God Puts You Through Trouble To Guide Your Path And For His Glory

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Now today we have got a great message. Most of these messages are great, all of them are great. Truthfully, you know, some days I may not be feeling as great or if I got a cold or with all this virus that is going around and all the residual effects and everything. There are highs and lows, sure, but see through that.

Remember we are not to judge, but look through at the content, what lies beneath is what matters. Today you may be going through some troubles in your life. You may have issues in your life, problems in your life. Remember we talked about how God doesn’t want you to judge others, that vengeance is His. That is in a card here.

If there are troubles in your life, God knows that, that you are going through them. People may be taking advantage of you or something could be happening. Trust God. Allow Him to fight your battles. We have talked about that too. Check it out in a card, allowing God to fight your battles for you.

But if there is trouble that you are going through, recognize that that is brought on from God. Now you may be saying, “Wait a minute, wait a minute. My father just died” or “My mother just died” or “My kid just died. You are telling me that God did that?” I know it could be very very difficult to accept, but it is true.

Let me get into it. Allow me to continue. Maybe you stopped watching and then this message isn’t for you. But if you are still here after that mind-blowing controversial emotional statement, if you are still here, then this message is truly for you. Keep listening, keep watching, and allow me to bring it back full circle so that you can use it and apply it in your life.

God doesn’t tempt you. God doesn’t tempt you. It is not Him who is tempting you. Why? Because He cannot be tempted. Let’s go to James. If you have your Bible, this is a great time to open them up. No matter what emotional state you are in right now, your Bible can help you with it.

James 1, 13 to 15, “When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted by his own evil desire, they are dragged away and enticed. Then, after their desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin when it is fully grown, gives birth to death.”

God is perfect. He cannot be tempted by evil. He cannot give in to evil. It doesn’t happen. So when you are tempted, it is the evil within you. Paul even talks about that. He says “When I sin, I do what I do not want to do, even though I know what I am supposed to do. It is the evil within me that does it, not me.”

It is the evil within us. That is what is the same; the evil within you is what is tempting you. It is what is pulling you aside and when you give in to it, it conceives and gives birth to sin. Sin happens and then the wages of sin is death.

How are you tempted then? The sin in you. How is the sin in you? The sin is in you because we live in a fallen world that is of sin, that is of the devil. Sin happened in this world and it ruined it for everyone. The devil happened. He is ruining it for everyone, [and] he wants to tear you down.

1 Peter 5:8, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” Resist him. We talked about doing that. You can check out this message here on resisting the devil. Some great ways to resist the devil. He is out to get you, ruining you, making your life miserable.

Now of course God can allow you to be made miserable for a time period. He can allow you to feel pain, to undergo problems, suffering, torment, torture, abuse, whatever, God can allow you to do that. Why? Jesus felt pain. Are you kidding me? Jesus went through the most excruciating execution probably in history. If He would allow Jesus to go through that, of course, He is going to allow you to go through that. You want to be more like Jesus.

You are going to have some pain in your life, however, the devil isn’t rogue. The devil is not running around here doing whatever he wants like a roaring lion devouring people going through pain. No, God is in control.

In fact, God is in control of everything. If there was one thing that God wasn’t in control of, then God wouldn’t be God. Think about that for a second. Everything that happens God is in control. No matter what, God is in control.

As a matter of fact, you may be aware of a very very famous and popular missionary. His name was Nate Saint and he reached unreached people groups. They made a movie about him, The “End of the Spear.” The book is excellent, and he eventually dies is what happened, so kind of spoiler alert: he dies.

His son was little when he died. His son later in life went on to become, I mean just amazing. Reaching people for Christ, speaking missionary, he befriended the tribe that killed his father, etc. I mean a very very cool story. But the point is what his son said throughout his speaking, sometimes even he led with this like, I did a big statement, he drops a bomb, he said ‘God killed my father.” Whoa really? God did that?

It was in God’s plan. Then his message, he goes on into it. You know why did God do that? Why did God allow that to happen? Well through that act, through that horrible thing, I mean, he grew up without a father, he went through a lot of stuff. Well, he then changed the people groups. He thinks of how many people he touched in his stories. God uses everything for good.

God has a plan. So no matter what your situation is, growing up with parents, without parents, growing up in a family, not in a family, however, your situation is, friends, no friends, whatever it may be, God is in control. Because if something happened in your life, if one thing happened that God wasn’t in control of, then God would not be God. He couldn’t be.

So God is in control of everything. He has power over the devil. The devil is not rogue. Everything that the devil does here on Earth, there are some limitations. Made like an agreement so to speak.

God says, “Yeah, you have free reign up to this point, but the second you want to do something that attacks one of my followers, you got to ask. Or the second you want to do XYZ, you got to come to me.”

Certain things Satan is allowed to do. Other things he has to ask God and God can give him permission to do that. God exercises His power over the devil, in the fact that Satan can’t do anything to harm you without first consulting God. How do we know this? Well, it is true of the Bible. We can go to Scripture for support. Job Chapter 1 Verses 6 to 12. Let’s go there. If you have your Bible, I am giving you some time.

Job Chapter 1:6-12, “One day the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. The LORD said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ Satan answered the LORD, ‘From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.’

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 that fears God and shuns evil.’

“‘Does Job fear God for nothing,’ Satan replied. ‘Have you not put a hedge of protection around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands so that the flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has and he will surely curse you to your face.’

The LORD said to Satan, ‘Very well then, everything he has is in your hands. But on the man himself do not lay a finger.’ Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.” What happened right there? God was kind of talking up His servant Job.

He says, “Satan have you considered him? Look how great he is.” He exalted Job. Satan says “The only reason he follows you is because you bless him.” God says, “Fine, he is up to you” and what does Satan do? If you haven’t read the Book of Job, read it. [It is] very very powerful. Satan then just wreaks havoc. Takes everything from Job. Takes everything. Job still follows God.

Job Chapter 2, they come back and reconvene on another day. “The sons of God came to present themselves to the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. The LORD said to Satan, ‘Where have you come from?’ Satan said ‘From roaming to and through the earth and going back and forth in it.’

“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, and he still maintains his integrity though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.’” Without any reason. God allowed all of that to happen to Job, but there was a reason.

“’Skin for skin!’ Satan replied. ‘A man will give all he has for his own life. But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones and he will surely curse you to your face.’ The LORD said to Satan, ‘Very well then. He is in your hands, but you must spare his life.’ So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.”

Then went after Job; he afflicted Job with all kinds of physical illnesses. What is the point of this? Well, you see in the first part of it, Satan says “No, Job is only doing this because of this” and God says, “All right, everything he has is in your possession but do not lay a hand on the man himself.” There is a limitation right there.

Satan goes out, causes problems. Then God says, “Hey you were wrong, look at this. He still maintains his integrity though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.” Satan said, “Ah, attack his body [and he will curse you.” “Very well, it is in your hands but there is a limitation, spare his life.”

Whatever happens in this world to you, to your friends, to your family, God is allowing it. There is a limit though. Satan does not have free reign to just tear you down. God doesn’t approve of everything but He uses everything. Don’t blame Satan for your trouble. It is not Satan who is putting you through the trouble, ultimately it is God. God is allowing it. Cry out to Him.

Let’s go to 1 Kings 22:20-22. This is another example. It says, “And the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth-Gilead and going to his death?’ There one suggested this and another that. Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the LORD and said, ‘I will entice him.’ ‘By what means?’ the LORD asked. ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of his prophets.’ ‘You will succeed in enticing him,’ said the LORD. ‘Go and do it.’’’

God gives permission for people to be led astray, to be enticed for things to happen. Then He uses those things for a greater good. If God is allowing trouble to come on you, it is part of His plan. Satan is merely a servant of God. Think about the crucifixion. Jesus was here. He knew the plan. He was going to die. Satan thought this was the greatest day in the world, he was finally winning. Then what happens? Jesus conquered death.

God is using everything. Though you may think that a time in your life is so horrible, so miserable, God is in control. Pray to Him. Ask Him. Say, “God I don’t know what is going on, I don’t know why you are doing these things in my life. Please get me through it. Help me. Help me to see your plan.” Ask for wisdom. Ask for insight.

Think of poor Job. Job had no idea what was going on. This was a greater battle. This was a battle between God and Satan in front of everyone; all of the sons of God were there. All of the divine counsel. Satan came and had his demons with him. Satan was there, God was there, they were going head-to-head. Satan was challenging God and God said, ‘Very well, do it.”

Guess what happened in the end? Job never cursed God. Satan was shown up. God proved a major point, not only to Satan but to all the angels [and] to all the demons. Everybody witnessed God’s great power. God’s great control. Then what did God do? Did God just say, “All right, yep, Job you are good. You are healed, build up your empire again”?

No, God said, “I will bless Job,” and He gave Job way more than he had before and he was very very well and richly blessed. Now, would I want to go through what Job went through in order to get what he got? No way. No way. I don’t know if I would be strong enough, but if it is God’s plan, then of course He will get me through it.

No matter what happens in your life God has it under control. Ask Him to help you through it. There is a scene in the movie “Courageous.” If you haven’t seen it, it is about a family; they lose a family member and it is very very heartbreaking. I am not gonna ruin it for you, watch the movie and you will know immediately what I am talking about.

There is a moment where he is asking, “God, why?” and he realizes that it was better to have that person for so many years of their life and the blessing and the things that touched them and they were grateful for that, than not to have them at all which is really profound.

In essence, the lesson is we must always be thankful for whatever God has done and whatever He has taken away. We have to trust that He had a good reason to take it away and that He will see us through no matter what.

Job, He went through all of that misery. He didn’t blame God. He didn’t blame Satan; even Job’s own wife says, “Curse God and die.’ He wouldn’t do it. Job knew this. He knew that God had it under control. Whatever the reason was, whatever was going on. Even his friends came and said, “Job you must have done something wrong.” He says “No, I don’t know what is going on but something bigger is happening here.”

He says in Job 13:15, “‘Though he slay me, yet I will hope in him.’” Who is slaying him? God. He is not saying Earth or Satan. “God is slaying me right now. He has taken everything. I will still hope in Him. Because He trusted that whatever is going on God would get him through it.” He knew God would get him through it.

One more verse for an example here and then we will start wrapping this up. Peter in Luke Chapter 22 Verse 31. This is Jesus speaking, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

Okay, that seems very simple, but let’s go on to this a little bit more. If you don’t know the story, read it. Let’s go on with this a little more. The original text in Greek, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked.” That word means “asked and received permission to,” exactly like when Satan was challenging Job, a very similar thing might have happened.

Satan might have said to Jesus or Jesus could have said to Satan, “Yeah, have you seen my servant Simon Peter? He is pretty awesome.” “Ah, I will take him away.” “Go ahead, sift him as wheat.” Boom, Satan asked and received permission.

Jesus even says this, “I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail,” and then get this, “when you have turned back.” What does that mean? It means Jesus knew Satan was going to sift Peter like wheat. Peter was going to fail. He knew it and He says, “When you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

“You are about to go through something. You are about to go through this. This is a warning. You are going to go through it, but I have prayed for you. I have got your back.” God has got you whatever you are going through. God has got your back. He is praying for you. He is there with you.

Allow Him to guide you through it. Realize that whatever is happening, you may not know, God won’t tell you why He is doing it, Job never found out, neither will you. Just know God has got your back. What you must do is realize it is for your own benefit and you must continue to hope in Him. Though He slays you, continue to hope in Him.

Let’s pray. God Father Yahweh, we know that You are in control of everything in this world and we understand that whatever You are doing here, You are doing for the good of those who love you. You said so in the Bible. You told us that You work for the good of those who love You. We love You, Lord.

Continue to work for our good. If there is something that You are doing, that You are allowing Satan to do, please guide us through it. Give us the strength to see it and Lord, give us a little insight into the plan and help us to focus on getting through the problem, getting through the plan, and recognizing and understanding that You have our back no matter what.

Lord, I pray for those people out there who are going through something, some time of trouble. God, please touch their lives in Jesus’ name. Touch them, be with them, comfort them, give them strength like Job to continue to hope in You.

Lord, allow them to understand that everything in this world, You are in control of it. It is not You who is tempting us; You cannot be tempted by evil. It is not Satan who is ruining our lives. You are allowing it to happen. You are working in our lives.

Lord, continue to strengthen us. To build us up and to help us do more for Your kingdom. Comfort us when we are down and help us through those times of trouble. Lord, please provide blessing. In the end, see us through the darkness into the light to give us a profound blessing because we continue to hope in You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

If you are going through some type of hardship, some type of trouble, please comment below and we will pray for you. Otherwise, keep seeking God. Hope in Him. He will see you through. Consider Job, if you haven’t read the story, read the Book of Job. Read about Peter and what he went through as well. All the verses will be referenced below. God bless.

“When Things Go Wrong” – Candidly Christian