SPECIAL FEATURE: Todd White

The Bible tells us to reign as kings in this life through the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness.
—Rom. 5:17

First Timothy 2:4 says that it's God's will for all men to be saved. The word saved in this verse comes from the Greek word sozo. It means "healed; delivered; protected; made whole; kept safe and sound; do well; and to be kept safe from harm." This is what God wants every person on the planet to experience.

But because people have been taught that God is in control of everything, when Satan sneaks through the grass, bites someone, and slithers away, God often takes the rap for it.

Contrary to what many believe, the Bible doesn't say that God is in control. You can't find that anywhere in Scripture. If God is in control, then everything bad that happens comes from Him. And that's not true.

Some people counter this by saying, "Well, God allows it." They say this because of teaching they've heard about Job. But nowhere in the Book of Job does it say that.

We see in the first chapter of Job that one day when the sons of God presented themselves before the Lord, Satan also came among them.

JOB 1:7–8 (NIV)
7 The Lord said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the Lord, "From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it."
8 Then the Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil."
The devil retorted, "The only reason Job loves You is because of what You give him and because of how You've blessed him." (See Job 1:9–11).

The devil counts on people loving things more than they love God. Satan is sure that Christians will seek God more for things than they will seek an intimate relationship with Him. So he goes about touching their "stuff" to get them to blame God for the bad things that happen to them.

People point to Job 1:12 as proof that God allows adversity to happen to them. This verse says, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger" (NIV).

Let me ask you this question. If Satan became god of this world when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, why did he need permission from God to attack Job? The answer is, he didn't. It was already in his power to do so.

Satan doesn't need God's permission to kill this one or cause that one to be in an accident. He doesn't have to ask God if he can take the life of a little child. He just does it.

Think About This

If a parent had a child who had asthma and refused to give the child his bronchodilator during an asthma attack, what would you think about that parent? You would think he was a bad parent. What would a court of law think of him? He would be charged with child abuse.

Yet both Christians and nonbelievers constantly blame God for the horrible things that happen on the earth and to people.

When people blame God for all of the bad things that have happened to them, there's no way they can really love Him. Oh sure, they say they love Him. But how can you trust God if you think He will put sickness on you? It's impossible to truly love God if you don't trust Him, because you never know when He might put sickness on you again.

John 10:10 says, "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" (NKJV). This verse makes it clear that it's the devil who steals, kills, and destroys—not God. God never gives permission to the devil to attack anyone.

People have said, "God wants to build character in our lives through trials."

Scripture does say that trials bring perseverance, perseverance produces character, and character produces hope (Rom. 5:3–4). But if we think that God does this to us, our character can't be built, because our hope is deferred. And hope deferred makes the heart sick (Prov. 13:12).

Hitting Trials Head On

The Bible tells us to reign as kings in this life through the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness (Rom. 5:17). So, if we're supposed to reign as kings, why are so many Christians praying for an escape hatch? They're praying for the rapture to hurry up and happen anytime they go through a rough time.

When we get hit with trials, we need to bring the power of Heaven into hell's circumstances. We need to make the devil wish that he never touched us!

By thinking that God allows tribulation to come upon us or that He is trying to teach us something, we'll continually allow the devil to thump us.

The trials we experience, the mean things that people do and say, and the hard things that happen to us purify our faith. Anytime we are believing God for something and hardship comes our way, adversity of any kind should never stop our faith in God. Trials should actually intensify our faith and draw us closer to our King.

Satan's Goal

What the devil really wants is to get us to blame God when we experience trials and tribulation. He was convinced Job would do this. (See Job 1:11 and 2:5.) But no matter what happened, Job never blamed God for his hardships or loss.

Satan hasn't changed. He can't kick God off His throne, so he's consumed with trying to dethrone God from the soul of man.

The devil wants to get us in a fluster and cause us to worry about everything. He tries to put our lives in a tailspin just so we'll put the blame on God.

I want to take the spirit of ugly off of God. Let's drop the theology and doctrines that compromise God's goodness. It's time to take the blame off of our Heavenly Father and put it on the devil where it belongs.

The devil should take a risk every time he tries to test us. When we know who we are in Christ and live out of our sonship, we'll thump the devil every time he comes near.
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[Editor's Note: Todd White spoke at Kenneth W. Hagin's A Call to Arms Men's Conference and Rhema Bible Church in November 2013.]