Job
Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.
Job was careful. He covered himself and his family and lived like this:
Job 1:5 So it was, when the days of feasting had run their course, that Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did regularly.
God LOVES Job:
Job 1:8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?”
But there is something Job is lacking...and God has a plan to uncover it, that Job might know God:
Job 1:9-11 So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!”
Sometimes the accuser is right. Satan and God both knew something about Job that Job couldn't see. After Job lost his wealth, his family, and finally his health, Job breaks down and tells it all....there was a major thing broken in Job's heart BEFORE all of the trouble started:
Job 3:24-26 For my sighing comes before I eat, And my groanings pour out like water. For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, And what I dreaded has happened to me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, for trouble comes.”
And in these words we find out what was driving this man God still called "blameless" and "upright"...it was fear of something bad happening. Job said this loss is what he had "greatly feared" and "dreaded." God saw this fear way before satan accused Job before the throne. Oh, how satan had surely always hated the apple of God's eye and wanted to harm all along, but there came a day when God saw that Job was ready to face his fear...that this might be the testimony of Job:
Job 42:2-6 “I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’ “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.”
It was certainly right for Job to repent. Not for His words of defense, not for his statements about justice or God...no! God said Job had told the truth about God:
Job 42:7 And so it was, after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.
It was Job's fear that God was addressing, not the accuracy of his words! Job was driven by a fear...his dread... of what satan might do to him if he got out of agreement with God. God set out to show Job that fear of what the enemy might do is much less reasonable than the fear of the Lord who made heaven and earth. Listen to God's opening statement:
Job 38:1-7 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: “Who is this who darkens counsel By words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me. “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Fear of the created satan and what he might do is simply not wise. Fear of your boss and what he might do, fear of the loss of your money, fear of the loss of you children, fear of the antichrist armies, or the raging earth....fear of any of these things lacks wisdom. To fear anything created demonstrates a lack of knowledge of who really owns creation. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom:
Psalms 111:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.
Satan could have never touched Job without permission. Right now satan would kill you IF he was allowed. It didn't just occur to satan to touch Job. Satan knew all about Job as soon as God brought him up. Satan knew ALL about the hedge of protection God had placed around Job...satan knew because satan had explored every inch of that hedge...satan could touch NOTHING of Job's!
Job 1:6-12 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord , and Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person. ” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord .
Fearing the Lord is what frees me from a fear of satan. But fearing God isn't fearing what God might allow to touch me if I mess up! God has perfect love for me...there is no one in all creation who could love you or I more than God. The most tender love of a mother or a good father, or a friend, or a brother, or a husband or wife could not come close to the tender and compassionate perfect love God feels for you and I. But that isn't all! That perfect love dwells right next to omnipotent knowledge...there isn't one facet of my life God does not see...even the fleeting thoughts I forget seconds later, God has archived and studied...he knows EVERYTHING about my situation. But even THAT isn't all! Right along side perfect love and complete insight, there dwells perfect power. There is nothing God cannot do! Nothing is beyond the strength of His arm. So if God is perfectly loving, knows my situation perfectly, and is perfectly strong, there is nothing reasonable to fear EXCEPT missing out on a greater encounter with God and how He feels about me!
This is what the fear of the Lord really is: to fear loving Him any less than I possibly could in this age. To fear making anyone else's opinion, commands, or threats more important than walking as closely with God as possible that I might catch another glimpse of His transcendantly beautiful love for ME!
This is what God wanted to give Job: a knowledge of God...to see God in a way that would take His heart beyond the fear of negative circumstances or the hunger for positive circumstances, and into the realm of desiring one thing:
Psalms 27:4-6 One thing I have desired of the Lord , That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord , And to inquire in His temple. For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord .
I heard the TV preacher Creflo Dollar say one of the most brilliant truths I have ever heard. I am not a huge C. Dollar fan, but hearing this actually changed my life: faith and fear are both spiritual connectors. Faith connects you to what you hope for and fear connects you to that very thing you fear.
God loves us too much to not reveal the true nature of our fear, and the true weakness that very thing we fear has to really make, or break, our lives. This is the testimony of Job.
Right now, we live at the start of the most intense time the earth has ever seen. Right now MANY do not want to think or hear about it because of fear. Not the fear of missing out on knowing God more...unfortunately, most are driven by a fear of possible negative circumstances. God is sending out warning after warning in this hour so that we would deal with our false fears now...casting them out...trading them for the fear of the Lord...that beautiful and clean fear that says "I don't want to miss what you are doing in this hour! I'll risk it all to catch just another glimpse of your powerful love for me!"
This is truly what the Revelation of Jesus Christ is all about! It is all about God using the least intense means necessary to reach the greatest number of people at the deepest heart level without ever violating free will in order to get a pure and spotless Bride ready to share in governing all of creation with Him on earth...exactly what He called "very good" in Genesis 1:31. NOW is the time to face fear head on, cast it out, and put on faith. That is what will connect you to greatness forever. We truly live in the greatest time to ever be alive if you are filled with the fear of the Lord!
Daniel 12:3 Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever.
Job was careful. He covered himself and his family and lived like this:
Job 1:5 So it was, when the days of feasting had run their course, that Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did regularly.
God LOVES Job:
Job 1:8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?”
But there is something Job is lacking...and God has a plan to uncover it, that Job might know God:
Job 1:9-11 So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!”
Sometimes the accuser is right. Satan and God both knew something about Job that Job couldn't see. After Job lost his wealth, his family, and finally his health, Job breaks down and tells it all....there was a major thing broken in Job's heart BEFORE all of the trouble started:
Job 3:24-26 For my sighing comes before I eat, And my groanings pour out like water. For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, And what I dreaded has happened to me. I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, for trouble comes.”
And in these words we find out what was driving this man God still called "blameless" and "upright"...it was fear of something bad happening. Job said this loss is what he had "greatly feared" and "dreaded." God saw this fear way before satan accused Job before the throne. Oh, how satan had surely always hated the apple of God's eye and wanted to harm all along, but there came a day when God saw that Job was ready to face his fear...that this might be the testimony of Job:
Job 42:2-6 “I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’ “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.”
It was certainly right for Job to repent. Not for His words of defense, not for his statements about justice or God...no! God said Job had told the truth about God:
Job 42:7 And so it was, after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.
It was Job's fear that God was addressing, not the accuracy of his words! Job was driven by a fear...his dread... of what satan might do to him if he got out of agreement with God. God set out to show Job that fear of what the enemy might do is much less reasonable than the fear of the Lord who made heaven and earth. Listen to God's opening statement:
Job 38:1-7 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: “Who is this who darkens counsel By words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me. “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Fear of the created satan and what he might do is simply not wise. Fear of your boss and what he might do, fear of the loss of your money, fear of the loss of you children, fear of the antichrist armies, or the raging earth....fear of any of these things lacks wisdom. To fear anything created demonstrates a lack of knowledge of who really owns creation. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom:
Psalms 111:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.
Satan could have never touched Job without permission. Right now satan would kill you IF he was allowed. It didn't just occur to satan to touch Job. Satan knew all about Job as soon as God brought him up. Satan knew ALL about the hedge of protection God had placed around Job...satan knew because satan had explored every inch of that hedge...satan could touch NOTHING of Job's!
Job 1:6-12 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord , and Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person. ” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord .
Fearing the Lord is what frees me from a fear of satan. But fearing God isn't fearing what God might allow to touch me if I mess up! God has perfect love for me...there is no one in all creation who could love you or I more than God. The most tender love of a mother or a good father, or a friend, or a brother, or a husband or wife could not come close to the tender and compassionate perfect love God feels for you and I. But that isn't all! That perfect love dwells right next to omnipotent knowledge...there isn't one facet of my life God does not see...even the fleeting thoughts I forget seconds later, God has archived and studied...he knows EVERYTHING about my situation. But even THAT isn't all! Right along side perfect love and complete insight, there dwells perfect power. There is nothing God cannot do! Nothing is beyond the strength of His arm. So if God is perfectly loving, knows my situation perfectly, and is perfectly strong, there is nothing reasonable to fear EXCEPT missing out on a greater encounter with God and how He feels about me!
This is what the fear of the Lord really is: to fear loving Him any less than I possibly could in this age. To fear making anyone else's opinion, commands, or threats more important than walking as closely with God as possible that I might catch another glimpse of His transcendantly beautiful love for ME!
This is what God wanted to give Job: a knowledge of God...to see God in a way that would take His heart beyond the fear of negative circumstances or the hunger for positive circumstances, and into the realm of desiring one thing:
Psalms 27:4-6 One thing I have desired of the Lord , That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord , And to inquire in His temple. For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord .
I heard the TV preacher Creflo Dollar say one of the most brilliant truths I have ever heard. I am not a huge C. Dollar fan, but hearing this actually changed my life: faith and fear are both spiritual connectors. Faith connects you to what you hope for and fear connects you to that very thing you fear.
God loves us too much to not reveal the true nature of our fear, and the true weakness that very thing we fear has to really make, or break, our lives. This is the testimony of Job.
Right now, we live at the start of the most intense time the earth has ever seen. Right now MANY do not want to think or hear about it because of fear. Not the fear of missing out on knowing God more...unfortunately, most are driven by a fear of possible negative circumstances. God is sending out warning after warning in this hour so that we would deal with our false fears now...casting them out...trading them for the fear of the Lord...that beautiful and clean fear that says "I don't want to miss what you are doing in this hour! I'll risk it all to catch just another glimpse of your powerful love for me!"
This is truly what the Revelation of Jesus Christ is all about! It is all about God using the least intense means necessary to reach the greatest number of people at the deepest heart level without ever violating free will in order to get a pure and spotless Bride ready to share in governing all of creation with Him on earth...exactly what He called "very good" in Genesis 1:31. NOW is the time to face fear head on, cast it out, and put on faith. That is what will connect you to greatness forever. We truly live in the greatest time to ever be alive if you are filled with the fear of the Lord!
Daniel 12:3 Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever.
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