Tag: Job

Going to the Courts of Heaven

(Job 23: 2-7; Esther 5; Zachariah 3)

“Divine justice is available to every believer”

The high priest, Joshua was found before the Lord in the courts of heaven with Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary and to accuse him. Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, a representation of his sins. Satan well knew about Joshua and readily stood by his side to bring accusation against him. But the Lord rebuked Satan and forgave Joshua’s sins. He said, “Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich apparel. If you will walk in My ways and keep My charge, then also you shall rule My house and have charge of My courts and I will give you access [to My presence] and places to walk among these who stand here” (Zachariah 3). Satan had legal issues against the high priest Joshua, due to his life of sin. He never rests until he fulfills his evil desire to kill and destroy God’s people.  YAHSHUA said that the devil had come to kill and destroy, but He had come to give life abundantly. After forgiving Joshua, the Lord dressed Him in the robe of righteousness and warned him to walk in obedience in order to continue in his position of serving Him. The high priest was set free from the devil’s accusations after the Lord forgave him. This experience is not unique only to Joshua; through our life’s journey on earth we too have walked in disobedience to the Lord, causing an open door for Satan to have his way against us. But John, in his first epistle, assured us that if we confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive and purify us. And as He did for Joshua He will do for us too.

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Every Life is a Book

Without paper, without a pen, every minute pages are written through someone’s life. From the crib to the grave, life speaks through attitude and actions without language, without voices one’s book is developed page by page in a subtle way, until life’s breath is taken away from us. Life is a beautiful expression of God’s wisdom, love and His mercy.  It demonstrates the immensity and depth of God’s wisdom. Created to bring glory to God, we humans have failed God’s purpose for creating us, but not nature around us. Look at the flowers of the field, the firmament declaring His glory. They are faithfully declaring their Creator’s glory. The Word of God says, The heavens declare the glory and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day after day pours forth speech, and night after night shows forth knowledge (Ps. 19:1-2).  From the time we are born we start the first page of our book. For many, their stories are filled with joy, pomp privileges and smiles. For others, not so fortunate, nonetheless. The pages of their book start with misfortune and death. Millions of others will not have a chance to see the light of the day, only anguish and despair, for their lives are taken away in suffering. They have been denied the right to live when being sucked out of the mother’s womb, the supposed safest place to be. Their book is a wordless book. No one knows what would have been their lives’ story registered in a forever book. Only God knows. Life is given to all by God with a future planned under each name, as David so wrote: I will confess and praise You for You are fearful and wonderful and for the awful wonder of my birth! Wonderful are Your works, and that my inner self knows right well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was being formed in secret intricately and curiously wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days [of my life] were written before ever they took shape, when yet there was none of them (Ps. 139: 14-16).

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Faith and Reason- Journey of the Soul

How does one reason God’s way, plan, and His fulfillment? We sinned; He gave us His Son to ransom us from its penalty with His life. While being nailed to the tree, YAHSHUA prayed a prayer of forgiveness for those who were nailing Him to the cross. How can one reason God’s love for us to the point of not only dying in our stead, but wanting us to live in heaven with Him? The soul, in its journey of reason, wonders clueless to the fact that there is no answer to these questions. Reasoning is good for us to understand the whys of the matter, but it takes faith to calm the heart and the mind, when there is no answer to the questions. Our rational conclusions do not always line up with faith, if we so depend on it for our understanding of things. The acceptance of Scripture without regard to reason and logic is a step of faith outside human’s interference.  Faith, true faith, that is, relies on confident expectation. Think, for example, Abraham, who had to wait for twenty-seven years before God fulfilled His promise to him of a son. Not only that, the fact that he and his wife were past the age of childbearing, opened the door to reasoning to step in, as he asked the Lord the question: “After I have become aged shall I have pleasure and delight, my lord, being old also? And shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? And Sarah, who is ninety-nine years old, bear a son?” (Gen. 17:17b). But God is not limited by impossibilities; in fact, nothing is impossible to Him, as He confirmed it to Abraham with these words: Is anything too hard or too wonderful for the Lord? At the appointed time, when the season comes around, I will return to you and Sarah shall have borne a son (vs.14). Here we have God reasoning with Abraham, leading him to apply faith on that which seemed to him unreasonable.

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Faith in the Testing of Time

(Genesis 22; Job 1:8-9; I Peter 1: 7)

Blessed is the man who is patient under trial and stands up under temptation, for when he has stood the test and been approved, he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him (James 1:12).

“For when he has stood the test and been approved” there will be a crown waiting for him, the crown of life which has been promised by God Himself to those who love Him,  shown in action of obedience and endurance. The crown of life is the crown that will be given to those who endure trials and martyrdom for their faith. “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev. 2:10).

In his testing of faith, the Patriarch Abraham answered the Lord’s calling by saying, Here I am!  This is such a gesture of submission it cannot be ignored. Abraham had a friend’s relationship with God. His walk of faith confirmed it, and the fact that God Himself so expressed in Genesis 18:19: For I have known him [as My own], so that he may teach and command his children and the sons of his house after him to keep the way of the Lord and to do what is just and righteous, so that the Lord may bring Abraham what He has promised him. Abraham did not know about the test of faith he was about to go through at God’s calling his name. “Here I am”   he answered. The Lord then commanded  him saying, Take your son, your only son, whom you loveand go to the region of Moriah; and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains of which I will tell you ( Gen. 22:2).

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Obedience

                                                            (Matt.28:7-10)

Then go quickly and tell His disciples, He has risen from the dead, and behold, He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you (vs. 7). As they went to tell, behold Jesus met them and said, Hail, and they went up to Him and clasped His feet and worship Him. Jesus said, do not be afraid, go and tell my brethren to go into Galilee (v.9).

After YAHSHUA’S resurrection, Mary and the other Mary continued to look for Him among the dead. In the process, they witnessed supernatural events beyond their imagination at the time they arrived at the place where the Lord’s body had been buried. First, there was an earthquake, followed by an angel of the Lord descending from heaven to roll the boulder back and those keeping guard were frightened and agitated and trembled and became like dead men (Matt. 28:1-4). At that sight, the angel told them, YAHSHUA is not here; He has risen, as He said. Come, see the place where He lay; go quickly and tell His disciples, He has risen from the dead, and behold, He is going before you to Galilee; there you will see Him (Matt. 28:5-7). Leaving the place joylessly, they went to tell the disciples. Their excitement overtook them; they could not wait to share the greatest miracle they ever witnessed.  To make their day even more exciting, while on their way, behold, the Lord YAHSHUA met them saying, Greeting! They went up to Him, clasped His feet and worshiped Him (Matt. 28: 8-9). Echoing the message from the angel, He said to them, Do not be alarmed and afraid; go and tell My brethren to go into Galilee, and there they will see Me (Vs.10). The angel emphatically expressed the command to them by saying, Behold, I have told you. That means, attention, look! His command was for them to go quickly and tell the disciples that the Lord YAHSHUA had risen from the dead.

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Temptation at the Point of Our Need

YAHSHUA, at the starting of His ministry, fasted for a period of forty days and forty nights. He chose the Judean wilderness where He would be by Himself and away from it all. The Judean desert is located east of Jerusalem, and descends to the Dead Sea. It seems to be a place of contrast and beauty. YAHSHUA’S choice to spend alone with His heavenly Father was perfect in location and quietness. Forty days sounds like a long time for someone to go without food. But YAHSHUA’S purpose was always to do the will of His Father. Eating was not in His agenda, as when He met the Samaritan woman in the heat of the day and the disciples called His attention to eat. He answered them saying, I have food to eat of which you know nothing and have no idea… My food is to do the will of Him Who sent Me and to accomplish and completely finish His work (John 4:32,34).

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How To Be An Overcomer

(I Peter 5: 10; James 4:7; Psalm 92)

The suffering of the believer is not something that happens by accident, neither it is to be regarded as in vain. But it requires a personal search of the heart to be allied in the right position with God, so to understand the perfect will of God in that situation. The sufferings of the believer in YAHSHUA caused by persecution are without a question, the most honorable way of suffering. He so confirmed by saying, Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven! Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things against you falsely on My account. Be glad and supremely joyful for your reward is great, for in this same way people persecuted the prophets who were before you (Matthew 5: 10-12).

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The Matter of Taking Offenses

After John had been in prison a while, he sent a message in the form of a question: Are You the One Who is to come, or shall we [continue to] look for another (Luke 7: 20b) One to come-the Messiah. John seemed to have lost focus and seemed to have forgotten the experience he had at the time when he baptized YAHSHUA and God had revealed and confirmed to him by showing him the Spirit in the form of a dove out of heaven descending and resting on Him, as  he  had said, I did not know Him nor recognize Him, but He Who sent me to baptize in water said to me, Upon Him Whom you shall see the Spirit descend and remain, that One is He Who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. I have seen and my testimony is that this is the Son of God! John looked at YAHSHUA and declared, Look! There is the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1: 29-36) But while in prison, things became obscure to John without outside reports from his disciples of what was happening. YAHSHUA, meanwhile, was healing many of sicknesses and destressing bodily plagues and evil spirits, and to many who were blind He gave sight (Luke 7:21). Seemly, John became offended in YAHSHUA when doubt entered his mind concerning YAHSHUA’S role as the Messiah. As a precursor of Christ, He needed to have evidences that demanded his beliefs that YAHSHUA was the One Who was to come.  That was important to him as a prophet, who had introduced YAHSHUA as the One. YAHSHUA promptly sent John an answer that confirmed once again, Whom He was –the Son of God! He sent the message to John saying, Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the dead hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the good news; blessed is he who takes no offense in Me and who is not hurt or resentful or annoyed or repelled or made to stumble (Luke 7: 21-23).

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He Performs What He Planned for My Life

(Job 23:14)

The words of Job spoken thousands of years ago still resonate strongly in our ears today when we read them. He desired that his words were written; that they were inscribed in a book; that with an iron pen and lead they were graven in the rock forever (Job 19: 23-24). Yes, God heard the prayer of His righteous servant, Job and years later, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Job’s words were inscribed in a book that has lasted thousands of years. They have encouraged many in their valleys and strengthened their faith because they came from a man in his suffering and not in his days of prosperity. He said, He performs [that He has] planned for me, and of many such matters He is mindful (Job 23:14). Job could see beyond all God’s faithfulness in completing in him His purpose for what He created him. He knew that God was aware and mindful of all his sufferings. We are blessed to have these words written in order to know without a doubt that God is aware and mindful of everything that happens to us, too. When God created a life, He created with a purpose. The destiny of every one is written in His book. David said, Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days [of my life] were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them (Psalm 139:16). Every human life is precious to Him; He was involved in every detail of creating us. He formed our inward parts; He knit us together in our mother’s womb… (Psalm 139:14a). After all, He gave us life. Not one single life created – born or unborn is a waste.

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