Every Evil Work
O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
Psalm 34:8
Did you know that when you trust in God, there’s a blessing that comes upon you? It’s better to rely on Him instead of trusting in yourself because when you do, you’re blessed!
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
Isaiah 26:3
Peace is one of the blessings that come through trusting in God, yet most Christians struggle with peace. They’re stressed out and worried. Do you know why? They aren’t trusting in the Lord. They’re afraid He won’t come through. They feel like they’ve failed and deserve whatever is happening to them—that God is holding sin against them. These things add up and compound upon each other.
You need to understand that you are forgiven of all sin. God is not holding anything against you, so He’ll certainly do whatever else you need. If God forgave you of your sins, which is the greatest miracle that could ever happen, how could you believe that He won’t heal you? If He loved you enough to forgive you of your sins, then He loves you enough to heal your body. If you would just trust Him enough to understand that your sins are forgiven, then your body would be healed. You’d be able to recover from this illness or infirmity. He’d keep you in perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3)!
Your Children’s Peace
The children of the righteous will never go hungry. Great shall be their peace. They shall be mighty and blessed.
I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.
Psalm 37:25-26
And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.
Isaiah 54:13-14
Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed.
Psalm 112:1-2
He will bless them that fear the Lord, both small and great. The Lord shall increase you more and more, you and your children. Ye are blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth.
Psalm 115:13-15
God will increase both you and your children. All these verses are about your children being blessed. Now, this doesn’t rule out the fact that they have a choice of their own to make, to trust God or not. This doesn’t mean that they will automatically be forced to do the right thing, but your children will be blessed.
Unity
When our kids became teenagers, it seemed as if aliens had abducted them and sucked their brains out. Raising kids is harder than raising the dead. I know, because I’ve had to do both with our family. Raising my son from the dead was a piece of cake compared to raising him to be an adult. He didn’t fight, resist, or anything when he was dead.
Our kids have done some weird things, but because Jamie and I love God, are seeking Him, and are praying for our children, our kids have been blessed. With the choices they were making, things could have gone much, much worse. Our kids have escaped problems over and over again because our seed is blessed. That’s one of the blessings that come upon us!
Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
Psalm 40:4
You’re blessed if you make the Lord your trust.
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments. As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.
Psalm 133:1-3
Aaron was the high priest, and he was anointed with oil, which symbolizes the Holy Spirit. The power and anointing of the Holy Spirit were dumped on his head and ran down on his beard and through his garments. It’s the holy anointing oil, the power of the Holy Spirit.
What occasioned this blessing? On whom did God command this blessing? On those who dwell together in unity. These verses say that there is a blessing that comes when people are in unity that won’t manifest any other way.
“We Trusted Him”
Strife is an inroad of Satan!
For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
James 3:16
Did you see that? Every evil work! Some people think, Well, I’m not giving place to the devil, yet they’re mad, in strife, and bitter.
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
1 Samuel 15:23
Perhaps you know better than to allow a Ouija board in your house, and you wouldn’t dare participate in a séance. But if you’re self-willed and stubborn, those are the same as the sins of witchcraft and idolatry. Maybe you were raised to think that living in strife is just the way it has to be. That’s not true. Where envying and strife is, so is confusion and every evil work (James 3:16).
Remember that church where the pastor received a revelation of John 14:12 and they saw a man raised from the dead on Sunday morning? This same church had been really struggling with discouragement earlier that week. A certain family was trying to believe for their son to be healed. He was in a coma, and the whole church got involved with fasting and praying for him. Despite what they did, the boy died, and the funeral took place the week before I got there. They were really struggling.
When I arrived, the pastor told me what had happened and I visited with the parents of the boy who had died. They were saying, “We just can’t understand why this happened. We believed God. We trusted Him, doing everything we knew to do, and yet our son died.”
Playing Russian Roulette
I didn’t know what to tell these parents except, “Look, it’s not God who failed. He didn’t do this. I don’t know where the problem is, but it’s not God. He didn’t fail you.” I didn’t know this couple very well, so I went out to eat with them every single day. By the end of that time, I discovered that there had been a lot of strife in that home. The father and mother were talking about divorce. The day the boy’s accident happened, the boy and his mother had gotten into a fight.
She had said, “I hate you! Get out of this house and don’t ever come back!” The young man left the home, went to school, and broke the school’s rules. He left during lunch and went over to a friend’s house. They were playing Russian roulette with a gun. This young man held the gun to his head and pulled the trigger. That was the reason he was in a coma. He shot himself in the head. It wasn’t suicide, but it was stupid. His parents just couldn’t understand how it happened. It happened because of all the strife in the home. There’s a reason that things happen. We don’t always know the reason, but it’s never God who fails.
However, God commands a blessing where there is unity (Psalm 133).
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
Acts 2:1-2
When the believers were all together in unity, the power of the Holy Spirit fell. Unfortunately, the body of Christ is so divided today. We’re separated from and angry with each other. There are Baptists and Methodists, Catholics and Pentecostals, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and charismatics—and nobody will fellowship with anybody who’s different than they are. Often, there’s disunity even in a single local church. We have all this strife, yet we wonder why we’re struggling.
The Only Reason
For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
James 3:16
This verse says there is “every evil work.” Not some, but every. You just turn Satan loose when you are angry. You might say, “But Andrew, I just need to get it off my chest.” No, you just need to repent and get over it.
Only by pride cometh contention.
Proverbs 13:10
Pride is the only reason for this strife. It’s not your personality type. It’s not what other people do to you. It’s what is inside of you—your pride, your selfishness—that makes you angry. Although God commands His blessing on unity, it’s not even a goal for most people.
If you struggle with this, I encourage you to get a hold of my teachings entitled Self-Centeredness: The Source of All Grief and Anger Management. They’ll help you!
Many folks have someone they hate. They’re mad and they just don’t care. They don’t want to get over it. They think that they’re hurting this other person by harboring unforgiveness. No, they’re hurting themselves.
Change the Hearts
When you hate someone and live in unforgiveness, it’s as if you’re drinking poison and thinking, That’ll sure teach them! No, drinking poison hurts you. It isn’t going to hurt them. Having unforgiveness toward somebody isn’t hurting them; it’s hurting you. It destroys you. Satan uses that as an inroad into your life. It stops the blessing of God. You need to forgive and start walking in love.
We as the church need to be in unity. There are some things that just aren’t going to happen in the body of Christ until we get into unity. Some things just cannot be done on an individual basis.
I and several other ministers and pastors visited with Oral Roberts in his home just a couple of months before he died. One of the pastors asked him, “Oral, how can we turn our nation back to God?” Oral Roberts then said one of the wisest things I’ve ever heard: “You can’t turn the nation back to God. Nobody can do that. One person can’t turn a nation to God. All you can do is what the Lord tells you to do. Then if other people do what He tells them to do, God can knit these things together and turn a nation. But you can’t do that. Don’t try to take that responsibility on yourself.” Profound!
You can’t do some things by yourself. America isn’t going to turn back to God because of one person. We could elect to the White House the godliest individual there is—someone who is totally committed to the Lord and makes every decision based on His Word. Do you know what would happen? There would be civil war. America would destroy itself because we have lost the battle out amongst the people.
Many Americans now don’t care about morality. They hate God and everything moral. If we put somebody in as president and started enforcing morals, there would be a revolution in this country. It’s not one person in the White House who’s going to turn anything around. We must reach our fellow countrymen. We have to change the hearts of people. American voters elect people into office who reflect their morals.
Government Is a Reflection
John Adams, the first vice president and the second president of the United States, basically said that democracy is totally unfit or unsuited for anybody but a moral people. If America ever ceases to be moral, democracy will destroy us. That’s what we see happening today. America has ceased to be moral. We are ungodly. Our culture is embracing and promoting ungodly things.
Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.
Proverbs 14:34
People can’t just put one person in government and expect that to change a nation. The hearts of individual people must be changed. If a revival occurred among the people of a country, the government of that country would change as a byproduct. Right now, the American government is a reflection of American culture. If you’re an American, then you ought to exercise your right to vote because it’s irresponsible not to, and when you do, be sure to vote according to godliness, not outward appearance. Compared to righteousness, things like good looks, gender, and color just aren’t important.
Each person must do their own part. I’m doing what the Lord is telling me to do. Although I’m trying to influence as many people as I can, I can’t turn this nation to God by myself. But if I do what I’m supposed to do, and if you do what God is leading you to do, and if every other Christian goes out as salt and light and does what the Lord wants them to do, this nation could turn back to God (Matthew 5:13-16). But it’ll have to be through unity. We must quit fighting each other and come into unity. That’s where the Lord commands the blessing.
There is a God-given blessing on unity and right now, we aren’t seeing it. Our society is more fragmented than we’ve probably ever been.