Today, there are many who name the name of Christ, but who never �depart from iniquity.� They are false converts who �ask Jesus into their heart,� but are actually unconverted because they have never truly repented. So it is important that you examine yourself to see if you are in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5). Those who allow sin in their lives are actually opening themselves up to demonic influence. The Bible instructs us to �neither give place to the devil� (Ephesians 4:27).
Afflictions only work together for our good, if we are �called according to
[God�s] purpose� (Romans 8:28). Therefore, the following are questions each of us need to ask ourselves:
Do I honor my parents? Do I value them implicitly? God commands that we honor out parents, then Scripture warns, �that it may be well with you, and you may live long on the earth� (Ephesians 6:3). In other words, if you don�t value your parents, all will not be well with you. I have found that many people have demonic problems because they hate their parents.
Is there any unconfessed sin in my life? Is there any bitterness, resentment, or jealousy? Have I been hurt by someone in the past whom I can�t find it within my heart to forgive? Then I am giving place to the devil. If I won�t forgive and forget, I�m like a man who is stung to death by one bee. You could understand someone being stung to death by a swarm of bees, but we can do something about one bee. The sad thing about someone who becomes bitter is that all they need to do to deal with their problem is to swat the thing through repentance. God says He will not forgive us if we will not forgive from our heart (Matthew 6:15).
Has there been any occult activity in my life in the past? Do I have idols (even as souvenirs) in my home? Is there any pornography? I need to prayerfully walk around in the house and ask God if there is anything that is unpleasing to Him. Then I must consider the same thing within the temple of my own body. Am I a glutton? Do I feed filth into my mind through my eyes or through my ears? Do my hands touch only what is pleasing in His sight? Are my words kind and loving? Are the meditations of my mind pleasing to God?
The only way to know if you are a Christian is by your fruit. There are a number of fruits in Scripture: the fruit of praise, the fruit of thanksgiving, the fruit of holiness, the fruit of repentance, the fruit of righteousness, and the fruit of the Spirit�love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, faith, meekness, and temperance.
A key to overcoming trials is to understand that they are relative. The next time Satan tries to make you feel sorry for yourself in the midst of a trial, ask yourself, �Would I like to trade places with someone who has a horrible terminal disease? Would I like to trade places with a burn victim who has been burned over 90% of his body?�
We can�t imagine the agonies those in such a predicament go through. Have you ever burned yourself on a toaster? Think what it might be like for those poor people. Such sober thoughts bring our problems into perspective, and should make us want to thank God for His many blessings. Not only for what we have, but also for those things we don�t have�like unspeakable pain.
The fruit of thanksgiving should be evident in the Christian, not only for temporal blessings, but for the cross. Paul was persecuted beyond measure, merely for his faith in God, yet he said, �Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift� (2 Corinthians 9:13).
As Christians, we should have the fruit of holiness. We should be separated from this world, with all of its corruption, to God. We should have evidence of our repentance. If we have stolen, we will return what isn�t ours. We will set right (where possible) that which we have wronged. Lastly, we will possess the fruit of the Spirit. If we are rooted and grounded in Him, we will have the fruits of His character hanging from the branches of our lives. Do we have love that cares for others? Do we care enough about the salvation of sinners to put feet to our prayers and take the gospel to them? Love is not passive. It will not be self-indulgent while others suffer. It is empathetic.
GOOD REASON:
If we haven�t giving place to the devil, what is he doing in our lives? There must be good reason for him to be there. The only reasonable conclusion is that God has given permission. This happened in the book of Job. God allowed Satan to buffet Job so that he would grow in his faith in God. As I have said before, God has given us the Book of Job for our admonition and instruction.
Study the following verse from the Amplified Bible:
It is God who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight (Philippians 2:13).
We have established that God is at work in you. You have this demonic �buffeting� from which God will not presently deliver you because He is doing a good work in you. Therefore, what should be your attitude to this good work He is doing? It should be one of joy � because your joy is evidence of how much you trust God. If you trust Him, then you will rejoice for His goodness, and that joy will be strength to you.
Take for instance a world champion boxer. His coach loves him to a point where he wants him above all things to be a winner. So what does the coach do �buy him a sofa, a TV, and potato chips? No. Instead, he places weights on his shoulders and resistance against his arms. He will even look around for the toughest sparring partner he can find. If the boxer doesn�t understand what his trainer is doing, if he doesn�t have faith in his methods, he'll get depressed and lose heart. But is he knows what�s going on, he will rejoice now in the trials because he sees, through the eyes of faith, the finished product.
That�s why God is letting the devil loose on you:
to make you strong. Paul says: For our light affliction, which is but for a moment [in the light of eternity], works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:17).
Afflictions work for us, not against us, if we are in God�s will. How is your joy when the Trainer brings the resistance your way? How much faith do you have in Him? The joy you have will be your measuring rod.
For you, Oh God, have proved us: you have tried us, as silver is tried. You have caused men to ride over our heads, we went through fire and through water: but you brought us out into a wealthy place (Psalm 66:10,12).
God takes us through the fires of persecution, tribulation, and temptation to purify us, not to burn us. He takes us through water to cleanse us, not to drown us. Look at the reason God chastens His children, given in Hebrews 12:9-15:.
Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous: neverthe-less afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them which are exercised thereby.
Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; les any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many defiled.
In other words, get it together. Don�t fall into discouragement, which is essentially a lack of faith in God. If you let your arms hang down in depression instead of rejoicing that God is working all things out for your good, you are saying that God isn�t faithful, that His promises aren�t worth believing, that He is actually a liar. There is no greater insult to God than to not believe His promises. The result of unbelief will be depression,
discouragement, self-pity, resentment, then bitterness, which you will end up spreading to others.
If you have never thanked God for His promises, for His faithfulness, for the fact that He is working with you, in you, and for you�if you have been joyless, or even despised what has been happening to you and moved into bitterness then repent of the sin of mistrust. How insulted you would be if you were a faithful and loving trainer, and your boxer, for whose good you are laboring, began to despise you for what you were doing.
On the other hand, if you are �exercised thereby,� the result will be the �peaceable fruit of righteousness.� In other words, you will end up living a life that is in complete righteousness, and bring a smile to the heart of your heavenly Father.
Look at Hebrews 12:11. Notice the word �afterward.� That one word was my light in the dark tunnel. It meant there was an end to my terror, a light at the end of the tunnel that wasn�t a train heading for me. Write down the word �afterward,� and put it somewhere where you will be reminded that you have hope�and �hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us�
(Romans 5:5, Amplified).
