It’s easy for people to fall into the kind of thinking that says if good things happen to them, they have won God’s approval or His presence. But this, Pastor James Levesque says, can be a dangerous trap.
Levesque explains this issue on a recent episode of Engaging Heaven Today on the Charisma Podcast Network. “That’s why spending time with Jesus matters. There’s a rest in the gospel; there’s a rest in your relationship with God,” he says.
“My value is determined by the Father. I’m not seeking out value everywhere on this earth,” Levesque says. “My security, my confidence, my faith and everything in my life are already set by the Father. And if you understand that, then instead of operating for love, it’s from love, right? I know who I am. I know who He is. And then you are more compelled to live the life that God wants you to live.
But Levesque says he’s seen plenty of believers who lack this understanding. “A lot of people are caught up in this place of ‘When good things happen, that just means God’s with me. And when things are challenging or difficult, then something’s got to be wrong,'” he says. “You want to be careful with that. Because persecution’s real; challenges are real. And you live in a fallen world.
“Now, I’m not saying if great things are going on in your life, the devil’s moving … But I’m saying don’t look to just good things to value if God’s with you, because when the day comes, if those things aren’t happening, what do you believe?”
To hear more from James Levesque on why believers need to stop looking for signs that God is with them, listen to the entire podcast here. {eoa}
Curt Landry 
Michael L. Brown 
Rabbi Eric Tokajer