God Is Not Dysfunctional – START HERE

God is not dysfunctional, but sometimes the way we pray or the way we view our situations make it look like we think He is.
But I get it. If you don’t really understand God’s character or what belongs to you, it can be easy to fall into confusion. I hope these words will help you find your way out.

Clarity

It’s so much harder to gain clarity when you’re in the middle of a situation. Clarity is something to be cultivated ahead of time. It’s like a preparation sort of thing. It’s a tool that provides you with an advantage. Sometimes clarity is a weapon.

Sometimes clarity is a weapon. Click To Tweet

Let’s say you receive a negative report from the doctor. That’s just one example. We could switch the narrative to be your career or the economy or something else that would invite a spark of internal fear.
Rule to live by: Anything that attempts to introduce fear is an unwelcome guest and should be treated like an enemy; like an intruder.
Period.

For me, it’s sickness. That’s the thing that seems to try to bring me fear. Sickness has always been something I’ve stood against; both mental and physical. If I wake up with a symptom I don’t automatically think to myself, “I wonder what I have” or “Oh, I’m probably getting whatever-it-is-that’s-going-around.” It’s taken a lot of mental retraining, but if I went to sleep one way (a better way) and then woke up in a lesser state of being, possibly racked with pain or with other signs of something amiss inside my body, I immediately think of this symptom as a sign that I need a solution and I start looking for it.
Note: The solution could be physical or it could be spiritual.

Example: Woke up with an extreme headache. Remembered that I only drank one bottle of water the day before and had been working in the yard. Might be experiencing early stages of dehydration. Drink water immediately and increase water intake for rest of day.

Makes sense. Not that drastic or weird, right?

But what if a resolution isn’t that obvious? What if you’re unaware of the cause? Let’s say a lump pops up on your neck tomorrow. There could be many reasons for this symptom, so what do you do?
What’s the next step?

Let’s say you don’t know, so you make a doctor’s appointment. Not bad. Not wrong.
You want to know what’s going on, so you do the next thing you know.
Fast forward to the appointment. The doctor looks at the lump, asks some questions, retraces your medical history, and sends a sample for a biopsy.
“We’ll know more next week.”
And then you leave.

So, tell me. Where is your clarity at a time like this?
What do you believe?
How do you access peace while you’re waiting?
What stories are you telling yourself? How do you keep your mind from taking over and playing movies of a negative diagnosis?

Uncertain times. Periods of waiting. Negative news. These are all things that can pull us into a black hole of doubt and make us realize how vulnerable and frail we actually can be at times.
Hope can feel elusive, like it’s dangling on a string just out of reach.
That’s why we need true clarity.
Note: When I talk about clarity, I’m talking about the ability to see past the surface; to have an open vision of things as they really are.

During times that seem uncertain, it’s important to know that you CAN’T access peace from within the situation. By remaining in the situation you’ll end up Googling all the possible outcomes, crying, panicking, or pacing the floor. You may take a deep breath or two, call a positive friend for encouragement or focus on something else for a while but that “potential negative outcome” will still be looming. It will be sitting there waiting for your focus and your energy to return to it.
It’s terrible.
I’ve been there hundreds of time with different situations and it can literally feel like torment.

Come Up Higher

If we can’t find peace from within the situation, what are we supposed to do?
There is always clarity when you’re looking from higher ground.
Fun fact. When it rains, most birds head for shelter. The eagle is the only bird which, in order to avoid the rain, will fly above the cloud.
I have found that the only way to find peace in the middle of a storm is to get above it.

Isaiah 40:31 gives us a clue to this kind of clarity. “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles.”

In order to get to that kind of clarity, it’s important to be cultivating it before the symptom, the report or the uncertainty introduces itself. I mean, that’s the best way anyway. Sure, we can flail around for a while and get ahold of clarity even while we are wrestling against fear, but it’s so much easier if we have it in the first place.

What Does Clarity Look Like?

Clarity comes from understanding how to see our situation, and the only way we can do this, truly, is by knowing who we are and what belongs to us as believers.

First, we have to know that the sickness, the report, the fear, the “insert-your-negative-situation-here” did not come from God.
God is good.
He is our Father.
There are hundreds of Scriptures that tell us about how He delights in our prosperity, our health and our well being.
Every good and perfect gift is from above. – James 1:17
Fear not little flock. It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. – Luke 12:32
God takes pleasure in the prosperity of his children. – Psalm 35:27

A big part of having clarity is knowing what is yours and knowing the promises of God that you can stand on and believe for.
Clarity is the opposite of confusion and if you’re confused about what God wants out of a certain situation; like if you believe He’s trying to teach you something through poverty, lack or sickness, you might be tempted to just say, “Well, I have this lump on my neck so I guess it must be what I’m supposed to have, so let me know how to deal with it and what You want to show me through it, Lord.”

God is Not Dysfunctional

No.
That’s not how it works.
God is not dysfunctional.
God sent His Son Jesus to pay a huge price to forever deal with sin, sickness and everything that is part of the curse.
“Then why are people still sick? Why are people still in poverty? Why is there so much fear and confusion everywhere?”
Because we live in a world that’s full of a thousand different agendas and voices, and the only way to have what is ours is to protect it.
I mean, that makes sense, doesn’t it?
If you had termites in your house you would go to work to protect your house, wouldn’t you?
The house is yours. It belongs to you, right?
But you still have to upkeep it, protect it from harm, and make sure that you chase out the intruders that come to ruin it, right?
Well that’s your job in the kingdom of God and with your life as well.
If you’re a believer in Jesus, the Bible says your house is built upon a rock. You have a sure foundation.
But you still have to stand your ground and protect what is yours.
If you wouldn’t say, “Wow. My house has termites. I guess they’re supposed to be there” then why would you accept something in the rest of your life that shouldn’t be there?
I believe it’s because we get a little bit stuck and unsure of what we believe or what belongs to us.

It’s your job to know

God is a good Father. God is not abusive. God is not dysfunctional.

He is not going to send something to us that He’s already sent His Son to set us free from.
Obviously, if God sent Jesus to rescue us from sickness, He views sickness as an enemy and part of the curse.

Sickness? Not from God.
Poverty? Not from God.
Anxiety or fear? Not from God.
We have promises in the Word of God that we can stand on when these things come our way.

Hope doesn’t have to feel like it’s dangling on a string.
We don’t have to struggle through uncertainty; not ever.
With clarity comes certainty. With certainty comes boldness.
(Check out my article called God Doesn’t Say No To Your Prayers for more on understanding God.)

When we know who we are and what belongs to us (health, prosperity, peace) we are above the storm.
Yes, we can go and get checked out by the doctor, but we can also say (preferably out loud), “I thank You, God that You made healing available to us through Jesus Christ. I receive Your healing for my body and I thank You that my body has to line up with Your Word and manifest healing.”

When my grandson, who is 4, prays for me, he lays his hands on me and says, “Nana, your headache is healed. Thank You, Jesus.” and that’s that. He has clarity.
Notice he doesn’t say, “God please heal Nana.”
He knows what is his.
There is a subtle but vital difference between declaring what is ALREADY ours and ASKING God to do something.
Yes, right now, he knows it because he believes what I tell him. But soon, when he starts to open up the Bible for himself, he will find these promises. He will learn about the covenant he has with his Creator.
And we can learn at any time.

That’s the purpose of this entire website.
To help you know.

Below are some truths, according to Scripture, of what Jesus did for us and what our authority is:

What Do I Have A Right To?

I’m going to make a super long story as short as possible so that you can understand the foundation.

1. God made man and woman (Adam and Eve) and gave them authority over the earth. He actually said, “Be fruitful and multiply and have dominion.” Dominion means, you are the lord or king over this thing I just gave you. In this case, it was the earth. So, here they are, rulers over the earth. Man has authority.

2. Plot twist. Adam and Eve gave their authority away to Satan when he tricks them in the garden. Dang it. Now everything is messy because although God has authority over EVERYTHING (like the universe and the spiritual realm), Satan has authority over the earth. Kind of like Federal Law and State Law. (Because God carved out a portion of authority to Adam and Eve and they promptly gave it away.)

3. Story continues. God (of course) has a plan and sends Jesus as the Sacrifice to buy everything back that was lost through Adam. It takes a long time for this to happen —think, all of the Old Testament. After Jesus dies and is resurrected, authority is back in our court. Yay!
Jesus said, “All authority has been given to Me.” – Matthew 28:18
Jesus bought it back and gave it all to us.

What Kind of Authority?

Good question.
Jesus gave us authority over “all the works of the devil.” (Luke 10:19)
So, basically bad, unwelcome things. Things that hurt us, trap us, ensnare us or oppress us.

• SICKNESS: He gave us authority over all sickness and disease. (1 Peter 2:24)
• POVERTY: He gave us authority over poverty and lack. Poverty keeps us weak and ineffective for the kingdom and in our lives in general. The book of Proverbs is filled with truths about poverty being a thief. Jesus came and squashed poverty. Philippians 4:19 says, “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus.”
  It’s not bad to have money. Money is a tool.
• OPPRESSION: He gives us authority over any type of spiritual oppression. (Acts 10:38) The word oppression in Acts 10:38 means “to have rule over.” Have you ever been involved in something you can’t get out of? Lust, pornography, binge eating, drug addiction, alcoholism, stealing, lying, gossiping. All of those things are directly connected to oppression. Anything you repeatedly do, that you know you shouldn’t, and you feel a lack of control to be able to stop on your own…that’s oppression and we have the authority and the right to be free. Jesus already paid the price for it.

When any of the things I’ve listed above makes an appearance in your life, you are to treat it like an intruder. Scripture tells you to “make no place for the devil.” (Ephesians 4:27). That means, don’t open the door. Don’t let him in. Don’t submit to the symptoms and say, “Oh, I guess I have to deal with this anxiety, fibromyalgia, eczema (fill in the blank with your favorite diagnosis), forever now.”
No.
Whether you are experiencing symptoms of sickness in your body or feeling so full of lust that you’re about to open Pornhub, the Solution is the same.
Because of the finished work of Jesus on the cross, you get to say, “I thank you, God that Jesus paid the price for this sickness, or for these oppressive thoughts, and I take authority over this situation right now, in Jesus name. I speak to my body and tell it to manifest healing, or I speak to my mind and call it whole and righteous.”

You are not a pawn in God’s big chess game of life.
You have been given a purpose and authority over everything that is not a blessing.
You do not have to yield to the things Jesus paid to set you free from!
That’s good news!

But Wait…Isn’t God Sovereign?

The notion that God ultimately controls every thing and every decision breeds passivity and confusion.
I will write a separate post about this topic, but the short answer is this: Yes, God is sovereign. He is the first and last and He is the creator of all things. No one has more authority or power. But He also set up laws and handed out authority to us.
He is not going to go against this.
The Bible says “His Word will not return void” which means, God doesn’t say something and then change His mind.

What’s Our Job Here?

So, if there’s something for us to do, what is it? What do we have to do to be an active participant in this process?
We have to BELIEVE that Jesus did what He said He did.
We have to BELIEVE the promises of God are true and available to us.
By believing it’s a finished work and available to us, we can pray with confidence and actively resist everything that shows up in our life that isn’t from God.
“Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil and he will flee.” -James 4:7

Stop waiting for God to do something He has already done.
This act, in itself, breeds confusion.

Example: God paid the price for sickness through His own Son, Jesus Christ.
“By His stripes, we WERE healed.” —Isaiah 53:5
That’s past tense.
It is finished.
So, stop asking God to heal you.
He already did.
Why do we ignore the power that is in the precious blood of Jesus as if God is going to do “something else” to heal us?
The Word tells us to take that healing (that is ALREADY yours) and go make it happen.
Receive it in faith.
“Lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.” —Mark 16:17
Healing is already a done deal. We just need to believe it and receive it and appropriate it instead of asking God to heal us!
It’s yours. It’s mine. Take it and apply it!

I hope this message has been freeing and full of good news for you.
It’s just a bit of hope for you to get you curious about what is rightfully yours.
I hope you use this information to dig in and discover how much junk you might be letting in your life that you don’t have to.

I actually wrote this article because these lyrics to a Dashboard Confessional song came to me the other day.
The song is called Vindicated and the beginning always reminded me of what it feels like to not understand God, not know what you believe and to be painfully unsure of what your rights are…or if you even have any.
I have a past that is sprinkled with places of spiritual bankruptcy and sin.
One of the main reasons for this is because I allowed myself to become uncertain of who I was and what my rights as a child of God were.
We cannot afford such ignorance.

—xo I love you. God loves you more.

“Hope dangles on a string
Like slow-spinning redemption
Winding in and winding out
The shine of it has caught my eye
And roped me in
So mesmerizing so hypnotizing
I am captivated.”