Does a Serious Sickness Attack Prove That a Major Breakthrough Is Just Ahead?
No!
But how many times have you heard a fellow believer say, “Oh, I just KNOW that my big breakthrough is just ahead because ALL HELL is coming against me! The devil has been on me so hard and I’m so beaten up! But that’s OK, because I know that the dark is always the darkest before the dawn.” (See Proverbs 32:1-6).
“The dark is always darkest before the dawn” is not even true in the natural – astronomically speaking, the dark is darkest around midnight unless you live in an area where businesses close and turn off their lights between midnight and dawn. It is not true in the spirit realm either. How many believers have faced serious attacks and DIED? For them, things were the darkest so far until they went COMPLETELY dark as their earthly lives ended. There was no dawn. The fierce attack did not prove that a breakthrough was imminent. An attack only proves that the devil wants to steal from you, kill you and destroy you.
If ALL HELL came against you, you could whisper the name of Jesus and ALL HELL would have to back off (Luke 10:19)! It is pitiful how many Christians have more confidence in the devil to attack them than in the name of Jesus to destroy Satan’s attacks. I’ve met people who even treated Satan’s beatings as a badge of honor – “Oh, he’s really afraid of me now; look how he’s been eating our family’s lunch lately because he’s so worried about what God is about to do through us!” No, Satan would be more afraid of you if you actually believed the Bible, which plainly says that he and his cohorts have been utterly spoiled and defeated by the Lord Jesus Christ (Hebrews 2:14, Colossians 2:15). Then the devil would NOT be eating your lunch and you’d be thanking God for the victory that He gives you through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:57). Rather than moaning about how the local demons are having a heyday with you, you would be walking in the fact that you have ALREADY OVERCOME them (1 John 4:4) and you’d be enforcing your victory.
That doesn’t mean that you won’t have trials. You will –the devil will see to that. But God has given you the ability to triumph in Christ over ALL trials (2 Corinthians 2:14) if you’ll act on His Word. But it isn’t up to God to stop Satan – YOU must actively exercise your authority over him and run him off. GOD is not going to make the trial stop. YOU must stop it by standing on the Word. If you don’t stop it, it won’t stop.
But what about Paul, who said that Satan hindered him?
1 Thessalonians 2:18:
Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.
Paul was still planning to go back to Thessalonica anyway:
1 Thessalonians 3:11:
Now God himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you.
If Satan could hinder Paul for a season, he might work through other people to hinder you, but Paul still finished his course and did everything God wanted him to do despite Satan’s hindrances, and you should believe that you will too.
2 Timothy 4:7:
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
We don’t see any “major spiritual breakthrough” as a result of the hindrances. Paul was often hindered by being persecuted for the gospel’s sake, including being thrown in jail. However, he did not consider that the hindrances would ultimately stop him from achieving his objective. More importantly, there is NO indication that Paul was beaten up with sickness or that any kind of disease was the hindrance. He did not say, “We wanted to come, but Satan made me and all my companions sick with the latest stomach bug.” So if you’re suddenly seriously ill, you are NOT experiencing what Paul did. You can control what Satan does to you directly, but you cannot control other people’s wills, and people (including Christians) sometimes let Satan use them to be a nuisance to you.
If you’re wise, you’ll resist the devil’s sicknesses just as fervently as you would resist the devil’s temptations to sin. You will NOT have the attitude, “Oh, well, I guess I’ll have to tolerate this for a season because it’s a sure sign that something great is about to happen. I can’t wait for this trial to be over and for my breakthrough to arrive.”
Despite what preachers sometimes say, having Satan mess around before a service does NOT prove that you’re about to have a really good service. In fact, if you don’t resist him, steadfast in the faith (1 Peter 5:8-10), you might have a really LOUSY service because you didn’t take authority over him when he manifested himself and put a stop to his antics. (You can’t control what other people do. Sometimes Satan will send a kook to your service to disrupt things. You need to be open to the Holy Spirit’s wisdom and discernment to know how to handle the situation.)
The whole idea that things have to get really, really bad just before they get really, really good is not a Bible promise. You could point out that things looked at their darkest at Ziklag just before David took the throne, but I could point out that there were no major catastrophes just before Solomon dedicated the temple and God’s glory filled it.
While I’m at it, I might as well also point out that the common saying that God is never late but seldom early is a lie, too – unless your faith is in that fake Bible verse. If your faith is in the idea that God will wait until the very last minute to bail you out every time, that is the result you will get. But I prefer to believe what the Bible says – that God’s help is “right early:”
Psalms 46:4-5:
There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.
“Right early” in the Hebrew means “at the break of day” – the first thing during daylight hours, not the last thing!
I roll my eyes on the inside when I hear yet another Christian say, “Look at what I’m going through! God must have something really, really big ahead for me! The devil must be REALLY AFRAID!” The devil IS really afraid of you because you’re in Christ, but if you think that Satan has any right to bash you just because you have a calling that will hurt his kingdom, you need to renew your mind some more. Satan has NO RIGHT to do ANYTHING to you because you are not part of his kingdom (Colossians 1:13). Run him off by quoting the Word to him!