When bad things happen and people don't know what to say there is a word that inevitably comes up to explain the problem away. It's sovereignty, the theological term, which refers to the unlimited power of God, and preachers just love it.

When healing doesn't manifest or when babies die and hurricanes blow houses away, the sovereignty of God seems to be the most common reason. "He's God," they say, "He's sovereign and can do whatever He wants to do." That sounds good, doesn't it? And it's true, except when it comes to the Word of God.

If you believe that God doesn't keep His Word, then sovereignty makes real sense. But if you believe God is a just God, then it falls to pieces with even the smallest amount of scripture. And there's a whole book called the Bible that attests to God's faithfulness to His Word.

The truth is that God is sovereign and has unlimited power. Yet, He has chosen to limit Himself to what He will and will not do concerning mankind. He spelled it out in His Word. And that makes Him sovereign, outside of His Word.

Can God do anything? Yes. Will God do anything? No. God has already said what He'll do in many situations. He's already laid the plan out pretty plain. He has bound Himself with His own Word. And that's what makes Him trustworthy.

God is a promise-keeper, not a promise-breaker. In this article, I'm going to share some truth with you about God and His unchanging Word; about healing and God's wrath. And next month I will share about the story of Job and babies who die too young. My hope is that you will come away with a greater understanding of the faithfulness of your Father God.

The Teachings of Jesus
Traditional religion says that everything good comes from God and everything bad comes from God. It's the Old Testament way of thinking. If that's the case, I want to know what the devil is doing! Twiddling his thumbs in hell? We sure don't need him if God is killing babies, sending sickness and withholding healing from believers.

In the New Testament, Jesus came on the scene to let us know the truth - about God and the devil. We needed somebody to come down here and wipe out our sin so we could see clearly and really know God on a personal level. And that Someone who did it was Jesus, the Son of God. He redeemed man, broke the barrier between God and us and shined a big, bright light on the devil's work within the earth.

The devil and his demons had been stealing, killing and destroying since the fall of man. Jesus came to show people how to put a stop to it - and the demons thought they were being tormented! They were finally getting a little payback, Jesus-style! Glory! That makes me want to shout! Jesus showed us through His example how we could rebuke demons, resist them and watch them flee.

God is a Promise Keeper
One time while I was praying, the Lord spoke something to my heart that I believe may help you to understand the way God works. He said, "Jesse, My word shall not return unto me void. But it is very possible that My word can return unto you void."

"What?" I said, "Why, Lord?"

"Because you don't believe it like I do."

That was deep for me and it showed me the importance of my own personal faith. His Word had returned to me void but it never returned to Him void. In other words, He never broke His promise to me. He always believed and fulfilled His Word. But sometimes I didn't really believe His word in faith. So, there were times when I'd stopped my own success in receiving from God.

The bottom line is that personal experiences don't prove or disprove God's will. There's no such thing as whether God wants to do something or doesn't want to - it's what does His Word say? Because that's what He's made the decision to do. After He's said something, He won't alter it.

I like to say that He's sovereign outside of His Word, not inside. In other words, His power is unlimited outside of what He's already said in the Word... but He has limited Himself by His own Word. It's His promise to us.

Promises, or covenants, are important to God. He said, "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips (Psalm 89:34)." In other words, He's promised to keep His promise!

Some people think that God will break His Word. They think this because someone who was prayed for didn't receive healing, and they died. But, God doesn't use circumstances as a measuring stick for following through with His Word. To do that would mean He was an unfair God.

Will God break His Word? Will He withhold healing through the blood of Jesus because of some special circumstance? No. Regardless of circumstances, He won't break His Word. He has promised to keep His promises.

From the beginning, God has been a promise keeper. Even in the Old Testament there are scriptures that show us the loyal nature of God. God often swears by Himself in the Bible, just to show that He means business. When God was talking to Abraham in Genesis 22:16-17 after the angel stopped him from sacrificing Isaac, God said that He would swear by Himself to keep the covenant because there was no one greater to swear by. He did it again in Isaiah 45:23, Jeremiah 22:5 and even Amos 4:2.

The truth is that God is sovereign in that He can do what He wants, and when He wants. But He has made a choice to bind Himself by His own Word. So that makes Him sovereign outside of what the Word says.

Sovereignty and Healing
Healing is where sovereignty often gets misused. The truth is that healing is under our covenant with God through Jesus Christ. So, when a preacher tells me that the reason someone didn't get healed is because God is sovereign and His will was death... I think only one thing. Either you're lying or God's lying. And I pick you. God made a promise when Jesus was getting His back beaten with a whip. He was making a covenant with mankind that day and He has yet to say that it's "not for today."

When we're talking about healing, the word "sovereignty" shouldn't even come into the conversation. Why? Because healing is a promise in the Word. God said it and He meant it. When we say God is sovereign as a reason for a person not getting healed, we're calling God a liar. We're saying He broke His Word.

If you lay hands on the sick, and they don't recover and they end up dying, it's not God's fault. We sometimes want it to be His fault, because we don't understand why they died. But that doesn't make it right.

Preachers use the sovereignty excuse when believers die sick because they don't know what else to say. They want to be compassionate. They want to offer solace. People want answers. When there are no easy answers, preachers sometimes blame God by saying "He's sovereign. Sometimes we have to accept that healing wasn't God's will." This lets everybody off the hook - except God. He just got accused of killing somebody, for withholding the healing Blood of Jesus and for going back on His Word. This is wrong.

There are a lot of reasons why people can die even after they've prayed for healing, too many to mention in this one article. You'd be surprised how many people claim they want healing and secretly just want to go home to Heaven. They've already given up in their heart. You'd be surprised how many people claim they're standing on the Word who live in fear of death the whole time they're laying in the hospital bed. They ball and squall one minute and claim faith when someone strong walks through the door. It's like trying to drive cross-country and stopping every fifteen minutes for a coffee break. You won't be getting anywhere soon.

You'd be surprised how many people lay hands on the sick, just because it seems right, but leave the room and don't believe that person will be healed any more than they believe in the man on the moon. Their faith is cracking before they hit the door. And that sick person needs to be surrounded by faith because they're too weak to fight.

Some situations are obvious and we can say, "This seems like the reason." But the truth is that unless we ask God for wisdom and understanding and receive that from Him, there are some things in life that we may not know until we get to Heaven. There are many reasons for not receiving healing and many circumstances that hinder us from receiving a miracle, but none are because God decided to flex His sovereignty and break His Word.

Is Healing For Everyone?
"But I don't think God heals everybody, Brother Jesse." Really? Then, I guess He doesn't save everybody who wants salvation either. That cross thing had some sure bets and some not-so-sure bets, right? Wrong. The truth is that salvation is always present. But it isn't always received... just like healing and everything else Jesus died to give us.

Do you know that salvation has already been planned and made for everyone on the planet earth? It is all up to you to accept it. Jesus died for the sins of the past, the present and the future. People are not going to hell because of adultery, fornication, homosexuality, stealing, lying, and killing. Even though those are terrible sins. Actually the Lord shed His Blood two thousand years ago and has forgiven people - our answer was given before we ever had a problem.

What people have to do is believe in their heart and confess with their mouth that Jesus rose from the dead and then, they are saved. First it happens in the heart, then the soul receives the salvation. People who are going to hell are going for rejecting Jesus' sacrifice. That is a fact. The Lord has already done the work. Why can't we just accept what He has already done?

We've got to believe in our heart and confess with our mouth if we want salvation. The same is true with all the rest that Jesus died to give us. Not believe in our heart that He can save or heal us, but believe that He will.

What Is A Sovereign Act of God?
So, what exactly is a sovereign act of God then? The perfect example of a sovereign act of God is the story of Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus. This incident has nothing to do with God's already established Word. God decides to do something to get Saul's attention. (Turn to Acts chapter nine for the full story.)

God tells him to go to the city and he'll be told what to do when he gets there. That begins the life of Saul who became Paul, who would soon become an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ - the one who would preach the Gospel to the gentiles.

Now, that situation was a sovereign act of God. That's God doing something outside of what He's already said in His Word - not inside. The Bible never promised us that God would shine a light around every one of us while we're traveling down the road and tell us to stop doing what we're doing! God doesn't slap everybody whose mad and riding a donkey to persecute Christians. No, this was a special incident where God acted sovereignly outside of His Word and did what He wanted to do.

Wrath Is Not For You
Some people think God sends hurricanes and other natural disasters to judge His kids and get them to draw closer to Him. While there is a judgment side to God, if you are a believer and you obey Him, you'll never see it. His wrath isn't reserved for His own children. We're appointed to His grace because of Jesus' blood. God's wrath is for the ungodly and the unrighteous and it comes when the work of sin is finished. Romans 5:9 assures us that, "Much more then, being now justified by His Blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him."

Does God kill people? No. The sin they choose eventually kills them. All they need to do to escape sin and death is to accept Jesus as Savior. After that, they move out of the path of wrath and into His grace. If they reject Him, their sin will eventually bring about their demise.

This is the reason for spreading the Gospel in love to people. It's important that people realize God is good; that He loves them and wants them to live good lives that are free from sin's harsh end.

God will not break His Word and use His sovereign power to save people who have chosen to reject Him. God allows their free will to reign supreme. That's how just God is. He'll protect a person's right to go to hell, if they so choose. He is that just.

The Merciful Father
God is a merciful Father. He's honorable and just, but He will extend His mercy and grace to His kids all of their life. But He won't infringe upon our free will - and that is in regards to our salvation, our healing, our joy, our peace and everything else He wants to give us.

When we use the traditional doctrine of sovereignty as an excuse to blame God for what we haven't received, we aren't being fair to our own Father. We're accusing Him of being something He's not. And that's wrong.

Our God is good, not bad. He's merciful and loving, not impatient and cruel. He's not looking to withhold anything from us. What does He want us to have? Everything Jesus died to give us! And every other good thing mentioned in His Word! What He wants most, however, is that we draw close to Him and believe that He is good and that He only wants the best for us.

All this should tell us that our Father loves us and cares about us. He has gone to great lengths to provide for us. He's our sovereign God, unlimited in His power and unlimited in His love. But there is one thing He just will not do. He won't break His Word. He's promised to keep His promises. That's just the kind of God our Father is.

"My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips. (Psalm 89:34)"