God made the heavens and the earth. What happens in heaven is God's business, but the earth He has given to mankind. He's put us in charge of the earth... So what we say goes...

There was rebellion in heaven and God threw out those responsible.

They came to earth, and tricked their way past Adam & Eve and managed to confuse and corrupt them. Mankind has struggled ever since. We didn't say 'No' but accepted an 'alternative' different to God's instruction.

God's plan is for us to overcome the evil, not to party with it... or to be outsmarted by it...    the evil has brought suffering and sickness and the whole of creation is greatly marred. But He doesn't remove the evil because, in partnership with Him we're supposed to overcome it.

So Jesus, the Son of God, comes into the world, the same way we all did, born of a woman.

He gives us a demo of how we're supposed to live, in union with God and empowered and indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

He starts destroying the works of the evil one and brings the Kingdom of God to earth, and trains a bunch of ordinary folk to do the same. So now for the first time we have a clear picture of what to do and how to go about it. He comes as a man, and only does what we ourselves can do. He doesn't use 'additional' means unavailable to us.... what would be the point of that ?

Then, in an amazing sequence of events, he allows himself to be taken, interrogated, tortured and flogged and then hung on a cross to die.

The Son of God lays down his life as a ransom for many.

According to the pre-determined gameplan, the Holy Spirit raises him from the dead on the third day, and they spend the next few weeks preparing and giving final instructions to the team of trainees.

Then Jesus leaves and returns to heaven to co-ordinate the next phase of the project...

The Holy Spirit now comes to the team of trainees who go out and do the works of the Kingdom and it's been passed on from generation to generation until now, with varying degrees of success and enthusiasm.

If we lay down our lives, die to self and ask the Holy Spirit to come and live in us, then we become like Jesus, working in partnership with God to overthrow the evil one and destroy his works in our lives and those of the people around us.

God is not going to do it for us.

He has told us to do it with Him, and in His name, and to teach others to do the same.

So we are to do the works of the Kingdom, healing the sick, casting out demons, raising the dead and transforming the planet.

Being one of God's agents to help people out of the mess that the enemy has got them into.

So when someone asks 'Why do children die of cancer and aids and the like ?' the real answer is: Because we let them.

When he was flogged, Jesus paid for every sickness that there ever was or will be, to be healed. Once and for all.

In the Bible it repeatedly says He healed all who came to him. So, in Jesus, God has provided the antidote to all problems. There was nothing he could not heal or deal with.

We need to rise up, and thankfully take hold of what it cost the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit an immense amount to provide, and get on with the job of cleaning up the mess ready for Jesus to return and close the show, so we can say thanks, go to the banquet, and then go on to more adventures with them....

So there'll be those who took up the challenge and overcame, and then there'll be others who shied away or avoided or chose to fraternise with the enemy.....

Which will you be ?