I wrote this several years ago...still good today!
One thing the world and the church agree on…life is hard, and it’s supposed to be hard.
Our first clue that something may be amiss is that the world agrees with us—that in and of itself should throw up all sorts of warning signals. Any assumptions commonly held by unregenerate man are usually wrong, and this is no different.
Jeremiah 32:27 says “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for Me?” This is the same statement God made to Abraham regarding Sarah’s ability to conceive and bear a child at her advanced age [Genesis 18:14].
Similar statements in the New Testament confirm this:
"All things are possible to him who believes…" [Mark 9:23]
"...for all things are possible with God." [Mark 9:23]
"...nothing will impossible to you" [Matthew 17:20]
"For nothing will be impossible with God." [Luke 1:37]
Believes what? That all things are possible—nothing is impossible! All things, nothing—these are absolute words, promises without restriction. And they belong to us…they are the easy way!
What we need is a paradigm shift...to start seeing things the way God sees them and not through these natural eyes!
Yes, the fig tree, again...
When Jesus cursed the fig tree [Mark 11:12-26] and was later questioned about it by His disciples, He explained in the now familiar passage:
“Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, `Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.” [Mark 11:22-24]
The obvious key to this passage is the phrase ‘…but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him…’
It was not readily apparent, however, what the initial ‘Have faith in God’ had to do with it until you realize that it is God Who provides the power to bring our words to pass! So our faith is actually in His power to perform not only His words but ours!
God told Job " You will also decree a thing, and it will be established for you…” [Job 22:28]
Isaiah 65:16 [AMP] says “So [it shall be] that he who invokes a blessing on himself in the land shall do so by saying, ‘May the God of truth and fidelity [the Amen] bless me…’”
And we see in the Proverbs many verses that speak of the words of our mouths bringing forth either blessings or cursing in our lives.
If we are one Spirit with the Lord [I Corinthians 6:17] and nothing is too difficult for Him, and if the Father lives in us with Jesus through the Holy Spirit [John 14:23] …you do the math! It’s true—nothing is too hard, or impossible, for us!
God’s Will
Before venturing any farther, we must, of course, face the inevitable ‘But what about God’s will?’
I’m glad you asked that. Let’s track it through the Bible.
First, God placed Adam in the Garden, where every pleasant thing was, to rule. He gave him a beautiful companion and even brought the animals to him to name. [Please note: Adam did not have to chase the animals and wrangle them to the ground—God Himself brought them to him!]
But once Adam severed his relationship with the Father, it was “…in toil you will eat of it [the ground] all the days of your life…by the sweat of your face you will eat bread…” [Genesis 3:17-19]
Now, this is my opinion, but I'm not so sure it was a curse as much as a statement of fact...God knew that man's way apart from His wisdom and power was going to be hard.
Yes, life became hard, but it was not God’s will that it be so! It was Adam who chose the hard way.
From that point on, God still wanted to bless man—so He entered into covenants with willing men. Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Saul, David, Solomon, and so on down to Jesus. His aim was always to bless, not curse. He even gave a clue in Deuteronomy 30:19...
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. SO CHOOSE LIFE in order that you may live, you and your descendants…”
Of course, that choice is reiterated throughout the Scriptures—it is always man’s choice, to be blessed [the easy way] or not [the hard way
God’s will was to deliver the Israelites and plant them in the Promised Land—the land flowing with milk and honey. [Exodus 3:8,17; 13:5; 33:5]
Or, as He described in Deuteronomy 6,
‘…great and splendid cities which you did not build, and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied…’[Deuteronomy 6:10,11]
The Wilderness Experience
It wasn’t His will that they be tested in the wilderness, another common heresy that cripples the church.
‘Now when Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near; for God said, “The people might change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.” Hence God led the people around by the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea…’ [Exodus 3:17,18]
He was for them—they just didn’t believe it! It was in His plan to bless them by protecting them from a strong, warring people, something He knew newly freed slaves would find impossible to deal with. He was leading them away from certain destruction!
What is amazing is that their unbelief was right on the heels of their deliverance, not only from Egypt but from Pharaoh’s army by way of the Red Sea! Even there, He protected them by the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night—when they came to the Red Sea, He moved the pillar between them and the Egyptian army! [Exodus 14:19,20]
He told Moses,
“Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward. As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land.
As for Me, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. Then the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD, when I am honored through Pharaoh, through his chariots and his horsemen.” [Exodus 14:15-18]
An interesting note…Moses had a part—to stretch his hand over the sea and divide it, so the Israelites could cross over. God had a part, too—to harden the hearts of the Egyptians. And, although it’s not stated, it appears obvious that His part was also to back Moses’ action and words with the actual sea-splitting power!
Ephesians 3:20 says:
‘Now to Him Who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us…’
Here’s the point…Moses did not have to go down and dig a way through the Red Sea! That would’ve been hard! Stretching his staff out, that was easy!
Looking back over Israel’s history in the Old Testament, we see that God was, in fact, doing everything He could to make their way easy.
Isaiah 57:4 says ‘And it will be said, “Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstacle out of the way of My people.”’ We need to settle, for once and all time, the question of God’s will.
Be transformed
Romans 12:2 tells us to ‘…be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable [ or well-pleasing] and perfect.’
James 1:17 says ‘Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with Whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.’
His will to bless us and make our way smooth is finally evidenced in Jesus—Who is ‘…the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature…’ [Hebrews 1:3]
And we see in Luke 4 that He said He was the fulfillment of Isaiah 61—a chapter describing wonderful blessings!
He bore our griefs—our sickness—and carried our sorrows—our pains. He was pierced through for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities—the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him and by His scourging we are healed. [Isaiah 53:4,5]
God's plan
God’s plan was to restore the full measure of blessings upon man through Jesus—to make our way easy again. Jesus suffered for us and defeated Satan—that was hard. Then He gave us the victory—that’s easy! We were meant to live in union with God, with Him providing the power to reign upon the earth.
Romans 5:17 puts it this way…
‘For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”
2 Peter says this:
‘Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His diving power has grated to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him Who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.’ [2 Peter 1:2-4]
Rewarder
It was always God’s will to bless mankind—to make his way easy—and when we change our beliefs about Him and His will, we will be able to do things the easy way.
Determine in your heart to believe the best about God, not the worst. Believe what the Word says: ‘And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must a) believe that His is and b) that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.’ [Hebrews 11:6
Get that? A rewarder—not a tyrant or punisher or tester—a Rescuer, Way-Maker, Deliverer, Obstacle-Remover, Lover, Sun and Shield.
Stick with the Book—it’s way better than the lies of the enemy.
Favor
Another key theme throughout the Scriptures is that of God’s favor. Psalm 5: 12 says ‘For it is You Who blesses the righteous man, O Lord, You surround him with favor as with a shield.’ And we know that we have become the righteousness of God in Him [2 Corinthians 5:21]…so this favor is for us!
His favor not only implies access but protection, as a shield. Psalm 84:11 says “For the Lord God is a sun and shield: The Lord gives grace and glory; no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly .’ The sun provides, the shield protects…what a glorious depiction of the good God Who blesses…who desires to make our way easy!
Jesus was said to have had favor with God and men [Luke 2:52] and He is in us and we are in Him—we are His Body in the earth. Hallelujah!
Psalms 5:12 says 'For it is You Who blesses the righteous man, O Lord, You surround him with favor as with a shield.'
Burdens
We were not built to carry burdens. Medical science tells us that stress is a killer—the cause of many fatal diseases. We were created to reign in life by faith and by the blessings and favor of God.
Remember... 'But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day.” [Proverbs 4:18] That is God's will for us!
When the you-know-what hits the fan, however, most of us will try to handle it ourselves, and I don't mean by exercising our faith! We strive and worry and work the situation until we find ourselves in a state of fear and anxiety.
But it's not God's way. Proverbs 55:22 tells us to 'Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you; He will NEVER allow the righteous to be shaken.' The Holy Spirit repeated this promise in the New Covenant in 1 Peter 5:7, '...casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.'
Finally, we're told in Philippians 4 exactly what to do:
'Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
''Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.' [Philippians 4:6-8]
In other words, trust God and His good will for you.
'For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen [so be it] to the glory of God through us.' [2 Corinthians 1:20]
He's gladly given us the kingdom! [Luke 12:32]
