Satan's View Point

We are following the happenings and looking at the scenes in Job 1 today which revolve around God, the sons of God and Satan.  Since I am not an expert on this matter, I felt it best to utilize a commentary by J Vernon McGee quoted from his Through the Bible series:

Heaven

Our next scene opens in heaven, and what a scene it is.  Neither Job nor any of the other people in this book knew that this took place at all.  But this scene will enable us today to understand and interpret some of the things which happen to God's people.  I don't say that it is the total explanation, but it is a part of it. 

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them (Job 1:6)

Now this is the scene in heaven.  The sons of God, His created intelligences, come before Him.  I must confess I know very little about them.  I think they are numberless, as numberless as the sand on the seashore, which means you and I cannot count them.  And they are not human beings; they do not belong to our race.  Yet these are God's created intelligences, and the are responsible creatures.  They must come to report to God as a matter of regular routine.  That is something I suppose we would expect.  But there is also something here that is rather shocking.  We are told that "Satan came also among them."  That is a surprise.

Ant the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it (Job 1:7)

By the way, Satan must also make a report.  That is amazing, isn't it?  Do you think he came from hell?  No, he didn't.  Friends, hell hasn't been opened yet.  No one is in hell today.  It will not be opened up until the Millennium takes place on this earth.  Hell is the place prepared fro the Devil and his angels, but they are not there yet.  The fact of the matter is that Satan has as much access to this earth as you and I have, and more so. 
This earth is the domain of Satan.  He has not been in hell.  He says that he has been going up and down - east, west, north and south - on this earth.  Remember that Scripture calls him "...the god of this world..."(2 Cor. 4:4) and "...the prince of power of the air..."(Eph. 2:2).  So that we know that he has great access and freedom on this earth today.  We are warned by Peter, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:8).  My friend, this is a warning, and this is exactly what we are told her in the Book of Job.  Satan himself said that he has the freedom to go up and down this earth. 
You remember that when Satan tempted the Lord Jesus he offered to Him the kingdoms of this earth.  The Lord Jesus never said, "You don't have them to offer. "  He simply refused the temptation.  Apparently those kingdoms are accessible to Satan, and he has that kind of freedom. 
When you look at this earth today, it does look like Satan is running things, does it not?  God is overruling all things but He has given Satan a period of freedom.  We are told that this world is which you and I live is controlled by Satan.  He must be overcome, and we can only overcome him by the blood of the Lamb.  Now this is quiet a revelation, isn't it.  And it is contrary to modern thinking. 

And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, on that feareth God, and escheweth evil? (Job 1:8)

God gives a good report of Job.  He says he is an outstanding man.  It would seem that Satan has been trying to get at Job.  I draw that conclusion from Satan's next statement.

Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?  Hast not thou made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side?  Though hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land (Job 1:9-10)

Apparently Satan had been trying to get through to Job and made the discovery that he couldn't get through to him because there was a hedge about him.  He tells the Lord, "You have put a hedge around him, and I can't touch him."
I believe that there is a hedge about every believer today, and I do not think that Satan can touch you unless God permits it.  And if God permits it, it will be for His purpose.  That is what this book teaches us.

But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face (Job 1:11).

Now Satan casts this slur upon Job.  I think he despises mankind.  He suggests that Job is really a timeservant to God.  And Satan has no use for you or me.  He says we are timeservants and that if God took down that hedge and took everything from us, we would curse God.
Mind you, there are a lot of people in the world who would curse God.  There is no question about that.  All one needs to do is listen to men on the street her in Southern Cal.  I hear God cursed nearly every day. 
One day I walked by a construction sit4e where on of the foremen was attempting to make some sort of an adjustment.  It didn't work and the piece fell down.  My, he began to curse God.  Now he may go to church on Sunday and carry a big Bible under his arm - I don't know about that.  But I do know this, he cursed God.  We hear that constantly today.  Men are not rightly related to God, my friend. 
This man Job had a hedge around him, and when Satan found he couldn't touch him, he said, "I'd like to get to him." Satan hates mankind.  Why in the world anyone wants to serve Satan is more than I know, because he despises us.  I wouldn't want a master like that, I want a master who will love me and be sympathetic toward me.  And that is the kind of Master I DO have.

And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand.  So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord (Job 1:12).

We learn here that sometimes God permits Satan to take away from us those things that we lean on.  I know that when our little security blanket is taken away from us we feel so helpless, incapable, and lost in this world.  Many of us cry out to God at such a time.
Notice that God is going to permit Satan to take all Job's possessions from him.  Believe me, Satan would destroy us if he could.  He has slandered both God and Job, inferring that God is not worthy to be served and loved for Himself alone, but that He must pay Job to love Him. Satan is the enemy of God and man.
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Today, think about some of our topics on loosing our peace because of the things we cannot control.  Think about what that states about our faith in God verses our ability to handle things in our own strength. 

I thank God that we live in the times when His spirit is within us and we are one with Him unlike Job who I respect immensely for doing all he did to uphold the commandments in his own strength allowing the hedge of protection to stay in place.  I thank God for His mercy and grace for the way He stayed with Job through all this.  I pray that when you are feeling attacked that you too feel His loving kindness upon you, rise up from within you and see the enemy flee. 

When you have done all to stand, remain standing,
Kisses,
Candace

Tested not Tempted

I thank God that He is who sets my day, His body's day in place.  I thank Him for those that come to speak strength, encouragement into our lives even though they do not know who will be receiving what is written.  Today, as for me, that person was Os Hillman.  God knows what I have been facing for many years, just as He knows what you have been facing.  He also knew what would be hitting you square in the face attempting to break you.  Thank God He is testing us not tempting us.  Personally I give all this into the wonderful, loving, generous, kind hands of Christ my prince of peace, the lover of my soul.  I thank God that He chose to give me mercy and grace, extend peace so that I might recieve that which surpasses all understanding of my simple mind.  In Him I have all things.  In Him I can do all things.  In Him that which I do for His glory is victorious always.  In Him I am a transformed creature that cannot be held down, held back, broken or taken from.  I thank God that, that which Satan comes to steal, kill or destroy is promised to be paid back to the point that I can do nothing but give praise as I honor the one and only I AM.

So how can I do anything but sing praise?  How can my contenance be down cast even for a moment? It can not unless I choose something lesser, a power lesser.....and that will never be. Amen.

 I pray that whatever you are facing to day, that you see the giant is God and He is for you not against you.  All else WILL flee from your presence.  You my dear brothers and sisters remain in faith and STAND!!

With love,

Candace



Tested for Abundance

TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman

"We went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance." Psalm 66:12b

It is nice to hear that God desires to bring us into abundance. In fact, many a preacher has promoted the goodness of the Lord and His ability to prosper His children. Alas, my experience is that this gospel of material abundance has little to do with the gospel of the Kingdom as our Lord works in the realm of the sanctified soul. The passage above tells us that God does in fact bring us into places of abundance. However, upon further study of the entire passage, we learn the route to this abundance.



For you, O God, tested us; You refined us like silver. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but You brought us to a place of abundance (Psalm 66:10-12). God's economy of abundance often has little to do with material blessing. In God's economy, abundance is often measured in wisdom and knowledge of Himself. It is then that we are truly blessed. Wisdom cannot be gained through intellectual pursuits. Wisdom comes only through experience. Real wisdom comes from the kinds of experiences that come only through the deepest tests. Lessons of refinement, including prison accompanied by burdens, lead us through the fire and water. This is the territory that must be traveled to reach that place of abundance. It would seem strange that a loving God would use such means with His children. What we often fail to realize is that God's measuring stick is the character and likeness of Jesus Christ Himself in each of us. This cannot be gained through a life of ease and pleasure. Ease and pleasure fail to refine.

Is God using your workplace to refine you today? Has He placed you in a prison or laid burdens on your back? Take heart if this is the place you find yourself, and realize that if you are faithful through the tests, you will enter a place of abundance that few will ever attain. The darkest hour is just before daybreak.

 

Lord I Will Follow You But.......

True Cost of Discipleship

Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
Then He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.” And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is dfit for the kingdom of God.”


Daily Devotion By Oswald Chambers - My Utmost For His Highest
Luke 9:62 (I added the full scripture that we used last week)

Suppose God tells you to do something that is an enormous test of your common sense, totally going against it. What will you do? Will you hold back? If you get into the habit of doing something physically, you will do it every time you are tested until you break the habit through sheer determination. And the same is true spiritually. Again and again you will come right up to what Jesus wants, but every time you will turn back at the true point of testing, until you are determined to abandon yourself to God in total surrender. Yet we tend to say, “Yes, but— suppose I do obey God in this matter, what about . . . ?” Or we say, “Yes, I will obey God if what He asks of me doesn’t go against my common sense, but don’t ask me to take a step in the dark.”

Jesus Christ demands the same unrestrained, adventurous spirit in those who have placed their trust in Him that the natural man exhibits. If a person is ever going to do anything worthwhile, there will be times when he must risk everything by his leap in the dark. In the spiritual realm, Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold on to or believe through common sense, and leap by faith into what He says. Once you obey, you will immediately find that what He says is as solidly consistent as common sense.

By the test of common sense, Jesus Christ’s statements may seem mad, but when you test them by the trial of faith, your findings will fill your spirit with the awesome fact that they are the very words of God. Trust completely in God, and when He brings you to a new opportunity of adventure, offering it to you, see that you take it. We act like pagans in a crisis— only one out of an entire crowd is daring enough to invest his faith in the character of God.

My love to each of you - Have a wonderful Sunday,
Candace