This is the truth! Yes, God’s Word is true, always.
Jesus said, “Therefore I tell you, whatever things you ask for when you pray, believe that you receive them, and they will be yours” (Mark 11:24).
Salvation is, of course, the most important event that can happen to a person.
“Whatsoever things you ask in prayer, believe that you receive them, and they shall be yours.” When I got saved it was so easy to read the Bible, like someone turned on a very bright light in a very dark room. But I still discover pearls, every day. I try to read through the entire Bible every year, since 1993, and it’s still a fresh discovery for me every day.
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105)
About 2 years ago I clearly saw what Mark 11:24 means. That verse talks about believing when you pray. “And it will be done for you” will only come true after you fulfill the requirement to “believe.”
Even as a Christian, I’d reversed the order. I was trying to receive healing first, and only then believe in it. That’s what most people do.
For example (We first believe we are healed, 1 Peter 2:24) by the stripes of Jesus, and then we see the result, the revealed Word, the glory of God.
The devil tried to hinder me at every move, even as a believer. He constantly told me I was a fool. Over and over again, he told me I would never be able to be a man of God like this pastor or missionary because I have failed so much. (During this period, the devil was trying to rock my confidence with his arguments and reasoning, trying to lead me astray from the growing of my faith.) If the devil can only keep us within the realm of feelings, his victory is assured. But if we remain within the boundaries of faith, we will overcome him!
Stop blaming God! Every bad thing that happens to us is from the devil or is self inflicted. God is not to blame!
2 Corinthians 5:7 For we live by faith, not by sight.