Yet both this young man and his mother were Christians. Jim (not his real name, but one I’ll use to protect their privacy) had battled with schizophrenia for years. He had seen countless visits to the psychiatric ward of the local hospital, and innumerable changes to his medication in the course of the doctors’ efforts to stabilise his condition. More importantly, he had been the subject of much prayer by many people over many years.

Although at one point his illness had seen him turn his back on God, over the last couple of years he had returned to faith and renewed his commitment to Christ, recently being baptised. Many people, myself included, were believing for his healing and deliverance.

Now, it would seem that all that faith, and all those prayers, failed. It would seem that the devil has been victorious, and this little corner of the Kingdom of God has taken a sickening defeat.

Do I believe that Jim is in heaven? Unquestionably. He was not responsible for his actions on that terrible morning, and I have no doubt that God’s grace was still extended to him. In that sense, he has not been defeated. Jim is more alive at this moment than he has ever been. He no longer has schizophrenia, nor is he bothered by the demonic force that I am convinced plagued him during his earthly life. Even the emotional scars from his childhood that gave ground for his mental and spiritual problems have been totally healed.

Yet, at least in my heart, there is the frustration of knowing that Jesus taught us to pray that God’s will would be done ON EARTH as it is in heaven. The freedom and victory that Jim is experiencing now in the presence of God should have been his here on earth, where he could have shared it with those he loved.

Perhaps the harder question, though, is what we do with the defeat. I spoke to Jim’s mother a couple of days ago. For the moment, at least, she is taking the predictable path of saying “God allowed it. We don’t know why, but He knows best.” Part of me wanted to shake her, to say “NO! NO! NO! God did not want this! For some reason He didn’t prevent it, but it’s not what He wanted!” Of course, I would not violate her grief by actually saying it. But it saddened me that it is so easy to put the blame on God.

Yet we are the ones to whom He has given the mandate of dominion. It was not God who allowed this: we did, by not rising to the fullness of the authority He has given us. No, I’m not trying to “beat up” on myself or anyone else – I’d just like to see the Body of Christ take responsibility for where we are at.

Every time we say “God allowed it”, whether it be death, sickness, demonic oppression, or any of the multitude of other evils that the enemy seeks to inflict upon mankind, we weaken our faith. After all, if “God allowed” defeat this time, who are we to say that He will not allow defeat next time … and the next … and the next …

Does God take even the very worst of situations and bring good out of them? Most definitely. That does not mean that He caused them, wanted them, or even “allowed them so that the good would come.” He is perfectly capable of bringing about the same good outcomes without the terrible situation.

Is it hard to say, “This was not God’s will” when we don’t understand how God’s will could have been violated in this situation? After all, isn’t He sovereign? Definitely! Yet, for reasons that we will probably never understand till we get to heaven, in some situations He does not give permission for it to happen, but He does not step in to prevent it.

God’s will for people is summed up in Jesus’ statement, “I am come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly.” Somehow we have to learn to keep our eyes on His will, not on the situations where His will has been blatantly violated. As hard as it may be when our eyes have seen horror and our hearts have been rent by agony, we must continue to hold to Jesus’ victory. No matter what is happening in the present skirmish, we must cling to the truth that the war has already been won. We dare not allow us to believe that there is any situation in which God does not want us to be victorious – any situation in which He would deliberately allow our defeat. To do otherwise is to give the enemy ground that he will most assuredly take.

Called to Battle Spiritual Warfare Seminar
Find it at http://christianspiritualwarfaregtk.com

Free e-course: Put on the Armor of God
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This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.

There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5)in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9)and Whom God the Father has exalted to the highest place, giving Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

“In the name of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth of England.” Would we use those words as easily? The idea seems almost laughable! Proclamations in the name of the Queen can only be made by those who have been given authority by her. Even then, the thing they are proclaiming has to be something that the Queen has actually decreed. No-one would even think of declaring in the Queen’s name something that was purely out of their own wishes and desires – and if they did think of it, and carried that thought into action, they could expect to face at best a lengthy jail term. On the other hand, when someone who has been authorized by the Queen makes in her name a proclamation that she has decreed, then that proclamation has authority to see that thing carried out, or to enforce penalties if it is not.

This applies even at a more mundane level. If mother tells Johnny, “Go tell Bobby I said to come in from play now,” then when Johnny goes to deliver the message it is the same as if Mother were speaking to Bobby personally. There is no use Bobby saying, “But it was only Johnny who told me!” Johnny went in Mother’s name, and therefore with her authority. However, if Johnny takes it upon himself to tell Bobby, “Mother said you are to give my your baseball bat,” it’s a totally different story. Mother said no such thing, and Johnny had no right to attach her name to his wishes. Not only does his demand not carry Mother’s authority, it is also likely to earn Johnny some strong discipline.

Jesus told His disciples, and through them, us: “Whatsoever you ask the Father in My Name, He will give it to you.” Many of us have taken that as meaning that we can ask for anything we please, and as long as we tack “in Jesus’ Name” on the end, those words will be the magic wand that make God give us what we want.

We’ve got it back to front! The person issuing a decree in the name of Queen Elizabeth must first go into her presence and hear what it is she wants, and how it is to be said. If the decree is to carry the Queen’s authority, then it must be exactly what she wants. Johnny must carry to Bobby his mother’s wishes, not his own.

If this is true of any human situation where we speak in the name and authority of another, why can we not see that it is also true when we dare to speak in the greatest Name and the highest authority, that of the Lord Jesus Christ? His Name is not a magic wand to materialize our wishes. His Name is His authority, and His authority is based on His will.

Before we tack His Name on to the end of our prayers, we need to come into His presence. We need to bring our situations, our needs, our desires to Him, and hear from His throne what He wants to do about them. Then, confident that we are declaring the will of the Lord, we can add “in Jesus’ Name” to our prayers and decrees, knowing that indeed they are backed by all the authority of heaven.

If we don’t, we risk not only not having the authority of heaven, but actually being in defiance of God. Remember the commandment that says, “Do not take the Name of the Lord in vain”? We have taken this to refer to blasphemy, but surely using the Name of Jesus to back decrees that are not His but ours qualifies as using His Name “in vain.”

Of course, there are those who go to the opposite extreme. Rather than bring their own desires and declare them to be authorized by Jesus, they pray “if it be Thy will” prayers – and still tag “in Jesus’ Name” on the end of them! “If it be Thy will” prayers are meaningless. They are basically a way of washing our hands of the situation and saying, “God, do whatever You want.” They are an abdication of our responsibility to find God’s will in the situation and pray accordingly.

Some people base this kind of praying on Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Not My will but Yours.” Jesus, however, was not saying, “I can’t be bothered finding Your will so just do whatever You please.” He knew the will of the Father: it was that Jesus go to the Cross. Rather than avoiding that will, Jesus embraced it. He said in effect, “Everything in My human will wants to avoid this, but I know that this is Your will, Father, so I submit My human will to Your will. I choose what You want, not what I want.”

Jesus wants us to pray in His Name. He has given us authority to pray in His Name. But our authority is always a derived authority. To speak effectively in His Name, we have to be speaking the things that He wants. We have to take the time to hear His heart and will in the matter. When we do, we will find ourselves speaking with an authority that heaven will not resist – and that hell can not resist.

Called to Battle Spiritual Warfare Seminar
Find it at http://christianspiritualwarfaregtk.com

Free e-course: Put on the Armor of God
Find it at http://christianspiritualwarfaregtk.com/armorofgod

This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.

There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5)in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form (Colossians 2:9)and Whom God the Father has exalted to the highest place, giving Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)