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by Frederick Hoehn, copyright 2013, all rights reserved. Have you heard the expression, "Bad things happen to good people?" I don't buy that expression. I don't go along with that. I don't know who said that, but someone doesn't know what they're talking about. In fact, talking like that can actually cause bad things to happen. God made us in his image. God speaks things into existence. So people also have some power to speak things into existence. If you go around saying "bad things will happen," you'll have bad things happen. Let's look at an example of something bad that happened. Joseph was the favored son of his father Jacob, and was the son of Jacob's old age. Jacob gave Joseph a coat of many colors. Joseph told about his dreams that God had given him. (book of Genesis) Joseph's brothers hated him and sold him as a slave to Ishmeelites, who sold him into Egypt. The brothers tried to make Jacob think Joseph had been killed by a wild animal. Joseph did a good job for his master in Egypt, but was falsely accused of desires against his master's wife. So, Joseph went to prison in Egypt. And yet, Joseph had done nothing wrong. So, is this the time to say, "Well, bad things happen to good people?" No it is not. Joseph was a God-fearing man. He had put his faith in God. God had let some things happen to Joseph for a purpose. In the dreams God had given Joseph, Joseph was in a position of authority. Joseph didn't doubt that God would promote him. And Joseph wasn't disappointed. He was called on to interpret Pharaoh's dreams, which Joseph did, and then Pharaoh promoted Joseph to second in command of Egypt. He went from bottom of the barrel to top of the heap. When seven years of famine came, Joseph and Egypt were ready, and Joseph nourished his people, the Israelites, when they moved to Egypt. So, this is not bad things happen to good people. This is God providing for his people with a savior. In this case, Joseph. There is a similar saying, and this saying is correct, "Time and chance happens to them all." (Eccl 9:11) There have been things that didn't go the way I had hoped they would go. Shall we then say, "Bad things happen to good people?" No, let's say instead, "Time and chance happens to everyone," and "the Lord will bring me through and promote me, I say by faith." "The Lord will perfect that which concerns me." (Psa 138:8) "He that has begun a good work in me will perform it..." (Phil 1:6) "I'll hold tightly to what I've been saying..." (Heb 4:14) I do not accept the bad things that have come my way from Satan and his demons. I reject all of that in Jesus' name, and my God will turn it around so that it's all beneficial to me, and not an inconvenience, I say by faith. Every cent of money that God means for me to have, he will put into my hands. I call myself a prosperous man, in Jesus' name. All things work together for good for me because I love God... (Rom 8:28) A book I recommend on this subject is, "God's Creative Power Will Work for You," by Charles Capps. (www.CharlesCapps.com) Another good book along these lines is "How God Taught Me About Prosperity," by Kenneth E. Hagin. (www.Rhema.org) Last I checked, both of those books were very reasonably priced. Dr. Norvel Hayes also teaches along these lines. (www.nhm.cc) Let's look at another example. Jesus came along and taught the people. He healed the sick and raised the dead. He cast demons out of people. He did nothing but good. Then he was falsely accused, and wrongly sentenced to death. He died by crucifixion. The third day God raised him from the dead. Is this bad things happen to good people? No, it's God providing for his people a savior. In this case, Jesus. Joseph saved people from starvation. Jesus saves people from hell, if they'll accept his free offer of salvation. Surprisingly, some don't accept, and go to hell, where they immediately see that they made the wrong choice. Well, maybe it's not so surprising. Satan and his demons are making it their business to try to persuade as many as possible not to become Christians. They want you in hell. Also, people can sometimes get so far into sin that there's just no getting back out. That's why God tells us, "Now is the day of salvation..." (2 Cor 6:2) Get right with God now. If you put it off until tomorrow, you might not have the opportunity tomorrow. We are told, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." (James 4:7) You'd probably get more out of it by actually reading the above Hagin book, but I'll briefly summarize it. Hagin was doing the work God called him to do as a Bible teacher. But he was not prospering financially. He found a verse of scripture in Isa 1:19 that says, "If you're willing and obedient, you'll eat the good of the land." Hagin was holding meetings at the time, two meetings a day I think, but he fasted one meal a day and did extra praying about this financial problem. He reminded God that we're supposed to eat the good of the land. On the third day, the Lord showed Hagin how he wasn't entirely willing because of wrong talking. He had been around people who had talked like this: "I don't want any of this world's goods." And Hagin may have said that himself. (Some people think you're more spiritual if you don't have much materially.) So Hagin got willing right away. Then the Lord showed Hagin he hadn't been using his faith right. He had been using faith for other things, but not for finances, and now he needed to start using his faith to solve the financial problem. The Lord gave Hagin a plan. The Lord said, "I don't want you to pray about finances anymore, not like you've been praying. Here's what I want you to do. (Step 1) Claim whatever it is that you want or need. (Step 2) Say, "Satan, take your hands off my finances." (Step 3) Say, "Go ministering spirits and cause the money to come." Hagin asked the Lord what he meant about the ministering spirits. The Lord said, "Haven't you read in the book of Hebrews about the ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who shall be heirs of salvation?" (The ministering spirits are the angels.) So, Hagin saw that he could give his angels tasks to accomplish. The Lord told Hagin after he did that to just stay in faith, and not even think about it. Or, if he did think about it to say, "Thank God for it, it's working." Hagin started doing that and started prospering financially. Charles Capps had been a failing farmer in England, Arkansas. For two years he didn't have enough income to pay for his driver's license. Then a Christian man came by his house and had a couple of books with him, one of which was, Kenneth E. Hagin's "Right and Wrong Thinking." As Capps thumbed through the book, he realized, "Oh that's what I've been doing wrong." What he had been doing wrong was talking wrong. Remember what I said about speaking things into existence? When it's time to plant seeds, farmers have to choose how deep to plant the seeds. At that time, Capps said a foolish thing. He said, "Well, it probably doesn't matter how deep I plant the seeds. I'm probably going to get rained out anyway." Can you guess what happened? That's right, he got rained out. When Capps got his talking straightened out, and started confessing over himself God's promises about prosperity, he started prospering. You'll find lists of such promises in my book, "Your Abundant Success Lasting Forever." Capps went fishing and was catching a lot of fish. Another fisherman saw it and asked him, "What are you catching them on?" The other fisherman thought the key might be in which bait was best. Capps answered, "Psalm 1:3, Whatever he does will prosper." That doesn't answer the bait question, but actually, it was a good answer because Capps faith at work was more significant than the bait. Capps said the Lord told him, "I've told my people they can have what they say (Mark 11:23), but instead, they are saying what they have." Norvel Hayes is both a businessman and a Bible teacher. Hayes had a restaurant that had shut down, and wasn't bringing in any income. The Lord told Hayes, "Son, your problem is that you're not laughing at the devil." Hayes drove over to the restaurant. He didn't really feel like laughing, but he forced himself to laugh. He commanded the restaurant to reopen and make him a lot of money. Not long after, he met an unemployed cook that he hired. The restaurant reopened and made Hayes a lot of money. Hayes did what the Lord said and laughed at the devil. David spoke words of faith when he went up against the giant, Goliath. Goliath scorned the young man. David answered, "God will give you into my hand." And that's just what God did. David knocked Goliath down with a sling shot, and then killed Goliath with Goliath's own sword. God wants us to speak good things into existence. Don't you remember that scripture, "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matt 16:19) I think most Christians are quite lax about this. We're supposed to be speaking things into existence. We're supposed to be binding and loosing. You can say, "I bind all powers of the enemy that would come against me or hinder me in any way, me and my family, in Jesus' name." "I loose ministering spirits to help me with everything that I'm doing, in Jesus' name." "Ministering spirits, fight for my finances, in Jesus' name." We Christians have the name of Jesus to use like a legal power of attorney. That's how we cast out demons from people--in Jesus' name. (See Mark 16:17,18, and Luke 10:19) In the Bible there's the woman who kept on bleeding. She said, "If I can just touch the border of Jesus' garment, I'll be healed." She went to where Jesus was and touched his garment and was healed. Jesus told her it was her faith that healed her. (She expressed that faith with her words.) Kenneth E. Hagin was born with an "incurable" heart defect. Hagin learned to use his faith and got healed of it. Then the Lord told Hagin, "Now go teach my people faith." So Hagin taught faith for about seven decades and wrote about a hundred books, most of which were best-sellers (they sold over a million copies). I met a young man in Los Angeles, a Christian. I tried to give him a good little book from one of the better teachers. He wouldn't take it. He said, "I just get it all from the Bible." Well, of course we should be studying the Bible. But in Ephesians 4:11 it says God has given us teachers. Hagin is one of those teachers. I'm one of the teachers. If God thought it was important to give his people teachers, wouldn't it be wise for us to try to listen to the best of the teachers? People don't always get everything just by reading the Bible. As a youth, I had read in the Bible about binding and loosing, but I don't think I really saw how to apply it until one of God's teachers came along and explained it. The Bible says, "In a multitude of counselors there is safety." (Prov 11:14) Scriptures quoted are from the Holy Bible, Hoehn Version, and the New Testament, Hoehn version, copyright 2011. Both are available as ebooks for the Kindle reader at Amazon.com
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