Can God Handle C-C-C-Cancer?
You've got to recognize that God has given you power over any
situation.
A lot of people can walk in faith if they have a cold or a
cough, but if it's cancer,
that's different. But there is no difference
in the sight of God. If they tell you that
you are going to die of
cancer, you can make a choice not to let your heart be
troubled.
I could give testimony after testimony after testimony of people who
have done
this.
Any situation that you find yourself in, I guarantee I
can find somebody who has
faced the same situation and has come
through it with flying colors.
And if you don't know somebody, you can
go to God's Word and can find someone
in a situation that was equal to
or worse than yours, and yet they came through.
If you're depressed, if you're discouraged, no matter what's
happening to you —
and I make that statement without any reservations —
it's because you've chosen
to submit to those feelings. You've made the
wrong choices.
No Condemnation
Now some people will think, "Well, that condemns me." But it
shouldn't. It should convict you and encourage you at the same time
because if you're the one who made the wrong choices, you can change
everything by making the right choices.
This doesn't condemn me. It blesses me because if some things are
just too big for God, I'm in bad shape. All I can do is learn to roll
with the punches, have people show pity for me, and feel sorry for
myself. But if God has an answer, and if the only reason I'm
experiencing the difficulty is because I made wrong choices, that
blesses me — because I can change me. I can't change God, but I can
change me.
When you ask some people how they are, they immediately begin to
tell you every bad thing that has happened to them — "I don't feel so
good and the kids are sick and my rent's late" and on and on. What they
are doing is justifying their feelings. They actually get some kind of
glory out of telling you how bad they feel. A person like that is never
going to break out until they make a choice that they're going to be
different.
Let the Weak Say...
Instead of being a weakling, you can choose to be strong in the
Lord. Joel 3:10 says, "Let the weak say, I am strong." You can choose
victory. You can identify with victory. Isaiah 54:17 says, "No weapon
that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall
rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage
of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the
LORD." If that's the truth, then how can we justify being defeated, or
justify the fear we feel? We cannot justify it.
The answer is to recognize that we've made a wrong choice. The
answer is to repent and to begin saying that it's not the problem, it's
not these people, it's not that circumstance, which is causing all of my
problems. That's the "Adam syndrome," where Adam said it's that woman
that God gave him. He pushed the blame off on Eve, then tried to put it
on God (Gen. 3:12).
Some people do the same thing. "Well, it's the flu season," they
say. "The bug's going around." In other words, it's that bug's fault
instead of your fault for making a wrong choice. Or, to put it another
way, it's God — "God, why have you allowed this thing?"
God did not allow the problems in your life. The bug is not your
problem. Other people are not your problem. Your mate isn't your
problem. The people at work aren't your problem. The economy is
not your problem. You are your problem.
I was teaching on this one Sunday in church. When I said "There is
no justification for your depression," a woman sitting behind one of the
pastors said "Unless you have a chemical imbalance." Some people try to
push it off on chemical imbalances in the body. That's not your problem
either.
If you have a chemical imbalance, then get healed! There is no
justification for being less than what God told us to be. It is my
opinion that even those who really do have a chemical imbalance have
thrown that balance off through wrong thinking.
Again, there is no condemnation in this. God loves you. You can go
to be with the Lord depressed, defeated, and discouraged if you want to.
God still loves you. He is not condemning you — and neither
am I.
I'm saying that if you want victory, it's available. But it starts
with you making a choice. It starts with you recognizing that no weapon
formed against you can prosper, unless you choose to let it prosper (Is.
54:17).
God gave you the choice over life and death. If you are experiencing
death instead of life, it's because you made a wrong choice. God will
not make the choice for you. Satan cannot make the choice for you. If
you aren't healthy, happy, and prospering, it's because you've made
wrong choices.
Problems or Choices — Take Your Pick
Like any ministry, we've had financial problems from time to time.
But I live by the same thing I'm teaching you. I don't think I brought
these problems on specifically by what I did, but as I grow older in the
Lord and get wiser, I'm sure I'll make better decisions that will avoid
many of these problems.
However, I've made some critical choices, and one thing I've chosen
is not to let my heart be troubled. People on my staff have come to me
saying, "You must not have gotten the full picture — you don't
understand how bad this is," because it hasn't bothered
me.
But I understand exactly how bad it is.
If you begin to walk in these principles and choose not to let your
heart be troubled, I guarantee you it's going to upset people. People
will think you're a "brick short of a load." Your elevator doesn't go
all the way to the top. You're one donut short of a dozen.
They'll think something is wrong with you because you aren't acting
normal.
But praise God, we aren't supposed to be normal! God made us to be a supernatural people.
Seek the Lord — or Get Ready!
When a crisis hits, you need to be prepared. You need to have your
heart ready. I've been meditating on a scripture lately in 2 Chronicles
12. This is the story of King Rehoboam, Solomon's son. He started out
good. He started seeking God, but he turned out bad and actually got
into idolatry. It says, "And he did evil, because he prepared not his
heart to seek the LORD" (verse 14).
Rehoboam didn't want to do evil. He started out doing the right
thing, but he gravitated toward evil because he didn't prepare his heart
to seek the Lord. He didn't commit himself. He had a desire to do it,
but his heart was on other things. It wasn't single
upon the Lord.
When you come into a crisis situation, if you haven't chosen to seek
the Lord, if you haven't already made some decisions, your heart is
going to gravitate toward fear. It's going to gravitate toward
depression, toward negativism, toward defeat. You've got to commit
yourself. You've got to fix your heart so that no matter what the devil
does, you're going to walk in victory. You're going to keep your eyes on
the Lord.
Your attitude should be, "Satan, you can't do enough to keep me from
thinking on the Lord!" If you haven't made that commitment, you're a
problem waiting to happen — and it's going to come.
The Great Melting Pot — Vietnam
When I went through the service, I only heard one good thing from a
chaplain the whole time I was there. Most of the chaplains I had weren't
born again. The day we got our orders to go to Vietnam, grown men began
to cry. It was a tragic situation.
This chaplain came in to console everybody. He said that the Army
and its experiences, including Vietnam, was a fire. It will melt you.
But you'll fit into whatever mold you've picked for yourself. That was a
true statement.
Because I had already set my heart on the Lord, I was determined
that I was going to go all the way for God. All the pressures, all the
horror I went through, drove me that much more to the Lord. When I came
out of Vietnam, I was stronger than horseradish! I was walking with the
Lord, the joy of the Lord was in my heart, and I was a thousand miles
further in my Christian walk.
A lot of other soldiers didn't have that experience. There were many
who weren't necessarily evil. They probably had never done anything bad
to speak of back in the States. But put under that
kind of pressure, with no restraints upon them, with everybody else
doing it, these good, moral people, these churchgoers, these upstanding
citizens, went the other route.
One after another, I saw them go in to prostitutes, get drunk, take
dope, and do every other terrible thing. It was because their hearts
weren't already fixed. They hadn't prepared them.
Swaying Like the Psalms
In Psalm 42, the writer is talking about all his problems. He says
that as the deer pants after the water brook, so his soul pants after
God (verse 1). He says that he desires only God, and the reason he
desires God is that things aren't going well for him. In verse 5, he
says, "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in
me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his
countenance."
In other words, right in the middle of his complaint, he says, "Why
am I discouraged, why is my soul cast down? I can hope in God. I've got a
covenant with God. He's on my side. Why should I be discouraged?"
Then he goes back to complaining and ends the chapter with "Why art
thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope
thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my
countenance, and my God."
In chapter 43, he complains again. Finally, in verse 5, he says,
"Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within
me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my
countenance, and my God."
Here is the writer of these psalms talking about all the
frustrations that are coming his way, but he had to constantly remind
himself, "Why am I discouraged?" You need to ask yourself that same
question.
Why are we discouraged like people who don't have a God? How could
we ever go back to the level of discouragement and despair we had before
we were born again, after God has done so many great things for us?
We need to recognize that it's not God who doesn't have power. It's not God who is not faithful. We are the problem.
We've missed it in the very first thing Jesus commanded His
disciples to do — we've let our heart be troubled, and we feel justified
in doing it. Then we wonder why we aren't prospering, why we're sick,
why we're depressed. We haven't even chosen life. We've chosen death.
David Humbles Himself
In 1 Samuel 30, David had been anointed to be king thirteen years
before the text was written. For thirteen years, David had prospered.
God had used him to kill Goliath. The entire land of Israel was seeking
after him — they were crying that David had killed tens of thousands,
while Saul had killed only thousands.
David had the support of the entire nation. He had been anointed by God and called to be king.
Saul had lost the anointing of God. He was tormented by an evil
spirit. Saul was doing everything wrong, costing the children of Israel
much bondage and hardship because of his disobedience.
During this period, David had been anointed to be king, but instead
of doing anything to further his cause, David humbled himself. God
supernaturally delivered Saul into his hands. Saul went into a cave
where David and his men were hiding, to take a nap during the heat of
the day. David's men told him, "God has delivered him into your hands —
kill him!"
But David wouldn't do it. Rather, he submitted himself to Saul,
caused himself a lot of hardship, was driven out of his country, and had
to live among his enemies. Once, in a foreign land, his enemy said,
"This is the one they say is king over the land."
So to protect himself, David had to act like a crazy man, letting
spit run off his beard and scratching on the walls like an animal.
The king said, "This man is crazy. How can he do me any damage?" Can
you imagine how David felt? He was probably tempted to say to himself,
"So you're the great man of faith, the one who has the anointing of God.
You're the one God has called to be king, and you're having to act
crazy just to save your life!"
David Was "Pitiless"
David had been through discouragement after discouragement while
running from Saul. He had 600 men who had come with him — all criminals,
convicts and murderers who had to flee Israel to save their lives. He
had the scum of the earth as his army.
Satan could have discouraged David in a big way.
Once, in the midst of it all, David and his men came back to his
town of Ziklag to find that the Amalekites had invaded his city, taken
away the women and the children, burned the houses, and carted
off everything valuable as spoil.
Think of it. For thirteen years, David had been faithful to God. He
hadn't done anything wrong, and yet adversity struck at him over and
over again.
When we've done something wrong, most of us think we deserve our
problems. We brought it on ourselves. But when we've done well and the
devil hits us broadside, most of us feel justified in griping,
complaining, and having a "pity party."
But that's just the opposite of what David did.
He could have felt justified in being depressed. In 1 Samuel 30:3-6,
it says "So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was
burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters,
were taken captives. Then David and the people that were
with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to
weep. And David's two wives were taken captives... And David was
greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the
soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his
daughters."
On top of losing his wives, children, and home, David was getting
ready to be stoned — by the very people he had been responsible for, the
people he had fed for five years, those he had faithfully taken care
of. They were going to stone him for something that wasn't his fault!
Most of us would have said, "That's the last straw. I quit. I'm
going to have a pity party." We would have felt justified in doing that.
But look at the rest of verse 6, "But David encouraged himself in
the Lord his God." If David chose to encourage himself in a situation
like that, we can choose to encourage ourselves no matter what comes
against us.
David chose to do it. And notice, it says he encouraged himself.
He didn't just say, "Lord, I'm asking you to send somebody to encourage me."
You need to recognize that God has given you authority over your own
heart. You can choose life or death. You can choose to be encouraged or
discouraged. You're the one who makes the choice. David chose to
encourage himself.
The first step — and nothing else can happen until this — is to
choose life. Nothing else will work until you do this. Nothing else will
work until you say with the psalmist, "Why am I discouraged? Why am I
cast down? God is on my side. I choose God. I choose life. I'm going to
come through this thing somehow or other."
Until you make that choice, no other choices can be made.
Three Men Make a Burning Choice
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego made the choice. In Daniel 3,
Nebuchadnezzar said in effect, "Okay, I'll give you one last chance —
bow or burn."
They said, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in
this matter" (verse 16). In other words, "You haven't intimidated us one
bit. We don't care. Our God is able to deliver us, and He will deliver
us, but if even He doesn't deliver us, we aren't going to serve your
God." Their hearts weren't troubled.
In Daniel 6, Daniel was thrown into the lion's den. There is no
account of him screaming or yelling as he was thrown in, clawing to get
out. His heart wasn't troubled. It was already fixed.
People who say "Well, I know I'm supposed to walk in love, but look
at what they did" will always be in a mess because Satan is constantly
going to send people across their paths to do something wrong. If you
say certain circumstances justify walking out of love, being
discouraged, being depressed, then you're going to be unloving,
depressed, and discouraged the rest of your life, because Satan will
always have someone or something to send your way.
Hanging on the cross, Jesus turned to the very people crucifying Him
and said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke
23:34). Stephen, in Acts 7:60, did the same thing. He said "Lord, lay
not this sin to their charge" when they were stoning
him to death. If they can do that, we can do that. The Lord has given us
that ability.
You can choose to love the very people who hate you. It doesn't
matter what has been done to you. It doesn't matter how you were brought
up. It doesn't matter how you've been abused. There is no justification
for being discouraged and depressed. There are reasons for it, but no
justification.
That's good news. That puts the responsibility on you. It may not
feel good, but if you'll think about it a little bit, it will feel
better. It will grow on you. After all, you can do something about
yourself.
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