Tripping on the the Stone of Blame

Today we are going to look at Job’s journey through everything we learned when discussing “Trip, Fall, Fly”.  It will be helpful if you do not have these, to go to the top left search area and just type it in and then allow it to pull up those posts for you.  Each one will help you understand a bit deeper the topics we will be discussing this week.

Last week in groups conversations we looked at these following subjects and we all added our two cents worth:

~Angels are referred to in a masculine gender when written about

~Satan was roaming the earth looking for someone to devour

~Satan like other angels was coming from the North, East, South and West taking charge over God’s words

~Our battle is not with flesh and blood

~The battle is supernatural taking place in the heavenlies

~Christ was tempted by the devil in the desert, when he resisted the devil the angels came to comfort him

We are now going to look at several scriptures about this heavenly battle.  In Ezekiel 28 from the NLT

¹Then this message came to me from the LORD: ²"Son of man, give the prince of Tyre this message from the Sovereign LORD: In your great pride you claim, 'I am a god! I sit on a divine throne in the heart of the sea.' But you are only a man and not a god, though you boast that you are like a god. ³You regard yourself as wiser than Daniel and think no secret is hidden from you. ⁴With your wisdom and understanding you have amassed great wealth—gold and silver for your treasuries. ⁵Yes, your wisdom has made you very rich, and your riches have made you very proud.

⁶"Therefore, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because you think you are as wise as a god, ⁷I will bring against you an enemy army, the terror of the nations. They will suddenly draw their swords against your marvelous wisdom and defile your splendor! ⁸They will bring you down to the pit, and you will die there on your island home in the heart of the sea, pierced with many wounds. ⁹Will you then boast, 'I am a god!' to those who kill you? To them you will be no god but merely a man! ¹⁰You will die like an outcast at the hands of foreigners. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!"

¹¹Then this further message came to me from the LORD: ¹²"Son of man, weep for the king of Tyre. Give him this message from the Sovereign LORD: You were the perfection of wisdom and beauty. ¹³You were in Eden, the garden of God. Your clothing was adorned with every precious stone ^F39 —red carnelian, chrysolite, white moonstone, beryl, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald—all beautifully crafted for you and set in the finest gold. They were given to you on the day you were created. ¹⁴I ordained and anointed you as the mighty angelic guardian. ^F40 You had access to the holy mountain of God and walked among the stones of fire.

¹⁵"You were blameless in all you did from the day you were created until the day evil was found in you. ¹⁶Your great wealth filled you with violence, and you sinned. So I banished you from the mountain of God. I expelled you, O mighty guardian, from your place among the stones of fire. ¹⁷Your heart was filled with pride because of all your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth and exposed you to the curious gaze of kings. ¹⁸You defiled your sanctuaries with your many sins and your dishonest trade. So I brought fire from within you, and it consumed you. I let it burn you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who were watching. ¹⁹All who knew you are appalled at your fate. You have come to a terrible end, and you are no more."

When ever we look at “Trip Fall Fly” we align that with “Warnings, Woes and Wisdom”  Since Job is a Wisdom and Poetry book we know that we are studying this to glean wisdom. 

This was not about Job it was about God.  Satan was provoking Him.  He wanted to push God to ruin the poor guy for no good reason. 

Satan’s plan thus far was foiled, he had to regroup.  He left for a time and came back into the presence of God with the Sons of God.  Again God addressed him.  You notice he did not say to Satan, “See I was right, in your face wise guy!”.  God did not even bring it up.  He again asked Satan, “Where have you come from?”  Simple, straightforward and non confrontational isn’t it?  It is Satan that is wanting to challenge God.  He had some time to think about it as he was wandering all over the earth.  He had killed all the places he had to inhabit around Job….or had he?

Today, read Job 2:1-10 which I am posting below.  Think about how vulnerable Job was and who should have been his largest encourager.  Please write your thoughts about all this.

One day when the sons of God came to stand in front of the LORD, Satan the Accuser came along with them. The LORD asked Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From wandering all over the earth.” The LORD asked Satan, “Have you thought about my servant Job? No one in the world is like him! He is a man of integrity: He is decent, he fears God, and he stays away from evil. And he still holds on to his principles. You’re trying to provoke me into ruining him for no reason.”Satan answered the LORD, “Skin for skin! Certainly, a man will give everything he has for his life.  But stretch out your hand, and strike his flesh and bones. I bet he’ll curse you to your face.” The LORD told Satan, “He is in your power, but you must spare his life!”Satan left the LORD’s presence and struck Job with painful boils from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.  Job took a piece of broken pottery to scratch himself as he sat in the ashes. His wife asked him, “Are you still holding on to your principles? Curse God and die!” He said to her, “You’re talking like a godless fool. We accept the good that God gives us. Shouldn’t we also accept the bad?”Through all this Job’s lips did not utter one sinful word.

I pray that we look at our thoughts in reality to who God is: The God of Love.  I ask that we look at the characteristics of satan and give him all the credit he deserves for trying to deceive us of our true knowledge and understanding of how loving and all caring our Father is.  Then ask for forgiveness for not believing in all His promises to love, protect us so that we can receive all the good he has in store for us.  Let’s not take any more harm from Satan okay.

My love to each of you and I pray that you seek Him with abandon of this world, in all your ways acknowledging Him.

In the Name of Christ Jesus our Lord,

Kisses,

Candace

Happy Easter

There are several verses that come to mind when reading this devotion.  The first is about casting down false imagination and the second is He will never leave us not forsake us, the third is do unto others as we would have them do unto us.

I know these must be self explanitory however you all know me....and my propelling propensities!

The reality is Christ came so that we would never be alone.  He knew it was to be treated that way....HE lived it and died it.  We will never be put through that....because He first loved us.  Which is my last point: He died for us, gave it all up for us and lived a sacrificial life.  He then asked us to do it unto others.

May you all feel the warmth of the Son in His all embracing ways this day....He is Risen Indeed.

Love,

Candace

The Way to Permanent Faith

Indeed the hour is coming . . . that you will be scattered . . . —John 16:32

Jesus was not rebuking the disciples in this passage. Their faith was real, but it was disordered and unfocused, and was not at work in the important realities of life. The disciples were scattered to their own concerns and they had interests apart from Jesus Christ. After we have the perfect relationship with God, through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, our faith must be exercised in the realities of everyday life. We will be scattered, not into service but into the emptiness of our lives where we will see ruin and barrenness, to know what internal death to God’s blessings means. Are we prepared for this? It is certainly not of our own choosing, but God engineers our circumstances to take us there. Until we have been through that experience, our faith is sustained only by feelings and by blessings. But once we get there, no matter where God may place us or what inner emptiness we experience, we can praise God that all is well. That is what is meant by faith being exercised in the realities of life.

".. you . . . will leave Me alone." Have we been scattered and have we left Jesus alone by not seeing His providential care for us? Do we not see God at work in our circumstances? Dark times are allowed and come to us through the sovereignty of God. Are we prepared to let God do what He wants with us? Are we prepared to be separated from the outward, evident blessings of God? Until Jesus Christ is truly our Lord, we each have goals of our own which we serve. Our faith is real, but it is not yet permanent. And God is never in a hurry. If we are willing to wait, we will see God pointing out that we have been interested only in His blessings, instead of in God Himself. The sense of God’s blessings is fundamental " ..be of good cheer, I have overcome the world" ( John 16:33 ). Unyielding spiritual fortitude is what we need. by Oswald Chambers.