Why do bad things happen to good people? This is the question of the ages, and the answer is as old, if not older, than the question. We have an enemy, and God’s people are his targets. That’s just the simple truth. In Hosea 4:6, our Heavenly Father tells us that His people are destroyed because they lack knowledge. This means that without the right knowledge of who God is and how much He loves us, it’s very likely we’ll leave ourselves open for enemy attack. When this is the case, we’re easily bamboozled out of our blessings, and our power and authority are stolen through tricks and plots of the devil. This is the reason that good people don’t see it coming. They lack knowledge about God. This stifles their faith and leaves them without the spiritual strength to outsmart the weapons of the evil one.
Know what you’re working with
We have a destiny in Christ, and this is what the devil wants to intercept. If you’ve never known trouble and tribulation, if you’ve never had your back flat against the wall with no one to come to your aid, then this might not resonate with you. But if you’ve been through some things, you can testify about spiritual warfare, and you know what it is to be delivered by the Lord. You’ve had some experience working with the spiritual weapons that God has provided through Christ. He demands that you continue to become spiritually stronger through these spiritual weapons, because the battle between light and darkness will persist until God destroys evil for good.
Life demands you to know what you’re working with. If you’re a person of faith, you should be working with God’s armor. It’s required to continually walk in the victory of Christ. God commands us in Ephesians 6:11(NLT) to “Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.” Ephesians 6:14-17 tells us to stand our ground putting on God’s armor, the belt of truth, the body shield of God’s righteousness, and the shoes of peace that comes from the Gospel of Christ. He tells us to hold up the shield of faith, because it stops the fiery arrows of the devil. To protect our minds, He tells us to put on salvation as our helmet, and then, He tells us to take the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s Word.
God’s armor prepares us for life on earth. And life on earth is a battle against spiritual wickedness. If we didn’t need it, He would not have given it to us, but the truth is that we desperately need it. This isn’t a game down here by any stretch of the imagination. Earth can be treacherous, and if you are not armed with the spiritual weaponry of our Heavenly Father, you’ll find out just how treacherous this place can be.
Your destiny in Christ is all over you. It enters a room before your body does, and the enemy detests the scent of it. Why is it so important that you know this? It is extremely important that you know how dastardly the enemy wants to come against you so that #1) you’ll recognize who you are in Christ, and #2) you’ll recognize that satan is always aiming to nullify your blessings and to take you out of life’s equation. When you know this, not only will you have a greater well of gratitude for how God is keeping, covering, and protecting you, but you will also understand the battles in the spiritual realm that seek to keep you separated from what you want most. So, when you know what you’re working with (God’s armor), and what is working against you (satan), your reservoir of right knowledge is increased. You know better, so you can do better, and this is a never-ending process of knowing and growing.
What God wants
Understand that forever and ever, what God wants from us is a closer walk with Him. He has placed His Holy Spirit in us, and He has commanded us to become like His Son, Jesus Christ. In Ephesians 5:1, He commands us be imitators of all that He is. This means we must take off our old ways of doing things and put on more of Christ. In Ephesians 4:24, He commands us to put on our new selves which was created in Christ. This new self was created when God regenerated our human-spirit through the new-birth experience. This is not an outside working(physical) but an inside job (spiritual).
When we became born again, it happened internally, within. We accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, and we were reborn. Jesus Christ told Nicodemus in John 3:6(NLT), “Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.” God placed His Holy Spirit in us, and His Spirit made us come alive to God as His children of light. Through Christ, we have been created after the likeness of God, in true righteousness and holiness.
Our mission, as God’s children, is to change our minds, our attitudes, thoughts, and behaviors so that they match the reality of who we are in Christ. Most of us resist this. We’re trying to hang on to wrong thinking, bad attitudes, sinful behaviors, and incorrect beliefs about who God is. Instead of clearing a path for God’s blessings to land, our unrighteous patterns, behaviors, and beliefs are allowing them to be stolen or delayed.
God wants us to allow His Holy Spirit to transform us inside out. God wants us to want Him. He wants us to want and love Him more than we want and love any other thing. He wants us to want Him as much as He wants us. He is deserving of our all. We are His children, and He purchased our lives from darkness through the blood of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. We are His creations, and we belong to Him.
Changes in our prayers
Knowing who we are in Christ changes us, and it should change the way we pray. I heard a wise woman of faith say that we need to be strategic in our prayers. At first, I didn’t understand her meaning. As I continued to ponder over her statement, I became incredulous. I wanted to dismiss it, but it kept ringing in my ears. You know how it is. Sometimes, we can get on our high horses, especially when it comes to terms outside our usual Christian vernacular.
A strategy is a plan of action or a specific set of steps designed to achieve a goal. We think of this mostly in a military context, but make no mistake, disciples of Christ understand a different kind of warfare. James 4:1 tells us that there’s a war with the evil passions and desires within us. Ephesians 6:12(ESV) tells us, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” So, we’ve got battles within and without, all having darkness at the root.
God tells us in Ephesians 6:11 that the enemy has strategies against us, and as His kids, God has given us a strategy against the devil. It’s to put on all God’s armor. So, when my beloved sister said we should be strategic in our prayer lives, she understood the assignment. Philippians 4:6(NLT) tells us, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” We’re not to be anxious about anything, and we certainly shouldn’t be shaking in a corner somewhere, worried about what the enemy has up his evil sleeves. God has given us a strategy in Philippians 4:6, and it is to pray about everything. We’re to tell Him what we need, and then proceed in utter gratitude to Him for how far He’s brought us in this life.
Tell God what you need, and when you do, posture yourself to hear what He requires of you. Gratitude is more than a feeling. Gratitude is a response. We are required by God to seek Him, not just for what we want, but because of who He is. Some of us have put on only the parts of His armor that we like, but His whole armor is required. With it, we can take back what has been stolen by the devil, and through patience and faith, we can be confident God hears us and will answer our prayers. ■
English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Tell God What You Need”, written by Reverend Fran Mack, edited by Kim Times, for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2022. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!