There is no doubt that problems come to everyone in this life. All of us face troubles, tests, trials, and opportunities to enter into calamity. But God’s will is that we resist these problems by the power of His Word – the word of deliverance. God’s will is that His angels deliver us. Psalm 91:11-12 KJV tells us that He gives His angels charge over us: In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone. If this is God’s will, then why do so many Christians experience such defeat?

There are three links in the chain of defeat: wrong thinking, wrong speaking, wrong praying.

Wrong Thinking
You are what you are, not because of your experiences in life, but because of what you think and believe about your experiences. Many Christians feel sorry for themselves and are wallowing in self-pity. They think God is against them, when actually the devil is doing it and blaming it on God! That kind of thinking leaves the door wide open to the devil. So many Christians use what happened to Job as their excuse. They said, “But look what God did to Job!” What did God do to Job? He gave Job twice what he had before. It was the devil that stole from Job, not God. It was the devil that caused all the problems, not God.

Job made 74 false accusations against God because he really believed God was at fault. But Job could not read the first chapter of the Book of Job and find out that the devil was behind all his problems. Here are some of the statements Job made about God:

Though God slay me, yet will I trust him. It was admirable that Job felt this way, but he was wrong in his thinking. God was not the problem.
He taketh me by the nap of the neck and shaketh me... He runs up on me like a giant. No, that was not God; it was the devil.
He sets darkness in my path. God did not set darkness in Job’s path; but Job thought He did. Job was sincere, but he was sincerely wrong!

Two factors caused Job more problems than the actual troubles he had: wrong thinking and wrong believing. Many precious people are crippled for life because of their wrong thinking. It cripples their ability to function in the wisdom of God and flow in the Spirit of God. There is no darkness in God, so He could not have put darkness before Job. The Bible says that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. Every good and perfect gift comes down from above – from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

Right and Wrong Choices
When you think wrong, you believe wrong. When you believe wrong, you speak and act wrong. Wrong thinking causes you to make wrong choices. The reason there is so much wrong thinking in the earth today is because people do not know what God has said. Deliverance from these things only comes about through the knowledge of God and of His Word.

When people believe tragedy is working good in their lives, and that problems and troubles are really making them strong, they are opening the door to the devil. They are allowing satan to have a party at their expense. They will not stand against it because they believe it is from God; so they just let the devil run all over them. Then God gets the blame for all of it!

The deception of the devil is designed to destroy you by making you believe it is God’s will that these things happen to you. This is why the doctrine of praising God for everything that happens to you is so dangerous. It actually opens the door to the devil, and I am sure that God does not appreciate being thanked and praised for putting cancer on someone. Satan’s greatest tool is deception. If he can deceive you into believing whatever comes to you is from God, you will not resist it.

Many good Christians are deceived and think satan is perfecting the saints. God did not send the devil to perfect the saints. The Holy Spirit and the Word of God are perfectly capable of doing that. Ephesians, chapter 4, tells us that the five -fold ministry (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers) was provided by God for the perfecting of the saints.

If God were using sickness, disease, troubles, problems, car wrecks, and tragedies to perfect the saints, then when a member of the five-fold ministry comes to town for a meeting, his advertisement should read something like this:

Brother So-and-so is coming to town! As an apostle of God, he will give some car wrecks, some cancer, some lung disease, and some marriage problems for the perfecting of the saints.

That sounds ridiculous, I know, but it is no more ridiculous than to believe God is using the devil to perfect the saints. God is not using the devil! He is using the five-fold ministry, equipped with the Holy Spirit and the power of God’s Word! What does the five-fold ministry use to perfect the saints? The Word of God.

The Word of God
Jesus said, You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you (John 15:3). Paul said that we are cleansed with the washing of water by the Word. (Ephesians 5:26)

If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land; But if you refuse and rebel, You shall be devoured . . . (Isaiah 1:19.20). The children of Israel walked in disobedience and received a just recompense of reward. They never obtained the Promised Land, even though it was theirs.

If you believe the lies of the devil, you will never possess what belongs to you. God has given you life and blessing. He has given to you all things that pertain to life and godliness. But to enjoy that kind of life and godliness requires the knowledge of God.

Don’t invite tragedy by the words of your own mouth – by agreeing with the devil, by agreeing with all that is bad and evil. You can change it with your words and God’s Word.

God will change your life. He will change your situation, if you will agree with Him. You don’t have to give up life. You don’t have to give up because Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever: the Healer!

The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy; but Jesus said. “I am come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.” Don’t choose death; choose life! Don’t choose sickness; choose health!

He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation. (Psalm 91:15-16)