Dr. Dan Coflin
Pastor, River of Life Church
Have you ever witnessed an unhappy customer looking for the person in charge in order to voice their complaint? The soup is cold, the bathroom stinks, and the product promising to erase the effects of aging did not work, so we look for someone to voice our dissatisfaction to.
It amazes me how often people in crisis focus their rage against God. “God, why did you let this happen to me?” is a common complaint. God gets blamed for cancer, car accidents, and catastrophes of all kinds. Storms, bankruptcy, divorce and hardships must be God’s fault for after all he is in charge of everything, RIGHT?
Here are some biblical truths to help us understand how the Almighty, All Powerful, Omnipotent, Sovereign God is not the one bringing trouble into your life. God did not ordain it and neither did he allow it. Just because whatever happened, happened does not mean it was the will of God. Some would say that God always does everything according to his will and that is true, but we must understand that not everything that is done is done by God.
God is crystal clear in his word to us that it is not his will to murder, steal, lie, lust, or covet, but those activities are common throughout the Earth. Those are not God’s works, but man’s and man without God has no power to resist the temptations that come against him.
Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world” (Jn 18:36). You see this world is not governed by God, but by the “god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4). A person without God believes that spiritual things are foolish because he does not understand them (1 Cor. 2:14). The “spiritual person” (the ones with God in their lives) understands that there is more to this life than what can be seen.
The world is described as the arrangement of how things function. The world is not the planet but the way things are governed by those unseen forces we wrestle with (Eph. 6:12).
The good news is that we do not have to live according to the kingdoms of this world’s system because if we are in Christ, we have been “delivered from the authority of darkness, and have been translated into the kingdom of his dear Son.” (Col. 1:13). The kingdom of God is not in some geographical region of the world, but is inside of us (Lk. 17:21). What is the kingdom of God? According to the Apostle Paul it is “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Rm. 14:17).
The kingdom of God is inside of us. God intended for us to live inside out, not outside in. If we have a complaint about a condition we don’t like, let’s find the one in charge of that worldly work. Fortunately for us, we have authority in the name of Jesus over every wicked work (Lk. 10:19). Yes, it is true that in this world we live in there is trouble, but Jesus said, “be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.” (Jn. 16:33). Are you a world overcomer? The Word of God asks that question and also gives us the answer: ”Who is he that overcomes the world? He that believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” (1 Jn. 5:5).
Dr. Dan Coflin and his wife Dianne co-pastor River of Life Church at 410 E. Chapman Rd. in Lutz, FL. 33549, (813) 949-9931, www.roltampa.org. We would love to invite you to visit River of Life Church.
Our lively worship begins at 10:30am on Sunday. We are a non-denominational, spirit-filled ministry. Please honor us with your visit. We would love to have you!