When Christians Talk about GOD as Sennacherib and His Officers Did
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They talk of God as Sennacherib, king of Assyria, and his officers did about their gods and the gods of other peoples.
"God cannot break the law of nature. He does things that aren't contrary to nature's laws," they reason. How many times have I heard Christians say that? Can laws really confine God's capability to a limit? Or, "God didn't mean it literally. You don't really believe he would uproot a real mountain and throw it to the sea. What if we all did that---order mountains to be thrown into the sea? Then all the seas and oceans in the world would be filled with mountains!"
Yup. But God can always add more seas and oceans, if that were the case. No problem. It's encapsulated in this simple verse---"Nothing is impossible with God." They memorize that verse and quote it to support their prayers but do not really believe it. In the back of their minds, they believe there are certain things God would not or cannot do.
What God "Would Not" Do
They believe God is all powerful, but there are things he wouldn't do. So we better be careful what we ask him. We must make sure it's "according to his will" because if not, then God wouldn't do it. They say this when they get all mixed up. And then, they also say God wouldn't do anything we take literally when he meant it figuratively. Or, he wouldn't do it if "it's not yet his timing."
These things may be true if God were like the other gods of the nations. But he isn't. He's unique. He's the only God who lives inside believers, making them his children in Christ and establishes a personal relationship with them. And he said, "Everyone who asks receives." If you ask, you will receive! It's a promise. He'll do it. Yeah, you may say, but we have to ask him according to his will.
Then again he said, "If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it," [John 14.14]. He said anything. The Prodigal Son asked for his inheritance even though he was prodigal (or wasteful) and he got it. The Canaanite woman who asked Jesus for healing for her daughter was granted her request although it was not God's time yet to "give the bread to the dogs." And here's something extreme---demons asked Jesus to be allowed to go into the herd of pigs and he allowed them.
So, why wouldn't God do certain things for his children?
According to His Will
Get the context of the verse. First John 5:14 is about two sins---one that does not lead to death and the other that does. John said we should not ask God for forgiveness of sins that lead to death. It's not according to his will. See? But aside from that issue, we can ask anything from God in Jesus' name and he'll do it. Just believe!
The only time God would not give us what we ask for is if we doubt. God is pleased only if we have faith.
To God, the sky is not even the limit. It's limitless. We can ask him for "anything" and he will do it. Don't treat him like other gods or fairies who have lots of pre-conditions before they grant requests. With God, the only conditions are that, you are God's child in Christ and you believe with all your heart.
What God "Cannot Do"
I smile and shake my head when I hear Christians say there are certain things God cannot do for them. Once, I told them how I prayed for my wife and kids when they were sick and God instantly healed them. They could not believe it and thought I was being heretic about it and flawed with my doctrine. I was summoned by the elders and interrogated.
It's there clearly in the bible but they just wouldn't believe it. Yeah, God used to do them in the bible, but no way he can do them again today, they say. It's the modern world! So they'd rather have medicines and doctors than rely on supernatural healing from God. Some even see believing in God's miracles as superstitions or the occult. They'd readily believe God would use doctors and medicines than God himself doing the healing supernaturally---like God can't do anything without medicines---sounding exactly like Sennacherib and his officers.
Some people believe hearing mass at St. Jude Church will help them pass board exams. But if it's fertility you're struggling with you need to go and dance before San Pascual, Sta. Clara and the Nuestro Senora at Obando, Bulacan because St. Jude is not powered for that. Well, this is understandable because they're not God. But we should treat God differently. To him, nothing is impossible. A man of God in the Old Testament proved that God is not just god of the hills or god of the valleys or plains. God is GOD anywhere and anytime!
But there are Christians who talk about God like how Sennacherib would talk about his god. Often, I get so disappointed when Church people (supposedly born-again) would rather credit a miracle to chance, fortuity, coincidence or happenstance than to God. For instance, you praise God because your headache is gone. But they'd say otherwise: "It's just coincidence that you took paracetamol an hour ago so, no wonder, your headache is gone now." The don't have the spiritual imagination to see that without God in all that, nothing would work. It was God. It was not the medicine, though you took it. It was God.
Talking like heathens, and especially talking of God like heathens talk of their gods. This is worse than idolatry.
Present MOVE: Seeing the UNSEEN in real time.
They spoke about the God of Jerusalem as they did about the gods of the other peoples of the world—the work of human hands. [2 Chronicle 32.19]
"God cannot break the law of nature. He does things that aren't contrary to nature's laws," they reason. How many times have I heard Christians say that? Can laws really confine God's capability to a limit? Or, "God didn't mean it literally. You don't really believe he would uproot a real mountain and throw it to the sea. What if we all did that---order mountains to be thrown into the sea? Then all the seas and oceans in the world would be filled with mountains!"
Yup. But God can always add more seas and oceans, if that were the case. No problem. It's encapsulated in this simple verse---"Nothing is impossible with God." They memorize that verse and quote it to support their prayers but do not really believe it. In the back of their minds, they believe there are certain things God would not or cannot do.
What God "Would Not" Do
They believe God is all powerful, but there are things he wouldn't do. So we better be careful what we ask him. We must make sure it's "according to his will" because if not, then God wouldn't do it. They say this when they get all mixed up. And then, they also say God wouldn't do anything we take literally when he meant it figuratively. Or, he wouldn't do it if "it's not yet his timing."
These things may be true if God were like the other gods of the nations. But he isn't. He's unique. He's the only God who lives inside believers, making them his children in Christ and establishes a personal relationship with them. And he said, "Everyone who asks receives." If you ask, you will receive! It's a promise. He'll do it. Yeah, you may say, but we have to ask him according to his will.
Then again he said, "If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it," [John 14.14]. He said anything. The Prodigal Son asked for his inheritance even though he was prodigal (or wasteful) and he got it. The Canaanite woman who asked Jesus for healing for her daughter was granted her request although it was not God's time yet to "give the bread to the dogs." And here's something extreme---demons asked Jesus to be allowed to go into the herd of pigs and he allowed them.
So, why wouldn't God do certain things for his children?
According to His Will
Get the context of the verse. First John 5:14 is about two sins---one that does not lead to death and the other that does. John said we should not ask God for forgiveness of sins that lead to death. It's not according to his will. See? But aside from that issue, we can ask anything from God in Jesus' name and he'll do it. Just believe!
The only time God would not give us what we ask for is if we doubt. God is pleased only if we have faith.
But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. [James 1.6-8]
To God, the sky is not even the limit. It's limitless. We can ask him for "anything" and he will do it. Don't treat him like other gods or fairies who have lots of pre-conditions before they grant requests. With God, the only conditions are that, you are God's child in Christ and you believe with all your heart.
What God "Cannot Do"
I smile and shake my head when I hear Christians say there are certain things God cannot do for them. Once, I told them how I prayed for my wife and kids when they were sick and God instantly healed them. They could not believe it and thought I was being heretic about it and flawed with my doctrine. I was summoned by the elders and interrogated.
It's there clearly in the bible but they just wouldn't believe it. Yeah, God used to do them in the bible, but no way he can do them again today, they say. It's the modern world! So they'd rather have medicines and doctors than rely on supernatural healing from God. Some even see believing in God's miracles as superstitions or the occult. They'd readily believe God would use doctors and medicines than God himself doing the healing supernaturally---like God can't do anything without medicines---sounding exactly like Sennacherib and his officers.
Some people believe hearing mass at St. Jude Church will help them pass board exams. But if it's fertility you're struggling with you need to go and dance before San Pascual, Sta. Clara and the Nuestro Senora at Obando, Bulacan because St. Jude is not powered for that. Well, this is understandable because they're not God. But we should treat God differently. To him, nothing is impossible. A man of God in the Old Testament proved that God is not just god of the hills or god of the valleys or plains. God is GOD anywhere and anytime!
But there are Christians who talk about God like how Sennacherib would talk about his god. Often, I get so disappointed when Church people (supposedly born-again) would rather credit a miracle to chance, fortuity, coincidence or happenstance than to God. For instance, you praise God because your headache is gone. But they'd say otherwise: "It's just coincidence that you took paracetamol an hour ago so, no wonder, your headache is gone now." The don't have the spiritual imagination to see that without God in all that, nothing would work. It was God. It was not the medicine, though you took it. It was God.
Talking like heathens, and especially talking of God like heathens talk of their gods. This is worse than idolatry.
Present MOVE: Seeing the UNSEEN in real time.
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