Living in harm’s way? Use prayer and precaution
By Apostle Frederick K.C. Price

The following is an excerpt from Apostle Price's minibook, “The Truth About . . . Disasters.”

There is a specific aspect of the law of cause and effect that many people seem to fail to recognize. It’s almost as if they think that because they believe in God, because they are doing everything possible to live right, they no longer have to use common sense.

But even if you are doing "good," even if you are doing something "for the Lord," you still must use wisdom in how you do it. God gave you a brain, so He obviously expects you to use it.

You cannot just go through life doing things without thinking and expect that the Lord will automatically cover and protect you. Yet people do, and then they get their feelings hurt and start doubting God’s love. Or they get angry and blame Him for their problems, even though He had nothing to do with what happened. The thought never seems to occur to them that perhaps they had something to do with their own misfortune.

Sheer common sense tells you that "If you put yourself in harm’s way, eventually you are going to get hurt." There’s no great mystery to it. It is not that God is trying to test, hurt or even punish you. Why would God need to? If He is truly omniscient, as the Bible says and as God is typically portrayed, then He doesn’t need to test you to find out what you will do in a given situation. He already knows.

I don’t buy the typical Christian line that "I’m just suffering for the Lord," either. Why would God need you to suffer for Him? He was God all by Himself before you ever came on the scene. Some way, somehow, you put yourself in harm’s way whether intentionally or not.

Say a big 18-wheeler is coming down the road and I am standing directly in its path. This truck just keeps coming, anticipating that I am going to move since the driver knows that I see him coming. Yet, I just keep standing there. Well, when the truck flattens me on the pavement, I cannot claim that I did not do anything to deserve such a calamity. I did something by doing nothing. I just stood there and let that truck run over me. My doing nothing is what got me killed.

I could have started running toward the truck and met it head-on. This would have been the wrong move, but it still would have been doing something other than just standing there. Whether I did nothing or did the wrong thing, the net result would have been the same — I would have gotten myself killed and God would have had nothing to do with it.

This may seem a ridiculous analogy to make. But let me tell you about what geologists call the Ring of Fire. It runs from the tip of South America, up past Central America, along the Pacific Coast of the United States, through Canada, Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. It then extends downward around the east coast of Russia and all the way to Japan before it comes back up around to the tip of South America. In other words, it circles the globe.

Geologists and seismologists know that the crust of the earth is shifting 24 hours a day, even though we do not feel it. It is directly along this ring that the effects of this shifting are felt most. The shifting manifests itself in a high concentration of active, erupting volcanoes and earthquakes.

If you build a building over an active earthquake fault, it is eventually going to move. Naturally, the taller you build and the more congested the buildings are in the area, the greater the damage is going to be. God does not tell people to build in such areas, but they do, in spite of these natural conditions. So any disaster that results from building in such a highly volatile area has nothing to do with God.

I live in Los Angeles, a city that certainly has its share of earthquakes. So I have to be prepared for such — and I am. I have made the right provisions. I moved to an area that I am told is "geologically solid." I did my homework and found a place that suits my purposes for living in Los Angeles, yet provides the greatest amount of protection in terms of being the least volatile area.

I also have all the insurance I need to cover any possible natural emergency situations, and I have my home and property properly equipped with all the items needed in case of an emergency. I have also claimed my right to divine protection, so I believe that God will take care of me and my family in any disaster. I am not going to die in any earthquake.

I do pray against natural disasters like earthquakes, because I live in earthquake country. While I believe you can pray against natural disasters, I do not necessarily believe you can stop them. However, I do believe you can diminish the severity of their effects on you, your family and your property. For example, if anything is going to shake and fall during an earthquake, I believe you can pray that it will not fall on you.

Taking these precautions has already paid off. During the big earthquake in Northridge, California, in 1993, all I felt at my house was just a little shaking. Unfortunately, many other people lost their possessions, but I did not lose one single thing. I know that I avoided what could have been a personal disaster by building on a rock — in a solid geological area.

This is a biblical principle. Allow me to paraphrase what Jesus said in Matthew 7:24-27. He warned His disciples that if you build your house on sand, when the winds come and the rains fall and the winds beat against your house, your house is going to come down. Of course, Jesus was relaying a spiritual law. But spiritual and natural laws mirror each other.

The point is: You cannot play with fire and not expect to get burned. That will not work — that’s foolishness! But if, like me, you have to live in an area where there are frequent natural disasters, at least be sure to find the spot that is the safest to live in and then be prepared in every way possible to deal with such disasters. Confess God’s promises concerning your life, family, home and all the possessions He has given you. Believe for Him to limit and diminish all the damaging effects in your area.

     
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