Why Satan Can Be the Author of Opportunity

Summary

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Living Influence with Bill Thrall and Scott Boyd

Episode Summary: "Why Satan Can Be the Author of Opportunity"

Podcast Date: October 2, 2025
Hosts: Bill Thrall, Scott Boyd
Guest Contributor: Grace

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Overview

In this episode, Bill and Scott explore how Christians discern opportunities in life and the critical distinction between living by conviction versus chasing open doors. The conversation challenges conventional views of success and opportunity, proposes that not all opportunities are from God, and emphasizes building one’s life through deeply held convictions, often forged in struggle and faith, not just in circumstances. The central thesis: Your influence is shaped not by chance but by the convictions you live from—convictions rooted in your understanding of who God says you are.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Seduction of Opportunity: Not All Open Doors Are Divine

• Success and Blessing Misconception

  • Bill warns against equating success with God's blessing, especially within American Christianity.
  • Quote: “We have a propensity, at least in America as Christians, to believe that when we are successful, it's because God is blessing us.” (00:24 - Bill)

• Satan as the Author of Opportunity

  • Referring to Jesus’ temptation, Bill notes that Satan offered Jesus the kingdoms of the world and Jesus did not dispute their legitimacy as ‘opportunities’.
  • Quote: “Satan can often be the author of opportunity. Because if all he has to do to keep anyone from the purposes of God is to give them a great opportunity, he'll do it.” (00:47 - Bill)
  • Bill points out that wealth or "great opportunities" can actually pull believers away from their calling.

2. Living by Conviction Instead of Circumstances

• Conviction vs. Circumstance
  • “What if next decisions are not based on opportunity or circumstances, but they're based on convictions? What if my next choices came out of the truths that I trusted?” (01:41 - Bill)
  • The conversation references Mother Teresa as an example—her influence stemmed not from circumstances but from a long-standing conviction (01:53–02:31).

3. God’s Interruption and Building Convictions

• Experience Shapes Convictions
  • Bill reflects on his own story: after meeting Jesus, he found himself in Bible college through a series of unexpected, unplanned events (03:37–04:52).
  • While initially overwhelmed, Bill describes a turning point after a Bible college teacher’s anger spurred him on a deep personal search in Romans, leading to a foundational conviction about grace and the righteousness of Christ (04:52–07:42).
  • Quote: “I am righteous. In fact, the evidence of this righteousness is the love of Christ in me.” (08:10 - Bill)

4. The Importance of Retelling and Remembering Our Stories

• Timeline Reflection
  • Bill’s mentor taught him to break life into 10-year blocks (“timelines”) to notice God’s hand in past events (08:44–09:45).
  • Quote: “If we can discover God in our yesterdays, we can find him in our tomorrows.” (09:17 - Bill)
  • Each person’s story shows God’s individual work in their life, even if unnoticed at the time.

5. Trusting God's Presence and Guidance

• First Sense of Calling

  • Bill shares a personal, almost mystical moment of sensing God's hand upon him in his dorm room, leading to a sense of divine destiny (11:53–13:37).
  • This experience is soon affirmed externally by someone telling him, "God's hand is on your life," confirming what he had sensed (14:06–14:31).

• The Challenge of Trust

  • Major life decisions (such as entering ministry with no job and a young family) required deep trust in God, even when plans were unclear and the future felt risky (15:17–16:52).
  • Quote: “How do you trust God?...It was so clear. This is our next. This is our conviction.” (16:10 & 16:26 - Bill)

6. Faith: Trusting Without Knowing

• Paradox of Trust

  • Bill highlights a key paradox: “Most of us want to say, ‘Show me God and I will trust you.’ And God wants to say, ‘Trust me and I will show you.’ ... When I say to God, show me and I will trust you, I'm in control of the process. When my God says to me, trust me and I will show you, he's in control of the process.” (17:13–18:06 - Bill)

• Being Participants, Not Partners

  • God doesn’t want us to partner on our terms, but to participate in what He’s leading (18:24–18:31).
  • The discussion closes this point by stressing, “You have to get God right. If you don't get God right, you'll never get you right.” (19:41–19:49 - Bill)

7. Encounters with Grace and True Identity

• Experiencing Grace
  • Unless one truly experiences grace, Bill argues, you can never “get God right,” nor understand yourself or others (20:23–20:29).
  • The episode repeatedly returns to how grace fundamentally changes one’s identity and life choices.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Danger of Opportunities:

  • “How much money do you need to not have to follow God?" (01:09 - Bill)

• On Influence and Living by Conviction:

  • “Everyone’s been affected by [Mother Teresa's] influence.” (02:27 - Scott)
  • “If we could get people just to pause and look at their yesterdays in depth, they will discover circumstances, situations, people and things that were really God at work in them. They may have ignored it ... but that doesn't mean it's not true.” (10:03 & 10:31 - Bill)

• Afraid But Obedient:

  • “For me, the first experience I ever had of sensing the presence of God ... scared the bejeebies out of me.” (11:53 - Bill)

• On Divine Affirmation:

  • “Bill, I believe God's hands on your life ... And I'm going to pray for you every day the rest of my life.” (14:22 & 14:25 - Eleanor via Bill)

• On God’s Process:

  • “It's a paradox because when I say to God, show me and I will trust you, I'm in control ... when my God says to me, trust me and I will show you, he's in control ... It's a life of faith.” (17:13–18:06 - Bill)

• Summary Challenge to the Listener:

  • “Are we going to live our lives as victims to our circumstances? Or are we going to live our lives based on our convictions that God has brought into our lives that God has given us?” (20:36–20:59 - Scott)

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Important Timestamps

• 00:24-01:41: The misconception that success equals God's blessing; Satan as the author of opportunity
• 02:17-02:31: Mother Teresa example—decades motivated by conviction, not circumstances
• 04:52-07:42: Bill's Bible college story and transformative conviction about righteousness
• 09:17-09:45: Timeline technique for seeing God in one’s story
• 11:53-13:37: Bill's first profound sense of divine call and affirmation
• 16:10-16:52: The cost and clarity of choosing to trust God’s direction in major life decisions
• 17:13-18:06: The “Show me and I will trust you" paradox
• 19:41-20:29: The essential need to “get God right” and to experience grace

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Closing Thoughts

Bill and Scott urge listeners to examine their lives, not merely for opportunities and open doors, but for the lasting convictions that can only be defined by encounter with God’s truth and grace. They challenge listeners to map their stories for evidence of God’s influence, to develop convictions as the basis for decision-making, and to trust God deeply—“trusting without knowing.”

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For further discussion next time:

• The transformative effect of truly experiencing grace
• Additional stories from Bill, Scott, and their guests on living from conviction and discerning God’s hand in their own lives

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Transcript

[Scott]

Do you live your life looking for opportunities and open doors, or do you live it based on your convictions? Welcome to Living Influence. Bill, you have a story that includes opportunities and the devil.

[Bill]

Yes.

[Scott]

That I've heard you share.

[Bill]

Yeah. Thank you, Scott.

[Scott]

Let's start there.

[Bill]

We have a propensity, at least in America as Christians, to believe that when we are successful, it's because God is blessing us.

[Grace]

Right.

[Bill]

And I just want to tweak that a little bit and say, remember when Jesus was tempted, Satan offered him the kingdoms of the world.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Scott]

He did.

[Bill]

And Jesus never said to him, those are not yours to give. Here's an important get. Satan can often be the author of opportunity.

[Grace]

Wow.

[Bill]

Because if all he has to do to keep anyone from the purposes of God is to give them a great opportunity, he'll do it. How much money do you need to not have to follow God? How many assets do you need? And in my opinion, unfortunately, thousands of Christians in America are trapped in the seduction of opportunity. But what if, as you said in the intro, what if next decisions are not based on opportunity or circumstances, but they're based on convictions? What if my next choices came out of the truce that I trusted? Yeah.

[Scott]

Which makes me think of Mother Teresa, who.

[Bill]

Exactly.

[Scott]

When she felt this call to open, this mission to minister to the poor she talks about, decades went by where she didn't sense God's voice. And so she was doing that whole work based on this conviction that she had.

[Bill]

Amen.

[Scott]

And went through this period of time of just struggle and work. And now we know the story. Everyone knows her name.

[Bill]

Absolutely.

[Scott]

Everyone's been affected by her influence.

[Bill]

Isn't that beautiful?

[Scott]

Yes.

[Bill]

And that's a great example, Scott, of this concept that we're working on together, this influence dynamic. What is the dynamic God is doing when he interrupts a life? What's he doing?

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

He's bringing that life, your life, my life. He's bringing that life into an opportunity to know him, experience him, know his truth, and build our life upon it.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

That's how our convictions are formed. And yet so many, quite honestly, so many Christian leaders that I have spent time with over many years have measured their lives by their success or the lack of it.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

Because no one has ever encouraged them to sit down and say, wait, how have you experienced God? How have you, in experiencing God, been influenced by truth?

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

And have you allowed yourself to make your life choices on the foundation of that truth? In our last session, I was talking about my own salvation experience.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

And talking about God interrupting My life. Well, six weeks after I become a Christian, I'm in Bible college.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Scott]

How did that happen?

[Bill]

I know. It's like, wait a minute, wait a minute. So my brother knew a man who happened to be the chairman of the board of a Bible college.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

And this man took me golfing. And this man who took me golfing, while we were golfing, he asked me a simple question. And I didn't know how to golf in those days, but I still don't do very well. But anyway, he asked me a simple question. He said, have you ever thought about going to Bible college? And I can honestly say no, because I didn't even know there was such a thing as a Bible college. So I didn't even think about it. He said, would you like to. And. And he explained to me why. Because I would learn the Bible and I would, you know. And I went, oh, yeah, I got to go to that place. I'm. I'm a Christian. So he set it up, and I literally went to Bible college before my transcripts got there. I was accepted on his word.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

And I show up in this Bible college. I wasn't meant for them and they weren't meant for me. But that's okay. I. I learned a lot. And the lessons, two lessons in that Bible college that had a profound effect on me. I was learning a lot. I loved what they were teaching. I mean, I wore pages of my Bible out. I couldn't read enough. One day we were studying the book of Romans. We had a guest speaker from Dallas Seminary, and he was talking about the righteousness of God in us. And something like that. I can't remember exactly, but he kept asking questions and nobody in the class was getting it. And he got real mad. So mad. Ever some teacher, Bible college anywhere else get mad enough? He slammed his Bible on the podium and he walked out of the classroom thinking, none of you are going to get this, and I'm not real smart. But I sat there and I went, there's something really significant here. I don't know what it is, but I've got to find it. What was he saying in Romans? And I went up to my room and I literally, after work that afternoon, I stayed in my room and I read Romans, chapters three, four, and five. Thinking, praying, crying, trying to figure it out till 4:30 in the morning. I was so convicted. It was my first experience with a deep conviction of truth. And I got it. And I went. I got it. And Dr. Woodring was single, and he lived in a moist dorm while he was there as a guest speaker, teacher. And I don't know where I got the courage, but at 4:30 in the morning.

[Scott]

This is crazy to me.

[Bill]

Yeah.

[Scott]

I don't know the story. I don't know if I call that courage. It was something.

[Bill]

It was something. But I got up at 4, I went down.

[Scott]

You went to his door at 4:30am.

[Bill]

4:30 in the morning. And I knocked on his door and he came to the door and he looked at me. What are you doing here? I said, I think I got it. He said, you got what? I said, I think I got what you were teaching us today. Why are you here? I got to tell you what I think I got. Well, tell me. I think you're telling us that we are not only righteous before God, but we actually have the very righteousness of Christ in us. He said, come in here.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

And we sat on two chairs in his little room till 7:30 when he had to clean up to get ready for breakfast. I can honestly say to you that there was such a deep conviction in me that I had discovered truth that I didn't know what to do with the truth. I discovered.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

I didn't understand what I had just learned.

[Grace]

Right.

[Bill]

Even with his review, quite honestly, as you know, Scott, it took me another 14, 15 years of understanding that what I had discovered in that Bible college as a 17 year old, 18, maybe 18 now, 18 year old kid, I discovered a powerful insight on grace. A powerful insight on grace. That God at Calvary in Christ made me a new creation and that I no longer am just declared righteous, but I am righteous. In fact, the evidence of this righteousness is the love of Christ in me.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

Oh my gosh. When I. And now.

[Scott]

And so that was at 18, at 18 years old. And so that conviction that truth has followed you your whole life.

[Bill]

My whole life.

[Scott]

It's defined your whole life?

[Bill]

It's defined my whole life.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

I want to emphasize that because years ago one of my mentors was Bobby Clinton at Fuller Seminary. And Bobby Clinton taught me and a lot of leaders how to do a timeline. Just how to break your life down into 10 year blocks and discover it. But the main purpose of the timeline, which I really want to encourage our listeners to understand. Do you know that if we can discover God in our yesterdays, we can find him in our tomorrows?

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

And do you know that God works with each one of us individually?

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

Every person. Now I'm talking about me. But that young boy had an experience of God's influence in my life through Dr. Woodring. And you just said it better than I. And that has followed me. And it's been the foundation of the theology of grace that I now have been teaching for over 50 years.

[Scott]

Here's a truth that I believe. Every person, if they were able to authentically share their stories, would find God's purposes, Amen in those stories.

[Bill]

Scott, I'm telling you, I want to scream back at you. Yes. Because if we could get people just to pause and look at their yesterdays in depth, they will discover circumstances, situations, people and things that were really God at work in them. They may have ignored it, they may have denied it, they may still not believe it.

[Scott]

They belittled it. Belittled it, Dismissed it.

[Bill]

Dismissed it.

[Grace]

Right.

[Bill]

But that doesn't mean it's not true.

[Scott]

And so the truth we're talking about is that the God of the universe, the creator of everything, black holes, everything, subatomic particles, whales that swim in the ocean, us.

[Grace]

That.

[Scott]

That God is in my heart.

[Bill]

Amen.

[Scott]

And wait, I could trust that he's in my heart.

[Bill]

Amen.

[Scott]

And I could let those convictions, he teaches me, those truths that he teaches me to influence my life.

[Bill]

Amen.

[Scott]

We don't want to make this Pollyannish.

[Bill]

No, it's not.

[Scott]

Doesn't mean I won't struggle. It doesn't mean I won't have. Have moments of like, what's going on?

[Bill]

Life hits us, no doubt about it. But that reality is foundational if I choose to trust it. I just got to give one more quick story while I was at death College. I'm now 19, a whole year later, and I'm all by myself in my dorm room. And for me, the first experience I ever had of sensing the presence of God happened in that dorm room. And to be honest, because I'm not a super saint. Scared the bejeebies out of me.

[Scott]

You're not a super what?

[Bill]

Saint.

[Scott]

Super saint. Yeah, it scared.

[Bill]

It scared me. I mean, deeply scared me. And I wish I could say to you that it went away instantly so I didn't have to worry about. Lingered. I don't have words for this. I've heard people say the same thing. There's a voice that you hear in a moment like that. It's God's. I don't know what. It's audible. I don't know. I don't know the source. I don't know the source, but I know. I know the voice was real.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

It simply said, the voice said, bill, my hand is on your life.

[Grace]

Yeah, that's all it said.

[Bill]

And every guy didn't get quiet. I still was a little freakish. I wasn't sure. But I want to say this. I believed it. I did. I believed it's God. I believed it was God. Now that is what I call the beginning of my own sense of destiny experience.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

Now, again, not in a polyatic way, but in a real way, believing that to be true. I already now, two years earlier, had become a Christian. I believe that was true. And now I have this sense of I believe that's true. With exceptions that were not good. Almost all of my life choices from that day forward were dependent. Does this direct me into this purpose of God that He has for me? Almost all of my choices led me that way.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

I left that room believing that this God of the universe that I invited into my life. Who said? I said, it's got to make a difference. I'm now feeling this is real, but I can't imagine the difference it's going to make.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

Bobby Clinton's language for what I'm going to say next would be this. There's such a thing as a divine confirmation or affirmation.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

And within days of that experience, I'm in the president of the college's office. Thought I had a meeting with him, and it was with his secretary, Eleanor. And Eleanor said to me, bill, I believe God's hands on your life.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Scott]

To confirm what you'd heard.

[Bill]

And then she made this statement. And I'm going to pray for you every day the rest of my life.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

Now, I'm not real smart, but I'm smart enough to know something is going on that is beyond my ability to comprehend and understand. But I knew it was God.

[Scott]

So I have a question for you. You have this conviction.

[Bill]

Yeah.

[Scott]

You have this affirmation from God that His hands on you.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Scott]

Working for Ira.

[Bill]

Yeah.

[Scott]

And you have a Bible camp and a weekend youth group meeting. And. And it kind of comes to a head.

[Bill]

Yeah.

[Scott]

And Ira says to you, bill, you got to make a choice.

[Bill]

Yep.

[Scott]

So in your story, you talk about coming home and talking to Grace about it.

[Grace]

And.

[Scott]

And you talked about you and Grace crying.

[Bill]

Yep.

[Scott]

Tell me about the tears.

[Bill]

Yeah. We sat at the table and we realized we now had to trust God with our tomorrows, and we had to trust him that his hand literally was on us to now go into the ministry with these young adults. And we cried because it was scary. It was awesome. But we didn't have a plan. We just had a confirmation that this is the Time. Quite honestly, Scott, that made it even more real for me. It was less Pollyannic at that point. We had two small children.

[Grace]

Right.

[Bill]

I wouldn't have a job.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

How do you trust God?

[Scott]

With this.

[Bill]

With this.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

Which is the two of us.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

You know, and, and. And yet for both of us, it was so clear. This is our next.

[Scott]

This is our conviction.

[Bill]

So that when we go in to see Ira, you know, the funny part of that story is. Don't tell me what you said, because he was gonna let me go.

[Grace]

Right.

[Bill]

But. But he found a job for me, Scott, that gave me two years. Grace sent me two years working part time, making as much money as I did with the Auditor General's office.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

To get ourselves prepared for God's next.

[Scott]

For us, which you had no idea.

[Bill]

Was coming at all.

[Scott]

There are these moments of suffering that God brings us into that we're not prepared for.

[Bill]

Amen.

[Scott]

That we don't understand.

[Bill]

Amen.

[Scott]

That we don't know how we're going to get through. And yet as we trust Him, He, I. He brings us through.

[Bill]

It's a paradox. God. Let me say it this way. Most of us want to say this. Show me God and I will trust you. And God wants to say, trust me and I will show you. Yeah, see, that's a paradox. It is a paradox because when I say to God, show me and I will trust you, I'm in control of the process. When my God says to me, trust me and I will show you, he's in control of the process. So the Christian life, we talk about it, we sing about it. There's thousands of books written about it. It's a life of faith. But not many of us have pondered the depth of what it means to trust God in a circumstance where only he knows the outcome.

[Scott]

I call that trusting without knowing.

[Bill]

Exactly.

[Scott]

He's asking us to do that, by.

[Bill]

The way, Scott, because that's the only way it'll work. Right? Yeah. I hate to be this negative, but I will say this. God's not looking for partners.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

He's not looking for partners.

[Grace]

Right.

[Bill]

He's looking for participants.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

And yet we want to be part of it. Well, we are part of it, but our part is the part he's chosen, not the part we've chosen for Him. Those are weird words to a lot of people. And I'm sure there's people listening to me right now going, what did he just say? But in reality, can I. And we'll hear stories next time. But can I? At 18 years old, trust the truth that forms my theology. Can I, at 19 years old, trust a God that forms all of the rest of my significant life choices? And if I can do that, anybody can do that. In our podcast, we're going to spend a lot of time in this season telling stories, but we're going to spend a lot of time reminding people of this God. You have to get God right.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

You've got to get God right. Secondly, if you don't get God right, you'll never get you right.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

So that's going to be pervasive to everything we say. Who is this God that would dare to interrupt a Scott's life and tell him to stay in a church and that he would take care of you? Who is that God that would do that? Who would come into this character's life? Well, that's the real God. So I'm going to say this and then it's more theme for later, but I'll say this. Unless we experience grace, we'll never get God right?

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

And we'll never get me. Right. And I'll never get you. Right.

[Grace]

Yeah.

[Bill]

So how in the world do I experience grace? By trusting God with me.

[Grace]

Right.

[Scott]

So our theme today was, are we going to live our lives based on open doors and opportunities? Let me just frame it a little bit different. Are we going to live our lives as victims to our circumstances?

[Bill]

Amen.

[Scott]

Are we going to live our lives based on our convictions that God has brought into our lives that God has given us?

[Bill]

Amen. Thank you.

[Scott]

We want you to live your life based on the convictions that God has placed brought to you. No one knows those except for you. And it's our desire that you can discover those.

[Bill]

Amen. Well said.

[Scott]

Thank you for listening to the podcast. We're really glad that you're here. We'd love to know that you're here. And so if you could leave a comment, we would appreciate that. But more importantly, if you know someone that should listen to this or hear it, we would love for you to share it with them. Thanks again.