Difficulties and Rebellion

John Wimber writes in his book "Power Healing" that" difficulties and problems were the direct and instantaneous consequence of human rebellion against God; and they still are up to the present day".

When I read this sentence some weeks ago, it really struck me. I was in the middle of throwing a pity party about all the difficulties I had to face in my job (and other areas of my life), and I thought "Wuh, wait a moment, are you trying to say that I'm rebelling against God? Hey man, if I just knew that this was God's way for me, I would be all fine and non-complainy."
Well, of course, my reaction might already have shown you that the Holy Spirit was stirring inside me, convicting me of just that sin of rebellion.

Let me elaborate on this:
Actually, I didn't want to accept God's way for my life. I wanted to be a good girl, doing the father's will, of course! That was what I've been taught. That was the deal when I gave Him my life a while ago.
But at the same time I didn't want to accept the consequences that go along with choosing to go God's way. So all my complaining was actually an expression of my rebellion against God, which is actually so obvious (to me NOW) because the root of my complaining was (and unfortunately still is) pride - the original sin.

So let me tell you what happened after I decided to stay in this job and accept it as God's will with all that might go along with it:
The circumstances are still just hard; the last two weeks almost all I did was working. I only slept four to five hours a night because there was just so much to do. But at the same time I felt so much JOY just about life, about who God is, about the good things He gives, ... I could actually enJOY the conversations I had, the moments of leisure time that did exist, just everything. Every morning I (terribly early) woke up there was thanksgiving on my heart. It was on my mind before my mind even was awake.
And I feel freedom. Freedom to go for God again, initiate things. So, tonight we are going to have a worship and prayer nite at my place, and - frankly - I'm a bit afraid that I will be painfully missing the time it takes to prepare and and so on, but I'm also just THRILLED to spend intense time with God and other Christians tonight!

So, what I want to say with this loooong post is this:
When you find yourself in difficulties and struggling, just check by asking the Holy Spirit whether the cause of these difficulties might be an underlying sin.
I don't say it necessarily is because we ARE in a spiritual war, and there are things we are not to accept but we are called to fight against. But I also think that we sometimes fight against the wrong source.

Let me - last but not least - share this scripture from Hebrews 12:11 with you:

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of RIGHTEOUSNESS and PEACE for those who have been trained by it.

Be blessed!