Knowing where the problem exists is the key to getting it resolved. This is like when one loses one's eyeglasses, in order to find them, he must first find (or at least think about) where he might have put them. About three months ago I lost my eyeglasses. I searched them everywhere, but with no success. After three months finally I gave up. (Or rather my wife gave up). So my wife contacted the Costco, found out the prices. We went there and got new pairs (she had one, I also had one). After getting a new pair, in two days, I found the old ones. I put them in a small bag, in a side pocket attached to the 8-5 inches of the green bag for my Ipad. But since I did not know when where I put them there, although the bag was always there in my bedroom, I never bothered to look for them there.
We can easily understand this truth when we think about how the first couple Adam and Eve fell. They fell and got into all troublems by first taking the forbidden fruit and eating it. When you eat it it goes inside of you. Then "you" became sin-sick. This is just like a man eating rotten fruit, so as the rotten fruit remains inside, he starts getting sick, like stomach flu or diarrhea. When this happens our body knows this first, so as the body pushes the contaminated food out, you end up puking. Then you feel better.
Applications:
- One lady next door contacted me saying, "Isaac, my husband just walked away from home. He lost his job. Then he started behaving erratically. He got depressed, became belligerent, and started sleeping outside, not coming back home. As I tried to help him out, even begging him to come back and sleep at home, he said, "Shut your mouth. If you keep bugging, you will get a bullet in your head." She knew he had a gun underneath his bed. So she called the police. The police said, "Lock the gun." She did lock it up. Then the husband walked away for good, never coming back home. "Isaac, I am afraid. What should I do?" I then shared with her that the problem exists inside, not outside. With her problem being anxious and worried (about first and more about her life without the husband in support of her, than her husband), I shared with her 1 John 5:4 which says "This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith." Like this lady the Apostle John also was nervous and anxious about his life. Living under the Roman rule he had to see the Roman soldiers coming, nabbing innocent Christians and getting them eaten live by wild beasts in a public arena. He was single. He did not have a stable job. And in his old body he had to be worried and anxious. He also suffered from anger and hatred towards the Romans who butchered people just for being a Christian. Then one day (tradition so says) as he was imprisoned at the Island of Patmos, he complained to Jesus saying, "I am angry for the Romans. I hate them. How can I get rid of this hatred?" Then he heard the voice from the Lord, "John, it is because you did not repent and turn to (or live by faith in) me." The message him him like a thunder. Then he knelt down, repented and turned to the Lord. Then problems (anger, hatred, worry, anxiety) disappeared. Filled with the Holy Spirit, even revelations poured in. And this is how we came to have the Book of Revelation!
- God does not get rid of Satan, but still let him run wild. It is because the problem is NOT without that is Satan but within that is you.
- In the parable of weed and wheat when servants came and asked, "Do you want us to pull out all the weeds?" the owner said, "No." The owner said "No pulling up and throwing away weeds until the harvest time" because the problem exists not outside but inside.
