How often have we asked God, why haven’t You answered my prayer?, When are you going to answer my prayer? If you really loved me you'd answer my prayer? Why have You allowed this to happen? And when will all this trouble stop? God’s answer to said questions: “Don’t you realize I have rigged this all in your favour?”

 

How to we respond to such a truth? Usually incredulously...or like a deer or in Oz a kangaroo caught in the headlights, on the highway, stunned into a stationary position. But the real question is when will we stop bellyaching and start believing? Why is it we would rather believe what the devil dishes out than what the Father has bestowed upon us. Let’s see just what has He given?

§  Sonship, that is the spirit of adoption, meaning we are heirs of God

§  The blood/Cross of Jesus (breaking the curse os sin and death, covering, cleansing and protecting us)

§  The Holy spirit (The Living God living in us)

§  The Word of God (a two-edged sword that cuts through any lie or deception).

§  Tongues (the powerhouse of prayer)

§  Praise that silences the enemy (and is fun too)

§  The Angels to minister and protect us (mostly ignored)

§  His righteousness

§  His grace

§  His love

This is not a definitive list, but nevertheless all the above gifts never seem enough, when we are in the heat of the battle and all we seem to focus upon is our nemesis, satan. So what is the solution? Hmmmm. Perhaps we should begin truly believing what He said about Himself, us and satan. It’s all in His Word.  He declares that He is love, filled with mercy and grace and that He so loved us He gave Jesus to bear all our iniquities and suffer in our place, bringing not only eternal life, but wholeness, health and protection. About us He states we are His sons by adoption, righteousness of Him in Christ Jesus, the fullness of Him who fills all in all, overcomers and His beloved. About satan He says he lost, is defeated, was made a public spectacle and has a future in the pit of hell. Yes rigged in our favour. Sometimes we act as children in a home where love is profuse, all needs are met but we don’t have the latest and greatest PlayStation 1 zillion version yet, so life just is miserable. This is not to say that if someone has been battling an illness or affliction and has not yet seen the manifestation of healing or resolution, that God is indifferent...but it is to say that since He finished the work of the Cross, it is already ours. So who is withholding? Is it God who already poured out all that could be poured out through Jesus Christ? Or is it satan who loves to trick and torment and tell lies? Or is it us who honestly seem to rather bellyache than believe, complain rather than command, pity ourselves, rather than praise. When the buck stops with us and the buck is belief, do we pass it on or hold it dear to our hearts.

 

If we realized that we live now in victory, a victory that is past and beyond the cross and every situation is a declaration of His victory for us, then the devil would have no hope in hell of deceiving us any longer. So when a difficulty arises, instead of “Oh no-ing”, we might say, “Ok watch out devil cause my Daddy is gonna make you look so small...oh that’s right you are so small, hehehe!”  Jesus said, we would have trouble in this word, but that He had overcome this world. What world did He mean? The one we think is real...the natural world. But He has overcome it...so anything arising from/in it is already overcome, conquered and we are more than conquerors. It’s rigged in our favour. The game is already won and the losing team is pretending that they have a chance by making a lot of noise (distracting us) and cajoling us, lying about us (and themselves for that matter), and hoping we’ll buy it. And so often we have and they score a goal (only by forfeit)....but of course defeat is still assured, because It is finished! We have already read the Sports news headlines that cries out Sons of God Score Total Defeat (against, satan and his minions). But we have forgotten the news, the Good News, the Gospel itself.

 

It can be summed up like this: We will all believe something whether is a lie or the truth. Which will we choose? One Scripture stands out proclaiming how well He has rigged this: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” And our appropriate response?

 

Thank You Jesus!