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."

                 ______________________________________________
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

God is Reasonable

As a general assumption in regards to our societal mindset, I believe we are a bit too over achiever focused.   It is very obvious that we believe we can do anything if we just know how to do it.  We are supposed to be "self" sufficient.  We are annoyed by anyone who "can't pull their own weight".  We believe relationships are supposed to be "happy and convenient".  Everything is supposed to be geographically desirable or it's too much of an effort.  Children are to be like little adults, fully able to control themselves without stressing anyone out or embarrassing others.  The list goes on and on.....

Maybe this is a little over the top - I will let you be the judge.  But I started noticing how we even hold this over achiever's mentality and expectation with our salvation and new life in Christ.  When we think of getting saved, we think "Pow Wham" my life will be all fine now.  None of this "no pain, no gain" stuff.   We just wait till we know enough and have lived how we want to live - then in our own strength we will say it's time and start implementing everything.  Why don't we just have a belly laugh once and for all - right her, right now! 

I thank God that He knows us - how we think, act and what motivates us.  And He still chose us!  If we can't see in that alone just how  "loving, just and reasonable" he is,  then the rest is really going to be hard for us. In reality all we do is choose to finally let Him in.  Then He will start showing us things - hopefully we will be willing to give new ways a try - hence the "trip, fall, fly" process.

God IS reasonable and He shows us this continually. For instance,  He explained to us not to start off with a 5 course meal as we digest  these new things.  He suggested that we start as a baby with milk - like a newborn.  He understood that we would have to start out with something that all we had to do was focus and learn.  It also had to be something with a quick turn around.  Remember, He knows us well.

He chose something that we could see, experience emotional feeling of relief  about  - which would also  bring great joy as well as be able to multiply:  our provision.  And yet this is the one thing which is the hardest for us to trust Him with! Coincidence? I think not!  The truth is, in order for us to trust Him, we must COMPLETELY let go of  trusting in our "self". 

Do you think it is a coincidence? 

Think about these things:

• He wants us to have faith in Him
• Even if we speak like we believe something, we will not "trust" it till we have seen or heard it proven

This is what I think is so very cool about faith - we actually get to use our brains, discover, question and find the truth.  (Yes I am a full fledged geek - people don't expect this about me =D)  God tells us that Faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things Not seen in Hebrews 11:1.

So He promises He will make it tangible in some way.  It's not some mysterious, elusive, enigma.  There is substance and evidence - that's proof!  He tells us that His words make it manifest or produces it.

 For the word of God is active and living. This means we must know His words in order to speak them to produce the real and tangible.  But here in lies a problem because we will not speak something we do not have faith in - remember we are over achiever's who don't want to be made a spectacle of. 

Again, God is reasonable.  He knew we were going to be of this mentality.  So He, in advance, told us how to achieve this feat with success.  in Romans 10:17 So then - faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

We simply have to listen - how hard is that.  Well, pretty hard when the voices or words are telling us the truth.  But give it a try.  God loves you and me.......and He IS reasonable, loving and just.

Today, just read about how He desires to provide for you.  It's a promise, just like the birds, flowers and trees.  He will provide for you - always in all ways.

I thank Him, from all of us, for His providing a safe place for you to receive this, what a luxury it is to have your own computer.  He has nourished our body, given us comprehension and sustenance to sustain us yet another grand day.  Continue on Living His Dream!

With love,
Candace

"Above All Else"

Today all we are going to look at is the Hebrew definitions of our translated words within Genesis 1:20. We will need to understand these as we move forward with our study. I utilize Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance for the Hebrew definitions.

Genesis 1:20 (NAS)



Then God said, "Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens."

1. Waters is Mahyim same as waters the first of Genesis - water, waters, water of the feet, urine. Of Danger, violence, transitory things, refreshment.

2. teem is Sharats – meaning (Qal) to teem, swarm, multiply. To swarm.

3. Swarms is a derivative of sharats – it is Sherets meaning teeming or swarming things, creepers, swarmers - of insects, animals, small reptiles, quadrupeds.

4. Living is Chay meaning living, alive (green/ of vegetation, flowing fresh / of water, lively, active (of man) reviving (of springtime) it means relatives. Life (abstract emphatic sustenance, maintenance. Living thing, animal: life, appetite, revival, renewal. It means community.

5. Creatures is Nephesh meaning soul, self, life, creature, person, appetite, mind, living being, desire, emotion, passion. That which breathes – the breathing substance or being. The inner being of man or the soul. The living being as in the life in the blood. The activity of the mind – seat of emotions, passions and activity of the will, activity of the character are all seated here. Dubious.

6. birds is owph meaning flying creatures, fowl, winged insects, birds

7. Fly is uwph meaning to fly, hover, fly about or fly away. It also means to cause to fly or light upon and it can mean to fly to and fro. It has a (Qal) meaning: to cover, be dark, gloom.

8. Above is al this preposition has quiet an amazing depth for such a small word: upon, on the ground of, according to, on account of, on behalf of, concerning, beside, in addition to, together with, beyond, above, over, by, on to, towards, to, against. It means because of, for the sake of, with, for, in spit of, notwithstanding, concerning, in the matter of. It show above, beyond and over in excess (example in abundance to the full till it overflows). It shows pre-eminence of elevation (example not to lean on our own understanding – his thoughts are “higher than our thoughts). It also show multiplicity of addition – in addition to, together with, upon, unto (examples of where God adds to our ordinary to complete us) which is a deeper meaning of being over as in an extension or suspension. It means by adjoining, around next to in proximity (of contiguity) It also is a verb of motion: down upon, on, from, up to, towards, against. (examples God is for us not against us. Who ever is not against God is for Him). It is also a conjunction (conjunction junction what’s your function) to (as a dative?) because, notwithstanding and although.

9. Earth is same as earlier verses (erets) look back for definition.
10. open is paniym meaning face or faces, presence, person, face of: seraphim or cherubim, animals, surface of ground. It is also used as an adverb to describe location examples are before and behind, toward, in front of, forward, formerly, from beforetime as a preposition as well examples of each are: as Christ goes before all thing, God is omnipresent; we are to go before Christ, others before us. As a preposition it means in front, in the face of the enemy, Christ was with God from the beginning. Before there was, there was God.
11. Expanse is raqiya same definition as firmament – look back in notes.
12. Heavens is shawmayhim – interesting that it has the Hebrew work mayhim (we derive waters) as part of it. It is derived from an unused Hebrew word eym meaning lofty. Defined it means: heaven, heavens, sky or visible heavens, as an abode of the stars, as the visible universe or atmosphere, the abode of God.

Read the poem I sent last night. Think about these definitions as you are doing so. Take some time to write about what you are thinking for us to share together Friday.

I leave of with these two verse to ponder:

Proverbs 20:5 A plan in the heart of a man is like deep water, But a man of understanding draws it out.


Proverbs 27:19 As in water face reflects face, So the heart of man reflects man.


Ecclesiasties 3:11 He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.


1 Peter 1:12 God revealed to the prophets that the things they had spoken were not for their own benefit but for yours. What the prophets had spoken, the Holy Spirit, who was sent from heaven, has now made known to you by those who spread the Good News among you. These are things that even the angels want to look into.

I pray that we understand this day what God means when He promised us that the spirit searches all things even the depths of God. I pray that we: look toward the heavens each moment giving praise, that we keep our face set as flint and our eyes set on the things of His Kingdom, that we think on things that are holy, lovely and pure with the a devotion toward all that He is. Remember that the Holy Spirit has made all things known to you so guard your heart above all else, because out of it flows the issues of life. Be well today, because you can be!

With Love to you all...in 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

The Master of Spinning the Tale

For those of you that are not part of our monthly meetings if you would like the information so that you can be part of our groups we would love to have you.  We have another forum we utilize so that you have the freedom to speak your honest thoughts.  We encourage you to share all of them without fear of being right or wrong.  We are committed to encouraging you to be all God has made you to be...always...in all ways.

Send me an E-mail for more details.
candyhuff@aol.com or call us 404-432-0589
With Love in Christ,
From all the lovely women and children that make up Kaleidoscope Butterfly organization...
Candace Huffmaster, Founder
Kaleidoscope Butterfly, Inc

Yesterday we looked at the first day or the intro to the storyline God has opened for us.   God imagined a day with light and darkness so He made it.  We do not make things come into being that we do not believe to be good.  God is no different.   
Today we are adding in another verse to the previous two.  It is from Psalm 23.

In the beginning God created heaven and earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep water. The spirit of God was hovering over the water.

A new day will dawn on us from above because our God is loving and merciful. He will give light to those who live in the dark and in death's shadow.

Even though I walk through the dark valley of death, because you are with me, I fear no harm. (full chapter below)

Go back and review the posts on shadows (you can use the search area or click on the tags to the right side).  Randomly list your thoughts for a brainstorming session.  Go ahead and share them with each other if you'd like. 

As you are out and about today, look at the shadow you are casting and practice the presence of God..converse with Him.  You will be amazed at what He'd like to talk with you about.

I pray that we see beyond our ability as we thank God for imagining what "this day" would be like.  Seeing us all participating in it and believing that it was Good.
May each of you feel the warmth of His Son on you "while it is still called today"

Kisses,
C

Psalm 23 (GWT)

A psalm by David.


1The LORD is my shepherd. I am never in need. 2He makes me lie down in green pastures.He leads me beside peaceful waters.3He renews my soul.He guides me along the paths of righteousness for the sake of his name. 4Even though I walk through the dark valley of death, because you are with me, I fear no harm.

Your rod and your staff give me courage. 5You prepare a banquet for me while my enemies watch. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows. 6Certainly, goodness and mercy will stay close to me all the days of my life, and I will remain in the LORD’s house for days without end.

The Bottom Line on Profit, now this is Good!

John 5:25 (NAS) Truly, Truly, I say to you an hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear shall live.


John 5:25-28 (NAS) “For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment…because He is “Son of Man”.

We all love Guarantee’s don’t we? That lets us off the hook, no buyer’s remorse. “I can guarantee this truth: Those who listen to what I say and believe in the one who sent me will have eternal life.”

So today, let’s ponder a couple more things.

The scriptures yesterday stated that the Father doesn’t judge, He entrusted judgment entirely to the Son so that everyone will honor the Son…as they honor the Father. There is so much meaning in that scripture. God loves and trust Christ so much that He doesn’t think Christ will mess up the whole judgment thing. Wow, can you honestly say you would just let your older sibling take over disciplining your younger child - You would be hands off no questions asked?

Well if we look beyond the surface we will see that in this way of thinking we will never get it. In John 5:21 Christ was quoted as saying, “ For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes, “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given ALL judgment to the Son.” God does not judge so Christ does not judge. He trusts that Christ will not judge anyone. Believing this we are honoring Christ as we are honoring God.

Christ also says if we listen to what He (Christ) says and believes in God we will have eternal life. Why? – Because He won’t judge you. Why? Because you bypassed death and made it to life. How? God made Christ to take on death. There was a battle between life and death and Christ fought it to the death. But God has life in Himself and gave to the Son life in Himself. What Christ was doing was “executing” judgment which leads to death. In doing this He himself became the bridge of Life for us all to walk across that great divide. He laid across the void where the bridge to Death was. His hands were anchored on one land, nailed into the rocks on that shoreline; His feet were nailed securely on the other rocky shore. We simply have to believe it is secure and take the step, move across. (Go back and read the segments on fear of bridges if you would like more details here)

Then in verse 28 which we will close out “there is Good and there is good”, Christ states Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs shall hear His voice and shall come forth; those who did the good to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil to a resurrection of judgment.

If Christ was the executer of judgment it is best to know the Greek word in which we translated it from. Poieo means to make, it is derived from the root word poios which means quality. Poieo means to endow a person or thing with a certain quality (such as life, strength, courage, health etc) and to qualify it at the same time. It also means to appoint or constitute. It is the opposite of a Greek word prasso, which would bring out the means in which something was obtained, (all the steps etc.)

If we believe that Christ executed judgment then that would refer to it being done once for all. It would also make sense that in doing this there is no more great divide. We have now this same life within our self and although we are an independent creation we walk in the same love that God has endowed us with.

Agathos in Greek means good, however it is a good with benevolence it is useful while being profitable. Good if it does not benefit another, is not profitable, it is evil and you have chosen to take a bridge that might look wise, but it leads to an island. Christ states in verse 31 If I bear witness to myself MY testimony is not true. We will pick up here tomorrow.

I pray that “today” we all hear what the spirit of the Lord is telling us, receive it and be healed of our unbelief. Let’s cross this bridge together.

With the Love of Christ,
Candace

I Will Not be Late.

We have been speaking about what we see as far as our future is concerned. We spoke about how sometimes we are looking through the broken desires of our past. We remember when our aim or goal was in hope and we were striving toward reaching it. However, something came to pass that made us doubt and our hope became doubtful in stead of faithful.

God tells us in Proverbs that hope defered makes the heart sick. Defer simply means to submit to the opinion, wishes, or decision of another through respect or in recognition of it's authority, knowledge, judgment. It means to commit or entrust another!

Remember our discussions about the point in the road where we have to choose between fear and faith? The reason our heart gets sick is because in the deepest part of us, we saw something and believed it was good. Something crawled in beside us in our mind and told us that it was not going to happen, it was not coming to pass or it was snatched from us. We entrusted another, we made the decision to respect or give authority to deception.

In Habakkuk, God promised that the vision is not a lie. He promised that it is hurrying toward it's goal and it will make it; wait for it! We believe that God is not able to lie. We believe that He is faithful and that He promised us His word will not return to Him void. The only way that the vision will not be realized in our lives is if we believe more in something else than we do in God. Our vision changes!  What we now see as our vision is that it is difficulty, betrayal and brokenness.  We have to remember that it will still happen, we simply did not have all the pieces of the picture filled in yet.  Don't erase what you have seen and redo it.  Simply add details into what you first saw!

Each work God is doing brings life, peace, joy, provision in full form to many individuals. He affects the lives of others through us and visa versa.

Go back through the notebook if you do not have our information on Habakkuk. Re read this information and remember the vision, write it down. We will be discussing them soon.

With love and a Holy Kiss,
Candace

Habakkuk Chapter 2 vs 1-3 from the Message translation:

 1 What's God going to say to my questions? I'm braced for the worst. I'll climb to the lookout tower and scan the horizon. I'll wait to see what God says, how he'll answer my complaint.
2-3And then God answered: "Write this. Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run. This vision-message is a witness pointing to what's coming. It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait!  And it doesn't lie. If it seems slow in coming, wait.
It's on its way. It will come right on time.