And You Thought God Was Mad at You...
Creflo Dollar
The present millennium has produced a new group of people who are proficient in the use of technology. They are often plugged in to cell phones and laptops and generally prefer to communicate electronically, rather than face-to-face. They are called Generation Y. However, there is another group that is much larger in numbers. It too is a product of society. I call it the “Why Me?” generation.
The “Why Me?” generation can be heard asking: “Why did I lose my house?” “Why did my baby die?” “Why did I lose my job?” “Why am I still unemployed?” And there is more to the list. Too many people rush to answer these questions with the assumption that it all happened because God is mad at them. They reason among themselves, thinking thoughts like: “Maybe if I had read my Bible more….” “I should have gone to church more.” or “God doesn’t care about me.” Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Every challenge in life is an opportunity for the manifestation of God’s glory. Yet most Christians respond to difficulties by trying to work the Bible like it is only a book of laws. Hence, their prayers are not answered, and they want to blame God for the results or the lack thereof. Having your prayers fulfilled is not based upon your works, your performance, or by keeping the law. Your requests are granted because of what Jesus has already done.
God gave us Jesus, so He could richly bless us. “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). Through Jesus, we receive righteousness and, along with it, grace, which is activated by our faith. We make this grace operative on a daily basis by maintaining a consciousness of what God has already done for us through Christ.
In contrast, there are two things we will never be able to do. We will never be able to out-love God, and we will never be able to obtain righteousness by keeping all the laws of the Bible. It is because of the Father’s love for us that He does not require us to submit to a system by which we are destined to fail. Yet, Christians for years have been trying to work “the system” (of rules) in order to receive the promises of God. And we wonder why it hasn’t been working.
When you work for something, your reward is not a gift, but it is something you earned. Romans 4:5, 6 (NLT) says, “But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners. David also spoke of this when he described the happiness of those who are declared righteous without working for it.”
I have news for you—your sins have already been paid for! Somebody had to pay for all the sin in the world, and it was Jesus. He is and was the final sacrifice. Because of the finished work of Christ, God is not angry with us. Jesus suffered the wrath of God in our place while dying on the cross. The result is, we are redeemed from missing the mark, and God says to mankind, “I’m not mad at you anymore!”
Knowing what Jesus did for you will free you. It will free you from condemnation and from walking around with a sin consciousness. For the Believer, this means you can be confident in knowing you are righteous, because there is no sin consciousness in your way. Also, you can believe God and His Word without hesitancy, because you know the truth. And what is the truth? It can be found in Hebrews 8:12. God says, “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” This is the knowledge that frees you and frees God to be your God. It frees Him to operate His covenant on your behalf. As a result, everything you have been trying for years to get, you now receive freely from Him, because God loves you!