When We Do Not Know Of That Which We Search…… We Roam.

Today we are going to focus on the last 6 verses in Job 3 from God’s Word translation. Verses 20 - 23 appear as thought Job asks 2 questions, however in truth they are rhetorical statements.   Given that Job has always been the one to “give answers” the poor guys probably does not know how to be vulnerable…..and appreciate receiving care. Or maybe it is simply that no one around was attempting to give him any care or compassion.   Have you ever experienced Job’s land of UZ?  Let’s look at these 6 verses and separate the truth from the fiction:

“Why give light to one in misery and life to those who find it so bitter, to those who long for death but it never comes – though they dig for it more than for buried treasure?”
“They are ecstatic, delighted to find the grave, Why give light to those whose paths have been hidden, to those whom God has fenced in ?”

As you all know by know one of my greatest praises to God is that I am forever grateful to live in the space this side of the cross.  Job did not have the bible in which God had someone record the scene in heaven so that he could understand what we know as the spiritual battle.  We also have the word of God which gave us the true knowledge so that we would not be mislead as Job was. 
For instance, why give light to one in misery?  We know that Christ is the truth, the way and the life.  The reason is so that we can find our way, see the light and have a reason for hope.  It is only through hope that misery flees.  Christ came to bind up the broken hearted and to set captives free.  His light shines on the darkness so that the darkness must flee.  He sends the comforter for misery and when someone finds comfort their bitterness or hardness softens.  It is then and only then that hope blossoms.
…..to those who long for death but it never comes – though they dig for it more than for buried treasure?'” :  We are promised that God does not cut our time short and that is another reason for our hope.  We are to search for Him, dig if you will, with all our heart, strength and soul. Although we know our desire is to find relief it comes from life, not death.  We cannot perceive that we are already dead and in this death there is only anguish.  The only relief from death is life.  Most people or at least those seeking are in fear of loss, death, finality.
We know that Satan is in Jobs head when we hear the perversion from these words: Why give light to those whose paths have been hidden, to those whom God has fenced in.  Sound familiar?  In Job, scene 1, satan answered the Lord with this statement:  “Haven’t  you put a protective fence around him, his home, and everything he has?”  Now we hear Job confessing that the protection of his Almighty is claustrophobic. 
The next three verses are very important in order for us to see the truth in what is taking place here:

• When my food is in front of me, I sigh
• I pour out my groaning like water
• What I fear most overtakes me
• what I dread happens to me
• I have no peace
• I have no quiet
• I have no rest

…….and trouble keeps coming!
The first thing we give thanks for to God is our daily bread.  We know we cannot live by bread alone, but from the very word of God.  Job is struggling with both here.  His gratitude, for the one thing God stated satan could not take away, his very life is more than flailing here.
“I pour out my groaning like water” – we discussed last week how an unclean spirit is seeking out a waterless place to rest.  These spirits in the past could not enter Job because he was water filled.  So they waited, provoked,tormented, abandoned, mocked and belittled Job till he did not have the strength left to fight them off - “What I fear most overtakes me!”
How awful, have you ever been there.  All you see is darkness, you feel it crushing in ………and you don’t have the in your heart and mind these wonderful words to help you persevere “We may be pressed on all sides but we are not crushed!”  So we see that they did come in and they found rest because Job didn’t have it any longer.  He had no peace and obviously their voices were disturbing his mind because he stated he had no quiet. 
This my friends sound like “Hell on Earth”.  And true to the rest of the verse from last week “the state of the man became worse than the first!”
Satan lost that first round, so he came back with 7 more powerful.  They were wicked unclean spirits.
These are the things I want you to think about then write your thoughts for us to discuss:
Satan had been circling Job as a lion studying his prey. Do you think he had a pack of demons surrounding Job as well?
Job had 7 sons we are told and three daughters.  His sons were the ones creating the parties and opening their doors to encourage others to join in.  All that Job had been blessed with was theirs and they were using this prosperity in ways that harmed Job’s peace, and ultimately his reputation.  Could they have been waterless places in which evil found a resting place?
For today, I thank God that we have His mercy, grace and written word in order that we may know all things in advance.  I pray that those of us in need of wisdom, that our spirit prospers even as our soul just as He has promised.  I ask that we all intercede for each other first and then make requests on our own behalf so that God may have a body to call his very own – complete in all ways.
In Christ,
Candace


©2011 All Rights Reserved

What Is That Thing??

This post is for those of you that are not able to make it to a group. For those of you that do, it is a great review. We discuss so much in such a short time frame that it can be overwhelming at times. With that….
Based on some of the growth I have had personally over the years we were reflecting on discernment and wise counsel. As always we base our conversations on biblical principles and use real life situations to glean some experiential knowledge.

This was from a time when I was personally trying to resolve conflicts and live in harmony with those in my immediate surroundings. The conversation went like this:

“I am trying to understand some things”. “I have been thinking (no big surprise) about words we use with each other”. “Maybe by expressing what I am thinking, it will bring forth some understanding for us - if we can be honest with each other”.

“We both are intelligent enough to know, that in order to bring resolve, things have to be talked about.” “In my opinion, it is only fair for all individuals to have a chance to put their hurt, understanding etc. on the examining table for looking at and through.” “All individuals should try to search deeply from all aspects as if trying to figure out what the object is. Nothing should be judged at this point only expressed for the most clarity, like a brainstorming session.”

“ Think about it; a relationship is the best abilities of each individual bringing what they have to that table to name that object, find out what it is, what it does, if it is dangerous or safe to keep in their midst.” “Sometimes one person might have more or a different experience with the type of object. But even if they have less experience it does not mean that the each person shouldn’t extend their best understanding or knowledge forward. In fact when we are challenged and open to the questioning of others we must grow beyond our own limits. And in my opinion we should not simply accept what another states if we have no knowledge we should use all our discernment and knowledge to challenge the accuracy of what is being stated as a fact. This challenges the other individuals to think deeper, pull from more sources themselves in order to prove their case. “

“When all this is done in the spirit of helping the environment as a whole survive AND thrive then there should be harmony even if there are differences of opinions”. “ Think about it like this”:

“What if we were aliens and something foreign slipped into our space ship”. “ We would need the best of the best minds available to gear up and enter into the quarantined area as we investigated, probed, charted, challenged the safety of whatever it was”. “Would be open the hatch and throw it out? “Would we poke it and see if it spewed out acid that would destroy our ship – and us? “ “Would we simply keep it quarantined and watch it over time as we search for others to bring forth their expertise because we really had no earthly idea?”

There is a nugget of our last discussion – Journal about some things you have examined and I pray that each of you try to bring your A game to the next project. Please believe in the process of relationships and the value of growth.
We will get to some of the bible verses in the next few posts.

I pray that each of you enjoy your life remembering that we are aliens, exiles, foreigners in this world.  And I give thanks that we are no longer exiles, foreigners and aliens to the Kingdom of God - through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

In the Spirit of Him that keeps us alive and well - always and in all ways,
Kisses,
Candace


© 2007 Candace Huffmaster, All Rights Reserved

Mr. Fools Wild Ride

The Collateral Damage of Mr. Fool

We have been talking about the character of Crisis and how we need to not get onto the path with him, especially if we are crossing his path. We know that when crisis enters our lives it takes wisdom to minimize the collateral damage. We also know that wisdom comes from God, that our understanding is paled in comparison. For most of deeply we were looking at wisdom and pondering what where our beliefs align and where we thought differently. Now, in the Honestly Series we will be looking at the opposite of wisdom – the fool.


For our purposes we will call him Mr. Fool. Mr. Fool has many character traits. So, fasten your seat belts and hang on tight. We are taking a whirl on “Mr. Fools Wild Ride”. The bad news is that it has jumped off the track and headed straight toward Crisis. Hopefully, he will listen to Wisdom who is seated next to him…….at least for now.

For two weeks we will be on this roller coaster so take your Dramamine!

One of the first things we notice when jumping on board beside Fool is how contentious he is. Instead of giving you a simple definition of this trait we are going to look at Proverbs 18, please take time to read these passages. I believe a picture is worth a thousand words. This way hopefully we can wisely avoid years of conflicting relationships through this wisdom – Here is his story:

Fool was heartache to his father and bitter grief to his mother. His mouth was his ruin, as it was a ruin to his father. If it had not been for the Lord the bitterness and grief would have worked in his mother to goad her into a quarreling woman. But she was not she was sensible, she still grieved as she delve out knowledge endlessly asking Fool to control his words, consider what she was saying to help him be even-tempered, even to simply close his mouth so others would think he was wise and intelligent, but he always knew better than everyone else so he would cut them off and express his own opinions. He never found joy in understanding so he would move away from them and others who tried to open his eyes, mind and heart to the truth. Always out to get what he wanted for himself above all else, he became a loner.

Any time Fool saw that someone was not on board with him he had to quickly eradicate them. He would open his mouth expressing his own opinion knowing it would start an argument….actually provoking a beating. Every wise person would see how deep the waters of his ruin were and that if they did not leave they would drown in the storm he was calling in. As they would leave him their compassion would call out to him, “Fool your mouth is your ruin, and your lips are a trap to your soul. We pray that you will hear truth, turn from your ways and be saved from the destruction you are headed towards”.

While it is a normal part of growing, maturing and living to be foolish at times, hence Christ prayed for us before His death “Father forgive them for what they do not understand”, it is when this habit becomes your character and the foolish becomes the Fool that leads to the man who is an island. I pray that today you do not harden your heart as the Mr. Fools did in the past, but that you hear, turn from your own opinions and understanding to listen to God and then run to him …..to never again leave him or forsake him.

It is Gods’ will and good pleasure to deliver you eternally, starting in this life. Give Him the gift of your will and good pleasure to allow Him, His will.

Today write about some foolish moments in your life – go ahead, make it personal…you can because I do not think any of you are Mr. or Mrs. Fool, and all things are common among us – so you don’t have to hang your head in shame, okay?

With the Love of our Christ,
Kisses,

Candace

© Candace Huffmaster 2007, All Rights Reserved. 
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When Crisis Blows Through Your Town

1 Samuel 2:3 (NAS) “Boast no more so very proudly, Do not let arrogance come out of your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and with Him actions are weighed.”

As we know all things are common to man. That means anything that is happening to you is not out of the ordinary. So when we use the cliché’ “You have no idea” that is simply not true. Why then do some individuals enter into these so called “common moments” and end up in crisis while others do not? Firstly, most of our “serious frustrations” are produced due to external events. The reason these events become serious is due to our lack of exposure to development in dealing with whatever it is; so it throws us off balance.

Yesterday we were looking at the importance of not “saving” everyone from their development and allowing God room to work on His creation as He sees fit. Today we are going to look at why.

Let’s say Crisis is an actual person, these would be his character traits: anxiety, self-blame, frequent sense of personal failure and guilt. When you look in his photo album you can see that his whole life is nothing more than one problem after another. There have been many people in Crisis’ life who truly love him. They understood the tremendous emotional impact this was for him and how this was diminishing his ability to see problems clearly; hendering his ability to stop the insane journey he was on. They desperately posted warning signs, tried to close roads and anything else they could do to clear his vision but each time he would simply put up blinders and hit the gas pedal. So….things could never be different and soon he was too far away for them to even be seem.

Now Crisis travels the roadways without breaking, he is oblivious to oncoming traffic – so YOU must beware as you travel. If you and he come to an intersection in life there is going to be a catastrophic calamity at that moment I pray that God intervene and the weight of his choices not fall upon you.

Tomorrow we will review something from deeply dealing with examination skills.

Today, write about how Crisis “missed you by that much” when he zoomed through your land.
See you in the MORNING my lovelies!

Kisses,
Candace