Job Description: Kill, Steal and Destroy

Today we are picking up in Job 1 by looking at what satan did to show God he was right about Job and the things he elaborately planned in order to provoke Job to curse God to His face.  First, I would like to start by framing our mind with some truths to enlighten our view points.  All the scriptures are from the NAS translation:
John 10:10-13

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have  it abundantly. 11 "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12 "He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd,  who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 "He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.

  Romans 8:20 and 21 where Paul states:

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because  of Him who subjected it, in hope  that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And  not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan  within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the  redemption of our body.  For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

Luke 11:21-23:

“When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own mansion, his property is safe.  But a stronger man than he may attack him and defeat him.  Then the stronger man will take away all the weapons in which the strong man trusted and will divide the loot.

Genesis 2:15,16 and 3: 16, 19

Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to farm the land and to take care of it.  The Lord God commanded the man.  He said “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden.  But you must never eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because when you eat from it you will certainly die.
……"I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth, In pain you will bring forth children……………
………For you are dust, And to dust you shall return."

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With this frame of thought let’s read about the next few pieces of Job’s journey as satan goes about killing, stealing and destroying what God has created.  Job 1:13-22 (GWT):

One day when Job’s sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s home, a messenger came to Job.  He said “While the oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, men from Sheba attacked.  They took the livestock and massacred the servants.  I’m the only one who has escaped to tell you.”
While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “A fire from God fell from heaven and completely burned your flocks and servants.  I’m the only one who has escaped to tell you.” 
While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three companies and made a raid on the camels.  They took the camels and massacred the servants.  I’m the only one who has escaped to tell you.”
While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine at their oldest brother’s home when suddenly a great storm swept across the desert and struck the four corners of the house.  It fell on the young people, and they died.  I’m the only one who has escaped to tell you.”
Job stood up, tore his robe in grief and shaved his head.  Then he fell to the ground and worshiped.  He said, “Naked I came from my mother, and naked I will return.  The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away! May the name of the Lord be praised.”
Through all this Job did not sin or blame God for doing anything wrong.

There are several things that we need to be aware of here.  First satan uses the people in our lives who are easily manipulated to carry out his plans.  This does not mean that the people are evil or possessed.  It simply means they do not guard against false imaginations by casting them down and filling that space with a truth of God.  Satan spared a mouth piece in each situation who believed exactly what he wanted them to believe and ran in fear to make the report he wanted made to Job.  God did not send the natural disaster, satan did.  Satan must have loved the fact that he was being called God Almighty, he must have felt so very powerful in those moments. 
Can you imagine how his ego shriveled up and he ran when his scheming didn’t overtake Job’s love and trust in the faithfulness of our Lord God Almighty.  Even though Job did not understand that it was not God that took anything away, He only gives blessing.  Job did not allow satan to be the strong man in his land.  Job was righteous as God had stated.  Satan was proven once again to be the deceiver and God was magnified even on the worse day Job had ever imagined possible. 
Satan left a loser but that is not the end of this journey.  Satan does not give up when he sees that we do not fully comprehend the truth.  When he sees a foot hold you can sit back and collect bets, cause he will return…..as soon as we have our house swept and put in order.
Today, just read through this and think about it.  Tomorrow I want you to read it again, and write about it.  I will come back and post notes from one of our groups meeting tomorrow morning to give you some feed back.
Today I give thanks for the things we already see, I give thanks for the hopes that we have in our heart and I ask for his sight to keep your eyes set on the horizon where they will appear before you.  I lift His name on High to receive all praise honor and glory for all eternity.
In Christ, with Love,
Candace

True Beauty In All Things Is The Glory Of God

As I have been reading and researching "facts" about the four rivers that break out of the river flowing from Eden I learned and pondered many things.  I am placing the links below if you are interested in the best of what I found.

After searching, reading, and reflecting I realized what I was reading was interesting however I was missing the beauty due to desiring knowledge and facts.  I was cutting out the relationship with God in search of wisdom.  I was eating from the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil" instead of the "Tree of Life".  Wow! 

I can see how easily this happens.  When I listened to that quiet still voice what I heard was sure it has meaning, sure those rivers can be traveled but look to me...look AT me.  Stay here with me don't be so quick to seek a journey away from me.  Ouch!  Here I was being Martha, when I should have been Mary.

God created a beautiful environment most of the elements spoken of in many translations of our bible are Gold, Lapiz, Onyx, fragrance etc.  If God did not desire us to surround ourselves with beauty he would not have created them.  Beauty tangible and intangible is of God.  Art, Music, Love, Conversation are all to be utilized to show praise it is the our pouring of our hearts. The beauty of  our appearance, our homes, landscaping, or objects we decorate self / environment with are included in what I am speaking of. This is all Eden.  Beauty for no other purpose than it is beautiful, desirable and not necessary; simply a DELIGHT.  This delight is the glorious outpouring of Gods heart.  The one river flowing is the love of God and all things branching from that are reaching the four corners of this earth for the purpose of flowing back to Him in thanksgiving, praise, honor.  I believe God simply desire for us to show respect to the beautiful things He desires to lavish upon us, share through us so that He is seen.

As I have written many times over you are beautifully and wonderfully made.  Made first for a relationship with God and then with mankind.  I pray that you stay with us, find all the beauty that God created within you to share and then sing, dance, write, speak, CREATE whatever you desire.  Not because you are perfect at it, but because you can ....for Him.

This is what Kaleidoscope Butterfly was created to support...The True Beauty of God in all and through all of us.

I pray that today He is glorified in all we do.  I tie all this together with verses which are pivotal in all KB seeks to unveil with Love. Proverbs 4:23 (Amplified) Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.   Isaiah 61:1-3 (GWT) The Spirit of the Almighty Lord is with me because the Lord has anointed me to deliver good news to humble people.
He has sent me to heal those who are brokenhearted, to announce that captives will be set free and prisoners will be released. He has sent me to announce the year of the Lord’s good will and the day of our God’s vengeance, to comfort all those who grieve. He has sent me to provide for all those who grieve in Zion, to give them crowns instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of tears of grief, and clothes of praise instead of a spirit of weakness.  They will be called Oaks of Righteousness, the Plantings of the Lord, so that he might display his glory.

Amen!
With Love,
Candace

http://www.kjvbible.org/rivers_of_the_garden_of_eden.html  


http://jhom.com/topics/rivers/eden.htm
http://www.tonycooke.org/free_resources/articles_gen_tony/rivers_eden.html
https://pgchurch.sslpowered.com/pgchurch.ca/sermons/Genesis2.pdf

Life Verses Knowledge of Good and Evil

Genesis 2:8,9 (The Message)


Then GOD planted a garden in Eden, in the east. He put the Man he had just made in it. GOD made all kinds of trees grow from the ground, trees beautiful to look at and good to eat. The Tree-of-Life was in the middle of the garden, also the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil.

When we really sit with each verse of Genesis we can see how thoughtful God is in every way. Even when creating the earth and it's environment he left nothing to chance. Until He created man to care for things he did not create the garden. After He created the garden of His delight, He then placed Man in it. Notice that this was not man's choice. Just as God placed the stars in the sky to be signs and wonders, markers for time and seasons, He also put Man in his destined environment.

With that being said, God still allowed man the choice of living within His place of delight or in control and left to his own devices. Man chose Knowledge of Good and Evil over Abundance Life.
We will discuss this in more detail later on in Genesis.

Today let's praise God for His pupose and plan, for our salvation and deliverance through Christ. Let's share of our hope from disaster and how there is rest due to His lamb. Let's shout with joy that He is risen, His life is liberating to the lame, His breath flows from our praises and enlivens the dryest of things.
I pray that this permiates your soul and that your spirit prospers more today....share of yourself with others. You are His delight and I am delighted to know you,

Candace

The Best Fishing Spot

If we look back at yesterdays verses in Genesis we know that God even created the best fishing holes.  Well maybe that wasn't his defining purpose, however we can utilize it for an analogy =D.

If you are an avid fisherman, when you are trying to catch a certain "kind" of fish you look for where they are drawn to by their nature.  You know what type of lure, bait or trap to utilize and they you wait patiently after you have "set" the trap.  This is because that is how God ordained things to be.  He created the origin of nature, distinction of characteristics of species and habitats in which they would thrive.

We can use our minds to understand all these complex thoughts, but can you imagine being the Deity that created them?  Can you imagine what God imagined (and it was so)?  The book of Job enlightens us on God's answer to the questions; Chapter 38:

Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm.  Who is this that belittles my advice with words that do not show any knowledge about it.  Brace yourself like a man!  I will ask you and you will teach me.
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?  Tell me if you have such insight.  Who determined it's dimensions?  Certainly, you know!  Who stretched a measuring line over it?  On what were it's footing's sunk?  Who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?  "Who shut the sea behind gates when it burst through and came out of the womb, when I clothed it with clouds and wrapped it up in dark clouds, what I set a limit for it and put up bars and gates, when I said, " You may come this far but no farther.  Here your proud waves will stop?  "Have you ever given order to the morning or assigned a place for the dawn so that it could grab the earth by its edges and shake wicked people out of it?  The earth changes like clay stamped by a seal, and parts of it stand out like fold in clothing.  Wicked people are deprived of their light and an arm raised in victory is broken.  have you gone to the springs in the sea or walked through the valleys of the oceans depths?  Have the gateways to death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gateways to total darkness?  Have you even considered how wide the earth is?  Tell me, if you know all of this!

"What is the way to the place where light lives?  Where is the home of darkness so that you may lead it to its territory, so that you may know the path to its home?  You must know because you were born then and have lived such a long time!  Have you been to the warehouses where snow is stored or seen the warehouses for hail that I have stored up for the time of trouble, and the day of battle and war?  Which is the way to the place where light is scattered and the east wind is spread across the earth?  "Who made a channel for the flooding rains and a path for the thunderstorms to bring rain on a land where no one lives, on a desert where there are no humans, to saturate the desolate wasteland in order to make it sprout with grass?  Does the rain have a father?  Who gave birth to the dewdrops?  From whose womb came the ice, and who has given birth to the frost in the air?  The water hardens like a stone, and the surface of the ocean freezes over.  "Can you connect the chains of the constellation Pleiades or untie the ropes of Orion?  Can you bring out the constellations at the right time or guide Ursa Major with its cubs?  Do you know the laws of the sky or make them rule the earth?  Can you call to the clouds and have a flood of water cover  you?  Can you send lightening flashes so that they may go and say to you, Here we are?  Who put wisdom in the heart or gave understanding to the mind?  Who is wise enough to count the clouds or pour out the water jars of heaven when the dirt hardens into clumps and the soil clings together? 

We will start back tomorrow with the rest of God's answer to our questions..as for today. Sit with him to listen and learn from the Master of spinning thoughts, story lines and purposes.  Glean from His knowledge, Listen to His plans and be more than wooed.....Be inspired...Be Propelled....Live the Zoe Life He created.
Starting this moment, it a choice, an option.  It is not forced because He loves you deeply, honestly, passionately but mostly freely with a love that is intended to lift us up, feel soft and beautiful, and yet boldly fierce to protect you.  Please See that today.
With the Love of our Christ,
Candace

Is God in Your Way, or Are You in His?

Genesis 1:9-13


Then God said “let the waters below the heavens be GATHERED in to One Place, and let the DRY LAND appear; and so it was.

The first thing that really stormed my mind about these verses today was how awesome it must be to have total authority, confidence and trust in the ability to literally / materially realize what you have been conceiving. I am in awe of what it looks like when there is nothing standing in God’s way. He says it is so…..and so it is. “Boom, there it is!”

That is where a question met me square, eyeball to eyeball. It was taunting me, “If you are made in God’s image and He REALLY gave you all the same authority to conceive / realize just as He does, why is it not happening? Are you standing in God’s way, or is He standing in yours? “Boom, there it is!”

It is not as if I am the first woman ever to be taunted by this question. Heaven’s no! Eve was the first and Satan has very few tricks up his petty little sleeve. So I simply acknowledged that He is a liar here to steal, kill and destroy what God has “allowed” us to partake in. He is NOT that tough once you “decide” to believe God.

If God said, “Let it be so” about anything. We simply have to “Let it be so and get out of the way”. So…moving forward let’s look at the Hebrew word Qavah from which the translators’ derived this word.

What this verb means is:

1) to wait, look for, hope, expect 2) waiting (participle) 3) to wait or look eagerly for 4) to lie in wait for 5) to wait for, linger for 6) to collect, bind together 7) to be collected

When we understand the meaning of Qavah we can’t help but realize that “whatever” entity this verb is a speaking of has already been formed and made. This entity is simply expectantly, hopefully, eagerly, waiting. It is lingering with such a great propensity of how wonderful it will be when it is displayed or uncovered.

Let’s look a bit further into this verse to understand what this entity was “going through”. The waters above and the waters below the horizon were in movement. They were being gathered “into one place”. (Genesis 1: 1-8)

When God gathers something into one place, he sets the place, once for all. It is predestined to be there and available.

We are stopping here today. I pray that you look at what is going on in and around your life. I pray that you ask if you are with God or against God. I ask that you prayerfully listen to his disclosure of facts and that you wait with expectancy for the sight of His revelation.

With the love of Christ,

Candace