Thoughts on Predestination

Predestination stuff

Here is the the definition from a theological standpoint. Unfortunately the Calvinist view is the dominant definition.

Predestination in its broadest conception is the doctrine that because God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and completely sovereign, he “from all eternity did by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass,” (Westminster Confession). “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Ephesians 1:11).
http://www.theopedia.com/Predestination

Predestination, in theology is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God. John Calvin interpreted biblical predestination to mean that God willed eternal damnation for some people and salvation for others.[1] Explanations of predestination often seek to address the so-called "paradox of free will," whereby God's omniscience seems incompatible with human free will.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predestination

These definitions alienate those of us that believe that God has given men Free Will or the ability to make choices that are not His Will. People that believe in Free Will believe that God's Will can be resisted. Those that don't believe in the same Free Will don't believe God's Will can be resisted. So the question then becomes if God's Will can't be resisted then why doesn't God save everyone? That question is reasoned away by placing it on the mystery of God's plan. The Free Will person would say that God wants everyone to choose Him but He won't force Himself on you. God is love and you can't have love without a choice.

The reason I object to the earlier definitions of Predestination is because of the numerous times in scripture God seems to be upset and angry about the decisions of people. For example God regretted making man in Genesis before He sent the flood. God gave the Israelites a king ahead of the time that He wanted them to have one and was upset that they had rejected Him as their king. The Holy Spirit can be grieved and Jesus didn't seem to live as if everything was working according to God's Will. He often seemed frustrated with the people's lack of faith and understanding.

Personally I've been associating myself loosely with what is called Open Theism. I believe that God does have a plan for our lives but he gives us the choice of following His plan or not following His plan. If you accept Christ and follow God's plan you're predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus. I don't believe that God has every detail of our lives written and mapped out. For example I don't believe the child that was molested in foster care was predestined to have that experience. People have the ability to make choices and those choices have far reaching affects on others. Here is where I think it glorifies God in the end. No matter how bad a hand you've been dealt in life God can turn it around in such a way that you'd swear that He had to have put you through that on purpose because it worked out so perfectly in the end. Romans 8:28 is my favorite verse for that reason.

I like to use the story of Joseph and his brothers in Genesis to illustrate my point. God gave Joseph a dream and in the dream he was in charge and his brothers were bowing down to him. The got angry and jealous and sold him into slavery and acted as if he was dead. Joseph goes through a series of events and prospers everywhere he goes whether in Potifar's house or in prison after Potifar's wife frames him. He gets out of prison and is placed over people in Egypt in preparation for a famine. In the end his brothers and the rest of his family were able to live and the Israelites were born in Egypt.

But as for you, you meant evil against me;  but  God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as  it is  this day, to save many people alive. (Genesis 50:20 NKJV)

Some believe that this proves that all that happened to Joseph was according to God's will but personally I believe God could've gotten Joseph where He needed Him to be without having to go through all that He went through but ultimately he was predestined to be in that position in Egypt. 

I guess this is a good start. I wasn't sure what you wanted to know about Predestination so I gave you a summary of the common way I hear it talked about.

To Forgive or not to Forgive: That is the Question Part 2

In my last blog I addressed some of the things that forgiveness is not. Hopefully those things will help in this study to remove some of the hurdles we have about forgiveness. This will be a scripture heavy blog because as I stated in the previous one walking in Forgiveness requires faith. Let's look at what the bible has to say about forgiveness.

“And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.” (Mark 11:25, 26 NKJV)

And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.” (Luke 11:4 NKJV)

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:14, 15 NKJV)

Jesus here is connecting answered prayer and God's forgiveness of our sins with our commitment to forgiving others.

In Matthew 18:21-35 Peter asks Jesus how many times we should forgive a person.

Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. (Matthew 18:21, 22 NKJV)

Here we see that God has a higher standard in regards to forgiveness. In a natural sense if a person wrongs you more than once you feel like it is your right to not forgive them. Peter here thought he was going over and above when he offered to forgive seven times but Jesus essentially said keep forgiving no matter how often. Of course there is some wisdom assumed here. Jesus is not saying you should constantly allow yourself to be hurt. If it is in your power remove yourself from the situation.

Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. (Matthew 18:23 NKJV)

Here we have a snapshot of what God's Kingdom looks like. The Kingdom of heaven is God’s way of doing things. The parable goes on to tell the story of a king that decides to settle accounts with his servants. One servant doesn't have the ability to pay what he owes and when the king is about to punish him the servant begs for mercy. The king listens and forgives him of the debt.

But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. (Matthew 18:25-27 NKJV)

The man then comes across another servant who owes him much less than what he owed the king and this is his response.

“But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. (Matthew 18:28-30 NKJV)

So even though the servant had experienced the King's forgiveness he wasn't willing to extend that same forgiveness to his fellow servant. What was the King's response to this?

Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. (Matthew 18:32-34 NKJV)

So the King was upset because he forgave the servant and he wouldn't do the same for his fellow servant. I think another key point here is looking at how the servant felt when he couldn't repay the King and knew he deserved punishment and received mercy. He then turned around and caused that same burden to be placed on another person when he had the power to be like his King and remove that burden but he chose not to.

“So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.” (Matthew 18:35 NKJV)

God equates His forgiveness of us with our forgiveness of others. So for us to not be willing to forgive others is akin to disrespecting His gift of forgiveness. As you can see this is a faith area all the way. You have to have confidence in the forgiveness God has already given you.

“I,  even  I,  am  He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins. (Isaiah 43:25 NKJV)

In 2 Corinthians 2 we have Paul basically telling the Corinthians to let this person off the hook. The church was upset with this person and the person was legitimately sorrowful. Paul is showing the crime of extending a person's punishment by withholding forgiveness. Most cases of unforgiveness seem to be towards people that could care less about us being upset with them but in cases where the person knows and is legitimately sorry and repentant what is our goal? How many hoops must we make this person jump through to earn our forgiveness? What if God held our forgiveness on this same scale? What if God said my forgiveness is no longer based on what Jesus did on your behalf but on how many hoops you’re willing to jump through?

This punishment which was inflicted  by the majority  is  sufficient for such a man, so that, on the contrary, you  ought  rather to forgive and comfort  him,  lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow. Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him. For to this end I also wrote, that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things. Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive.  For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ, lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices. (2 Corinthians 2:6-11 NKJV)

Paul also implies here that unforgiveness opens the door to Satan. Peter tells us that Satan is like a roaring lion seeking who he may devour.  1 Peter 5:8.

In the most elementary sense Forgiveness according to the bible is mostly for our benefit and not the benefit of the others. Let’s look at a few of the consequences of unforgiveness based on these passages.

1.       God won’t forgive you.

2.       You open the door for Satan.

3.       You can get caught up counting how many times someone offends you.

There are more consequences than this but based off of those three is your unforgiveness worth it?

I recently heard a great visual of what unforgiveness really is. Unforgiveness is like drinking poison hoping that someone else will die. That is a great way of looking at it. How many times has someone offended or hurt us and went on with their lives? They don’t even know we’re angry at them and every time we hear their name or see them we get angry all over again. Our anger and unforgiveness is taking a toll on us but that person could care less. What are we really trying to accomplish in this instances? All we are doing is hurting ourselves.

In the next and probably final addition I will take a few real life examples from the bible of forgiveness in action and break them down. As always I pray this has been helpful to someone.

To Forgive or not to Forgive: That is the Question

I remember reading in a book called “How Faith Works” by Dr. Fred Price and in the book he said that the most important subject a Christian should learn once they are saved is the subject of Faith. A person may say “I disagree with that. The bible says that love is the most important thing.” Yes that is true but I’d argue that it takes faith to love the way God calls us to love. I’d also argue that it takes faith to do anything that God calls us to do. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Even at the most elementary level each of God’s commands rely on faith that He actually exists and He is a reward of those that diligently seek Him.

I bring this up to say that it takes faith to walk in forgiveness. Forgiveness is not a natural response to a wrong. It takes faith that God is a just God and He is telling the truth when He says “Vengeance is Mine” in Deutoronomy 32:35.

Before I get into what Jesus says about forgiveness I want to cover a few things forgiveness is not. Sometimes it’s a misunderstanding of what forgiveness is that makes it so hard to do.

Forgiveness is defined as the disposition or willingness to forgive.

Forgiveness is not ignoring the wrongs that have been done to you. For example if you steal money from me or deceive me on something forgiveness does not mean I ignore that and continue to put myself in a position to be taken advantage of.

Forgiveness is not giving up or acknowledging that a wrong hasn’t been done against you. An example of this is if someone has slandered you or accused you of something hurtful. Forgiveness does not mean that you are condoning those accusations. You can still resist the slander and accusations and still be in a position of forgiveness.

I think this one is a big one. Forgiveness and Restitution are not the same thing. Restitution means a restoration to the former or original state or position. Forgiveness is immediate and is not based on the response or any actions on the part of the offender. Restitution is a joint effort by both parties and takes time and often includes counsel and accountability. An example of this is a woman in an abusive relationship. Forgiveness does not mean that she has to stay and continue to suffer abuse. She can get away from that relationship and still forgive that person.

Most people can see the ability to forgive more clearly once the misconceptions are removed. My next part will deal with what Jesus commanded in regards to forgiveness and scripture examples of forgiveness in action. I pray this helps someone to begin the forgiveness process.

Negative Confessions

Do Negative Confessions cause bad things to happen? If I say ‘You make me sick.’ Will I get sick?

Let’s look at some scriptures and a quote from Dr. Fred Price.

Proverbs 18:21

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.

James 3:2-5 

2 For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. 3Indeed,[a] we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. 4 Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. 5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things.

See how great a forest a little fire kindles!

Matthew 12:33-35 

33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. 34 Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart[a] brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.

“If you form the habit of saying negative things, even jokingly, then where do you separate the joke from the reality? When does it get to the point where you are really “saying” out of your heart? Because you have formed the habit of saying negative things so much, after a while, you begin to apply that negativism to the positive things that you want to say and you end up getting the wrong thing.”

Dr. Fred Price (Name it and Claim it pg 16)

Matthew 12:35-37
³⁵ A good man out of the good treasure of his heart^[a] brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. ³⁶ But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. ³⁷ For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

The idea behind Negative Confessions isn’t that if you say “Step on a crack break your mother’s back” your mother’s back is actually going to break. Faith comes by hearing and if you are constantly speaking negatively it will eventually get into your heart. There are many people that have more Faith in “Murphy’s Law” than in what Jesus has done for them on the Cross and God’s promises in scripture. What I mean by this is some people have convinced themselves that "bad things always happen to them" and all they talk about is how bad life is and "If anything can go wrong it's going to go wrong for me." That kind of talk is usually a sign of a heart issue and it is expressing itself through the person's words. This is where the idea behind Negative Confessions negatively affecting your life comes in. 

2 Corinthians 5:21

21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

The point of confession is not to make this promise true to God or get God to do anything but to get the reality of the promise into your heart. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God and confession is a way of constantly reminding yourself of God's Word to build your faith daily.

If a Christian continually talks about how unworthy they are and never acknowledge what Jesus made available to them they will never be rooted in a full knowledge of their Righteousness and as a result will never walk in that reality.

Bottom line is don’t get crazy. If you go to the Doctor tell them your problem. Don’t tell them you don’t want to speak a Negative Confession. That’s foolishness. Let the Doctor know the problem and once the two of you have figured out a plan of action then put your faith and confession on that plan being successful. Hopefully this will remove some of the bondage that false ideas of Negative Confessions have placed on people.

What is Positive Confession?

In this installment I’ll be dealing with Positive Confession. 

Romans 10:10

For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Luke 6:45

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

“Faith begins where the Will of God is known.” --Pastor Michael D. Moore

 In other words if it’s not God’s will you have no basis for faith.
1 John 5:14-15          

14And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:

15And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

Positive Confession is not the belief that we can force God to do anything nor do we have any power outside of His will. On the contrary it's just talking the way God talks.

Romans 4:17

¹⁷ (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”^[a]) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;

Let’s define ‘confession’

 “Confession in Greek means that you “agree with” or “say the same thing that God says about you/or your circumstances.” Fred Price (Name it Claim it pg 8)

What this is saying is confession means to say what God says about your situations. For example God says in Philippians 4:19

19But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

So an example of positive confession would be saying that “All of my needs are met according to the riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Confession is about finding what God says about your life and speaking in line with that. Notice how this is rooted in a promise from the scriptures. It is not denial of the circumstances. You don’t say I have no needs. That would be a lie. With positive confession you acknowledge the need but you acknowledge that God is the source that will meet that need.

Here are some examples of a non-bible based confessions.

I have no problems.

I am not sick.

The difference may seem like semantics but in the mind of a Word of Faith person they are light years apart. In biblical confessions you are saying what the bible says about your life so the truth in the bible is elevated above the truth of the circumstances. The other view is just a denial of the circumstances with no truth to lean on.

I have to mention that some do take Positive Confession too far and end up putting people into bondage. They sort of set themselves up as the Confession Police and they want to arrest you for every perceived negative word you speak. This can be troubling to a person that is young in their faith and is now afraid to share their struggles because they don’t want to speak a negative confession. I have a Negative Confession portion where I’ll deal a little more with that.

This is definitely an area where you have to hear the whole message because if you don’t you will do some crazy things in the name of Positive Confession. There are some people that are teaching it that have no idea what they are talking about. On the other side if you only hear part of the message you won’t understand it. I know when I first heard that I can have what I say. I wrote out a long list of everything that I wanted like a Christmas list and put it on my bedroom door and would read the list every night. I didn’t know any better. I also didn’t understand that my confession was for building my faith and not for God. I had the thought that there was a certain amount of times I need to confess this or that before it manifests. A bill paid takes 15 consecutive confessions of 'My needs are met' and a headache takes 32 consecutive confessions of 'I believe I'm healed'. I now know that was incorrect and that my confessions don’t move God. They are a tool to keep me in remembrance of God’s Word and continually acknowledge Him as my source.

So from my misunderstandings I can’t come down too hard on someone that may be critical of the idea of Positive Confession. 

Is the "Word of Faith Movement" a Denomination?

“A Christian denomination is an identifiable religious body under a common name, structure, and doctrine within Christianity.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_denomination

According to this definition and the idea behind denominations I have to say no “Word of Faith” is not a denomination. Adherents share certain beliefs but there is no organized structure or governing body as a whole. To preach under the Presbyterian denomination umbrella you must adhere to certain beliefs and if you don’t adhere to them you will be sat down. “Word of Faith” does not have that kind of structure as a whole. Anyone could start a Store Front ministry and call themselves “Word of Faith” or be called “Word of Faith” and teach anything that they want with no one to challenge them. This is a very important point because everyone labeled “Word of Faith” is not saying the same thing.

I’ll be addressing the subject of Positive Confession in the next blog in this series and following that with Negative Confessions.

Word of Faith Movement

This blog is an attempt to cause some of the stones raised to be thrown at Word of Faith believers to be dropped.

There are numerous websites devoted to attacking what is commonly referred to as the Word of Faith movement which is also sometimes called the Prosperity Gospel. I will primarily be addressing criticism from Calvary Chapel Aurora’s website.

http://www.calvaryaurora.org/resources/apologetics/

as well as

http://www.gospeloutreach.net/whatwordfaith.html

Calvary Chapel’s stance surprised me to be honest. I recently came into the knowledge of them around 2010 and fell in love with them. I started listening to Pastor David Guzik whom is currently Senior Pastor at Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara every day for a few months when I was struggling with aspects of the Word of Faith message and Christianity as a whole. I still listen to him and read his online commentaries today. Surprisingly for Word of Faith to be considered so unbiblical his teaching and interpretation of scriptures actually confirmed most of the things I had already learned in the Word of Faith movement. I have also read a number of Pastor Chuck Smith’s commentaries and they also support a number of core Word of Faith beliefs. I’ll be including some of those commentary notes in this essay. The straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back and sparked me to write this essay was a message on Calvary Chapel radio. The minister was talking about the Book of Acts and not far into the message he went on a Anti Word of Faith rant. He said that Word of Faith teaches that you should never have problems in life and that if you get sick or are poor it’s because of a lack of faith. I got angry and turned it off. I’ve heard similar claims from other non-Word of Faith Pastors that I thoroughly enjoy like Craig Groeschel as well. They don’t mean any harm they just don’t understand what they are criticizing. I’m hoping that with this essay that Christian’s will think before they repeat things they have heard from someone else. There are people on the receiving end of these accusations. These people love Jesus, believe that Jesus is the Second part of the Trinity; That Jesus walked the Earth and died to bring mankind back into a right relationship with God; that salvation is received by grace and not by works. The biggest difference is Word of Faith believes that Jesus died for more than just sins.

Most of the claims in the Calvary Chapel article seem to be based in a misunderstanding of the message. I’ve learned that you can’t listen to one message on Faith or Confession (or even one Word of Faith minister for that matter) and be able to accurately judge it and much of this article is based off views of people that are already against Word of Faith. They use critiques from John MacArthur and Hank Hanegraaf. John MacArthur is a wonderful minister but he is a Calvinist. This isn’t meant to be disparaging towards my Calvinist brothers and sisters but there are areas that a Calvinist and Word of Faith adherent or anyone that advocates God gave man Free Will cannot see eye to eye on God’s sovereignty. Word of Faith and anyone else that advocates Free Will believes that God has given men Free Will and that we can resist him and He won’t force us to do anything that goes against our wills. This flies directly in the T.U.L.I.P view of the God’s Sovereignty specifically the “I” which stands of Irresistible Grace and borders on heresy in the eyes of some.

Many of the views attributed to the Word of Faith movement aren’t true beliefs and the things that are somewhat true are taken out of context. The words Heresy, Heretics and False Doctrine are commonly used in reference to the Word of Faith Movement. Let’s look at the definition of Heresy and see if Word of Faith falls under that category.

Heresy is:

[d]octrine which is erroneous in such a way that Christians must divide themselves as a church from all who teach or accept it; those adhering to heresy are assumed to be lost, although Christians are unable to make definitive judgments on this matter. The opposite of orthodoxy. Adj.: "heretical."

- Source: A Biblical Guide To Orthodoxy And Heresy, Christian Research Journal, Summer 1990, byRobert M. Bowman.

Easton's Bible Dictionary says 'heresy' is derived from…

…a Greek word signifying (1) a choice, (2) the opinion chosen, and (3) the sect holding the opinion. In the Acts of the Apostles (5:17; 15:5; 24:5, 14 ; 26:5) it denotes a sect, without reference to its character.

Elsewhere, however, in the New Testament it has a different meaning attached to it. Paul ranks "heresies" with crimes and seditions (Gal. 5:20). This word also denotes divisions or schisms in the church (1 Cor. 11:19).

In Titus 3:10 a "heretical person" is one who follows his own self-willed "questions," and who is to be avoided. Heresies thus came to signify self-chosen doctrines not emanating from God (2 Pet. 2:1).

- Source: Heresy, Easton Bible Dictionary

Charges of heresy are most serious where they involve deviation from - or denial of - the central, essential doctrines of Christianity:

Certain Christian doctrines constitute the core of the faith. Central doctrines include the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the bodily resurrection, the atoning work of Christ on the cross, and salvation by grace through faith. These doctrines so comprise the essence of the Christian faith that to remove any of them is to make the belief system non-Christian.

Central doctrines should not be confused with peripheral issues, about which Christians may legitimately disagree.

Peripheral (i.e. non-essential) doctrines include such issues as the timing of the tribulation, the method of baptism, or the structure of church government. For example, one can be wrong about the identity of "the spirits in prison" (1 Peter 3:19) or about the timing of the rapture and still go to heaven, but one cannot deny salvation by grace or the deity of Christ (John 8:24) and be saved.

http://www.apologeticsindex.org/447-heresy-heretic

Now that we have a definition for Heresy we’ll continue our study to see if Word of Faith denies central doctrines of the Christian faith. In this series I’ll also be addressing issues such as is Word of Faith a denomination, are all the teachers the same, What is the force of faith? Is “little god’s” doctrine a biblical view? What is “Name it and claim it”? Did Jesus die spiritually? Did Jesus go to hell and suffer on our behalf? Is there any biblical or historical support that backs up some Word of Faith beliefs? Also I'll be covering topics like Health and Wealth. 

I hope this study can bring some understanding and unity among us believers. I pray we can help each other grow and develop understanding in our faith walks. There are things that I don't understand and hopefully we can find balance where the ship goes off course. The next post will be on Positive Confession.

Feel free to give feedback. Let's keep it productive and positive. Name calling and insults will be deleted.

Did God Really Say That???

Isaiah 1:19

¹⁹ If you are willing and obedient,
      You shall eat the good of the land;

We as Christians sometimes have a habit of allowing the experiences of others to invalidate God’s promises. God has a lot of promises in the bible that are conditional. If you do this then He promises to do that. What we often do is see a person that in our mind is doing their part in the promise but don’t seem to be experiencing the promised result. Why did this person struggle their whole lives if that promise means what it says? To that question I’d answer I don’t know but that’s not going to make me throw away the promise.

2 Corinthians 1:20

²⁰ For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.

Numbers 23:19
“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

From these scriptures it seems that A. God cannot lie and B. He is faithful to bring to pass that which he promised. We don’t like things that cause self-reflection and/or can put a question mark over the heads of some that we considered perfection. But if God is real and his promises are real and we are Willing and Obedient then there is no reason we shouldn’t eat the Good of the Land. Here are a few things that can cause a person not to eat the good of the land. This will by no means be an exhaustive list.

Unbelief

1.       If you don’t believe that God’s promises are for you then you won’t experience everything he has for you.

Mark 6:4-6
⁴ But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.” ⁵Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. ⁶ And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.

The power to heal was available but wasn’t received because of their unbelief.

Romans 3:3
For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect?

Ingratitude and Pride

2.       Sometimes we just want things done our way. God has a way but we don’t want it that way. One thing I believe falls under this is when we chase after signs and wonders and only accept those as moves of God. One of the best quotes I heard on this was from Pastor Shawn Bumpers at Calvary Chapel Birmingham.

“When we only look for God in the impossible we miss Him in the possible.” Pastor Shawn Bumpers

This was an area that I was struggling in. God was blessing me left and right but since it wasn’t accompanied by trumpets, flashing lights and dancing angels I didn’t respect it as I should. Here is a scripture example of pride almost costing someone their healing.

2 Kings 5:10-14
¹⁰ And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.” ¹¹ But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, “Indeed, I said to myself, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.’ ¹² Are not the Abanah^[a] and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. ¹³ And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” ¹⁴ So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

We see in this passage that Naaman already had a set way that he desired to receive his healing and when that set way wasn’t met he was angry and was willing to walk away. Thank God for a bold servant to speak some sense into him. Some of us don’t have that bold friend to break that prideful mindset so we don’t respect the simple things that God does for us every day.

Time

3.       Sometimes there are no problems or adjustments needed. In some cases it just takes time. There may be things that are being worked out that you aren’t aware of that just take you being patient. There are things in God’s timing that could be deferring your return. There could be some spiritual warfare going on that you just have to continue to stand and believe in those promises. Here are some examples of both from scripture. In example one David was anointed King by Samuel but there were a few boundaries in place. Boundary #1 Saul was still King over Israel. Boundary #2 the throne went to the King’s son so Jonathan was the next in line for the throne. There was a period of time where this promise didn’t look like it would come to pass. David lost everything and was sent into exile while Saul tried to kill him over and over. Eventually the promise was brought to pass and David became King.

1 Samuel 16:13
Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah.

2 Samuel 2:4
⁴ Then the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.

There was years of struggle and growth for David between his being anointed and him taking the throne. But God was working the whole time bringing it to pass.

Here is an example of Spiritual Warfare that is going on behind the scenes. In this instance Daniel had been praying for an interpretation for a dream and an angel appeared and told him that from the first day that he prayed God had heard and sent the angel to him but he was hindered by other spiritual forces.

Daniel 10:10-14
¹⁰ Suddenly, a hand touched me, which made me tremble on my knees and on the palms of my hands. ¹¹ And he said to me, “O Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.” While he was speaking this word to me, I stood trembling. 
¹² Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words.¹³ But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia. ¹⁴ Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come.”

This delay had nothing to do with Daniel but he had to stay focused on what he was praying for.

Bottom line God is faithful to His promises. We don’t have to explain them away by saying they are only for Israel or other commonly used excuses.

"But in many respects, God's people fail to possess their possessions and enjoy those privileges and blessings to which the blood of Christ entitles them."

However distasteful to the flesh, whatever sneers it may produce from carnal professors, the Christian must rigidly and perpetually act by the rule that God has given him to walk by. In so doing, he will be immeasurably the gainer; for the path of obedience—is the path of prosperity! Conformity unto the revealed will of God may indeed entail trial; nevertheless, it will be richly compensated in this life, both in spiritual and temporal bounties.

Nor is there any justification to insist that such statements pertained only to the Mosaic economy. If we unhesitatingly apply to our own day that precious word in Isaiah 1:18, "Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet—they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson—they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18), is it honest to refuse taking unto ourselves the very next verse, "If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land" (Isaiah 1:19)? The principles which regulate God's providential dealings with His people are in no way altered by any change made in the outward form of His kingdom upon earth.

A.W Pink – Enjoying God’s Best

http://www.gracegems.org/Pink/gods_best.htm

God is faithful to His promises. Don't let people guilt you into feeling like He isn't or that you're not worthy.

Claim them today and don’t let go.