There are a lot of people who seem to think God puts sickness on us to “teach us a lesson”. Or they say, “Well, God ALLOWS it, doesn’t He?”  That would be like a wife saying, “My house got broke into because my husband allowed it”.  No, there is a thief out there, and the crime needs to be laid upon the thief, not the homeowner.  Christ Jesus said in John 10:10, The thief cometh not but for to kill, and to steal, and to destroy; but I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.  Jesus made sure to tell us the difference between Himself and the devil.  And yet today, most Christians can’t tell the difference between the works of God, and the works of the devil.  And that’s how the devil likes it.

Sickness is NOT the work of God, and He is NOT teaching us a lesson with it.  Sickness is the work of the devil, and before sin entered the world, there was no sickness.  You need to KNOW WHO YOUR ENEMY IS and come against him.  God does not make His kids sick to teach them a lesson.  I’ve known this for 29 years, and I’ve been under severe affliction for over a year now.  I finally realized about three weeks ago that over time I had let religious people creep in and water down my faith and the authority God has given me.  What I’m saying is, I had let my guard down and allowed myself to become spiritually lazy, and it gave the devil opportunity to afflict me. And if it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone.

Then, suddenly “the light came on”.  I’m now taking a very aggressive stand against this affliction, and I’m driving the enemy out of my life again, day by day.  And I’m seeing great progress.  I won’t stop until I’ve fully regained what the devil has stolen from me.  After all, I can’t blame God, because I’M the one who allowed the thief to come in because I got careless in standing guard over my temple.  I haven’t asked for people to pray for me because God expects ME to overcome the work of the devil, not for everyone else to do it for me.

Once you are a child of God, He gives YOU authority over your temple, per Luke 10:19, which says,  Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.  But if you don’t USE that authority, it doesn’t help you at all.  You’re still easy pickings for the devil.  We have a TREMENDOUS amount of authority given to us, but God won’t do it for us.  We are to RISE UP against our enemy the devil, and overcome him, in whatever way he comes against us.

Remembering John 10:10, the devil wants us to identify what HE is doing to us and blame it on God, so he can continue going about as stealing you blind, while all the time, God gets the bad reputation.

It is written in 1 Peter 5:6-11,

 6  Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

 7  Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

 8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

 9  Whom RESIST stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

 10  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

 11  To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

            Verse 9 tells us to RESIST the devil.  Why?  Because the devil is out to destroy you!  And he WILL, too, if you let him with the attitude that God is allowing it to happen to you.  No, God isn’t allowing it, YOU ARE ALLOWING IT!!  I know you don’t want to hear that, but that’s the truth.  I didn’t want to hear it either, but when I heard it, instantly I got revelation and started doing something about it!

God equipped His kids with the Holy Spirit, to know the difference between the works of God, and the works of the devil.  That shouldn’t be so hard for us to do; Jesus went about HEALING the sick, not MAKING them sick. Jesus went about doing GOOD, not doing bad.  If you think God is making you sick to teach you a lesson, how will you ever know if you’ve “learned your lesson” that “GOD” is trying to teach you?

As a pastor, my job is to come alongside babies in Christ and teach them how to be OVERCOMERS.  To the mature in Christ, my job is to come alongside and say, “OK, the devil has knocked you down. Now remember who you are in Christ Jesus, and rise up and knock the devil’s block off!  Your job is to OVERCOME the devil every time he sticks his nose into your business.  It isn’t everyone else’s job to pray for you and carry you and do your overcoming for you.  It’s YOUR job to overcome! YOU CAN DO THIS!!

It is written in Revelation 21:6-8,

 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

 7  He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 

 8  But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

            So there you have it: God put US in charge here on earth to overcome all the works of the devil!  You CAN do it!  God equipped us with everything we need to get the job done!  Stop letting the devil convince you that God is doing bad stuff to you.  God is your loving Father, your deliverer, not the one afflicting you!  Christ Jesus said, If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father.  Look at what Christ Jesus did, and you should have no more problem identifying who is the source of your problems!  Amen?