“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”
In doing quite a bit of thinking, I’ve decided to elaborate on some thoughts that have been sliced, diced, and pureed between myself and my brother, Mark. Mark and I have had many discussions about the battle of life we are presented with; the struggles, challenges, victories, and moments of confusion are all common elements in our days. Oftentimes, we have differing opinions about a particular truth or topic. However, we always tend to walk away from each conversation with more to think about than when we first started. That being said, let’s begin.
In several of my previous blog postings, I have elaborated on the beauty that is presented in the everyday situations of life. In other postings, you will read of the challenges and difficulties that are presented. Some of these challenges have existed for their revelation of purpose at a later date. At the same time, many have occurred without any solid or good reason for being.
While I do not possess the intelligence, nor the discernment, to decide what is a ‘positive’ trial versus that of a ‘negative’ one, I can be quite certain that every element of life has a very clearly defined source; it is either from G-d, or from the Enemy.
We are told, very clearly, in James 1:17 that the positive and good elements of our life come directly from our Heavenly Father:
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Why is this the case? Well, I believe it goes back to the beginning of time, when man first turned his back on G-d by choosing to eat from the tree of Good and Evil. It was the one and only commandment that G-d had given to His created ones:
“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”
It was in this moment that a clearly-defined choice was made by man, thus creating a separation between Creator and created. The fact that the created had the free will to walk away from the created was one of the greatest acts of love one could ever encounter; G-d created man, fully aware that man could choose to divide and tear apart the separation that was created in a perfect unity. However, if man did not have the ability to make this choice, it would not have been true love – which is the essence of His character – to have created a mindless robot who will never walk away.
True love is seen every day with our pets; they stay with us, not because we have them on a leash; tightly-bound and restricted, but because they enjoy our company.
However, this act of separation gave way for a separation between the Creator and the created. No longer could they walk in perfect unity together as they once did. Instead, it would now take the full discipline of mankind, and the utilization of the free will we have been given, to consciously choose to serve and love our Creator. It was free will that separated us from the Creator and our ability to reconnect and truly serve Him also lies in our making of a choice to do so.
We have opposition, ladies and gentlemen.
In 2 Corinthians 4:4, we are warned against the one who seeks to do nothing but harm to us; our enemy, also known as Lucifer, Satan, the Devil, Prince of this World, or as Paul writes: “the god of this world”.
“In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
In the past, man would walk and talk with the Creator, who wanted nothing more than to bless and fill the life of man with every “Good and perfect” gift. However, when the choice of man was made to turn his back on G-d, we were then forced to own up to our choice and have a new enemy to face in our every day circumstances.
Because Satan is the “god of this earth” and it is his only intention to see us suffer and perish, with the ultimate goal of separating us from G-d for all of eternity, he will do whatever it takes to prevent us from having any enjoyment or happiness on this earth. As the ‘god of this earth’ the scriptures tell us that he is given control over every element on this planet. Is it any wonder we have global hunger, poverty, or fighting amongst our brothers?
When James writes that every good and perfect gift comes from our Father, he means it! This means that every good and right thing that we have in our lives comes at the 100% disagreement and defeated will of the enemy! Can you even comprehend this?
When we experience good and right things in this lifetime, it is our duty to not only enjoy these gifts, but to thank our Heavenly Father for them. That being said, please do not think that what you have in your life is of ownership and entitlement to you because it came from G-d! Remember Abraham, who, after being promised a son for many years of not having one, was commanded by G-d to sacrifice his only son on an altar.
Everything we have that is good and right is a direct gift from G-d. And it must be our daily discipline to have the ability to give these things back to Him, but to also know how to accept and receive the things He blesses us with when we do not feel like we have done anything to deserve them.
If it were given entirely to Satan, we would be in complete suffering. But…and how I love hearing these wonderful words……
“But G-d”
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