Joyce Meyer - Why, God, Why?: How to Be Delivered from Confusion

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked AMP are taken from The Amplified Bible. Old Testament copyright 1965, 1987 by Zondervan Corporation, Grand Rapids, Michigan. New Testament copyright 1958, 1987 by the Lockman Foundation, La Habra, California. Used by permission.

Warner Books Edition

Copyright 1995 by Joyce Meyer

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First eBook Edition: February 2003

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J ohn 10:10 (AMP) says that the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but Jesus came that you might have and enjoy life.

Satan would like to rob you of your joy and, therefore, prevent you from enjoying life. But I pray that this book will help you learn how to let God be God in your life, so that you can enjoy the abundance of peace and joy that Jesus died for you to have.

WHAT CAUSES CONFUSION?

A re you confused? Is there something happening in your life right now that you do not understand? Perhaps it is your past, and you just do not understand why your life had to be the way it was. You may be saying, Why me, God? Why couldnt things have been this way or that way? Why did they have to turn out the way they did? I just dont understand!

I began to realize that a large number of people suffer tremendously with confusion. I had experienced my share in the past and knew how confusion tormented people, and I began to ponder why people get confused and what they could do to prevent it.

One night I was holding a meeting in Kansas City, and approximately 300 people were in attendance. I felt led to ask how many of them were currently confused over some issue in their life. To my astonishment, I only saw two people who did not raise their hand, and one of them was my husband.

If I saw correctly, that means 298 out of 300 people were confused. That is 99.3 percent. As I began to check with various groups, I found this to be the case almost everywhere. The percentage varied, of course, but was always high.

As I pondered it and asked the Lord to show me what causes confusion, He said, Tell them to stop trying to figure everything out, and they will stop being confused. Now I realize that is exactly why I am not suffering with confusion anymore. I still have plenty of things in my life that I do not understand, but there is a major difference now. God has delivered me from trying to figure everything out. God has delivered me from reasoning (the reasonings that Second Corinthians 10:5 talks about), so I do not try to figure out the things in my life that I do not understand anymore.

It almost sounds too easy, doesnt it? But there is total freedom from the torment of confusion just by refusing the temptation to figure things out (reasoning). If you really stop and think about it, it does make sense because all this transpires in the region called the mind.

The mind is the battlefield where our war with Satan is either won or lost. God is not the author of confusion(1 COR. 14:33)Satan is. The devil offers us theories and reasonings that are not in line with Gods Word. Second Corinthians 10:4, 5 (AMP) says one of the kinds of thinking we will need to eliminate in order to win the war is reasoning. The verses say:

For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds,

[Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

2 CORINTHIANS 10:4, 5

If the Word instructs us not to try to figure things out, then we need to obey. And when reasonings come to us, we should bring our thoughts into the obedience of Jesus. These Scriptures say we are in a war, and our warfare, our battle, is largely a mental battle. Satan attacks our minds.

According to these Scriptures, we are dealing with his attacks, with imaginations. Did you ever imagine things that were not true or see things on the picture screen of your mind that you knew were improper? Theories are various schemes or ideas about how to solve your own problems, and reasonings are a probing around with the mind trying to locate answers to questions that only God seems to have.

To sum up this chapter, let us say that confusion is caused by trying to figure out or locate an answer to a situation that only God seems to have. For some reason, it is only known to Him, and He is not telling.

DELIVERED FROM REASONINGS

F irst, you must understand the kind of mind I had before you can truly appreciate my deliverance from reasoning.

Early in life I concluded that to depend on no one, to be independent and to care for oneself, was the safest and best policy. I had it figured out that the least amount of help I had to ask for, the better off I would be because then I would not owe anyone anything. I was tired of being hurt and thought this type of approach would protect me from pain.

I was, of course, wrong; but it took me a long time to realize that and to admit it. Since it took a long time, I spent those years worrying, reasoning, figuring, theorizing, imagining, fretting, being frustrated, upset and on and on the list goes. The more independent we are, the harder it is to trust God or anyone else.

The Lord wants us to be dependent on Him, not independent of Him and dependent on ourselves. The more dependent you are on Christ Jesus, the more you will be able to release things to Him that you do not understand, knowing that He knows, and when the time is right, He will reveal it to you.

Do not confuse this type of an attitude with passivity. We are not to be passive, at least not where faith is concerned. If something happens in your life to you or to a friend and you just do not understand at all what happened or why, you certainly must begin with prayer. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you understanding, to teach you, to shed light and to bring revelation, then wait until He does, knowing that in Gods timing He will bring you understanding.

When questions arise in your heart, you may ponder them awhile, but at the precise moment you begin to feel confused, simply thank God that He has the answer, tell Him you are satisfied to know that He knows the answer, and tell Him that you trust Him to show you when His time is correct.

You will never be delivered from reasoning and confusion until you adopttake as your ownthis attitude I have been describing. This attitude, by the way, is the attitude of faith.

THE ATTITUDE OF FAITH

W e might refer to faith as a doctrine or an avenue through which we receive from God. In Ephesians 2:8, 9 we see that it is by grace through faith that we are saved. Hebrews 11:1 (AMP) says, Faith is the assuranceof the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see. We can describe or define faith in various ways, but I believe a very simple way to look at faith, even examine whether or not we are operating in faith, is to say that faith has an attitude.

The attitude of faith brings us into rest. Hebrews 4:3 says those who have believed God do enter His rest. Hebrews 4 also says that he who has once entered Gods rest (remember, faith is the doorway to rest) has also ceased from the weariness and pain of human labors. (Verse 10.)