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Friday, April 3, 2009

"Why, God"

"I will say to God, 'Do not condemn me; Show me why You contend with me." (Job 10:2)
 
Baffled to Fight Better is Oswald Chambers' summation of the Book of Job---- genius.  In our text, the baffled Job asks, "Why."  The word appears at least 25 times in the book.  And as you read Job, you discover a baffled saint surrounded by people who are just too happy to tell him the "why" of everything.  Don't you just love them?!  You are "in the valley of the shadow"--- they are not; yet they always seem to have an answer to the "whys" of your life.
 
Jobs friends and the young, presumptuous Elihu apparently had never suffered.  The person who has suffered is less likely to get into the theology of suffering.  There is a depth of suffering which has no answers found in books, and this includes The Book, the Bible.  When God finally responds to the "whys" of the suffering and baffled Job, there are no answers, just, "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?"  
 
The suffering soul needs to hear the Heart of Jesus, "'Before Abraham was, I AM.'  Stay (abide) in me and my words, and I will stay (abide) in you.  I was before this, and I will be after this.  And I promise you---------you will be after this also." 
 
Father, in Jesus' Name, deliver me from "why" living.  Amen.
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"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

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Thursday, April 2, 2009

Faith "In The Midst Of The Ashes"

"And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes." (Job 2:8)
 
Job is one of the greatest testimonies in Scripture to faith, hope and trust in Jesus Christ-------------- "in the midst of ashes."  As Job sat on the ash heap, so broken, so physically run down and sick that even his own close friends at first did not recognize him, everything in life was telling him, "Quit!  Give Up!  It's no use!"  Job would have nothing of that.  Why was this?  At the core, Job, as Abraham, had faith and trust in One Who was yet to appear, Jesus, The Coming One.  This was true of all Old Testament Believers.
 
People who spend little time in the Old Testament are robbing themselves of the greatest people of faith in history.  Old Testament Believers were saved just as you and I are saved, in the Blood, the Cross, and the resurrection of Jesus, the Christ.  Someone once put it this way, "They were saved looking forward to the cross.  We are saved looking back to the cross."  Our faith is based on fulfilled promises.  The Life of Jesus while He walked in The Land, His Cross, and the empty tomb, are historic facts testified to by the Apostles, yes, but also by Roman soldiers and even pagan historians.  Job, Abraham, Isaiah, David, Simeon, however, believed the unfulfilled promises.  In many ways, looking forward takes more faith and trust than looking back.  So Paul warns us, "But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you." ! 
 
The literal translation of the famous James passage is, "You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end-------- the Lord."  Because "the end" for Job was the Lord Jesus Christ, Job and like-believing people through the centuries discovered what Oswald Chambers once said, "Faith in God is a terrific adventure in the dark." 
 
Father, in Jesus' Name, I thank you for the testimony of Job and the other Old Testament Believers.  May I have a "double portion" of their spirit.  Amen.
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News, Commentary:     www.antipasprayerforce.blogspot.com
 
 
"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

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Wednesday, April 1, 2009

"Nor Did He Blame God"

"Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God."  (Job 1:22)

You know the story of Job.  Some theologians believe it is only metaphoric.  They are either not reading all of the "God-Breathed" Word, or living on some other planet.  Job's experience has been the experience of more people on earth than many want to acknowledge. 

The Charismatic renewal, while restoring much good to the Church also left a sort of assumption in many that if you do everything just right, life will be a rose garden.  Yet when the meetings wore off, reality set in and they saw that people who love Jesus experience betrayal and heartache; they even lose their jobs; they get sick and die.  So many disillusioned people today are those who willingly embraced a religion of illusion, and blamed God when the illusion bubble burst.
 
If you look at the first two chapters of Job, you discover that everything that could go wrong for a person went "wrong" for Job.  And Job's wife, who was a part of this whole scenario, finally came to the conclusion, "Curse God and die."  While I know of no religious person who has said this, I do know those who have done this. But Job's response is classic and, quite frankly, foreign to most.  "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks.  Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?"  This utterance contains an alarming statement to most.  "Okay," they may say, "I can accept the fact of "good from God," but don't tell me to "accept adversity"------from God!?!?  While this is foreign to so many, there carries in it a declaration of victory.  All of this is from God, and it is the Blessed
Trinity Who is in charge of Job's life, not Satan.  Whether God did this to Job or allowed it does not matter to Job, nor does the debate dissuade him.  What keeps Job going is, "As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. 

The fact that Jesus lives and "will take His stand on the earth" kept Job going when nothing else could.  As Jesus said of Abraham, He could just as easily say of Job, and, I pray of me and you.  He "rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it and was glad"-------- and was victorious.

Father, in Jesus' Name, as time goes by, I realize I understand less of what I want to understand and more of You want me to understand.  Thank You.  Amen.  
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*     Please pray with us about a mission to Berlin and Albania this Fall.
*     I will try to send at least one news article directly to you and the      rest I will put on the APF Blog Site.  You Get Bombarded From The      Antichrist System, Why Not From the "Christ" System?!?                                   www.antipasprayerforce.blogspot.com


"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2



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Tuesday, March 31, 2009

This Is No "Cleverness-Of-Speech" Gospel

"For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void."  (1 Corinthians 1:17)

Some use our text as an excuse to minimize baptism.  This is the distortion of Scripture which Peter speaks of in 2 Peter 3:16.  And the context tells us that distortion of Scripture leads "to their own destruction."  If people minimize baptism, they minimize the Word of Christ "to fulfill all righteousness."  But baptism is not the subject here.  Paul was simply stating the primacy of his mission at Corinth---to "preach...the cross of Christ...." 

The first 2 chapters of 1 Corinthians contrast man's wisdom and God's.  Man's wisdom is praised for its lofty words---- "cleverness of speech." Beware of such speech.  The conclusion of chapter 1 indicates that it is just a struggle for boasting rights.  God says of such deception, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside."  It does not take "cleverness of speech" to preach or share "the word of the cross."  Neither does it take "cleverness" to receive "the word of the cross."  Remember, it is the little child who enters the Kingdom. 

The song writer said it was "at the cross, at the cross where I first
saw the light."  If it was at "cleverness of speech," whatever you "saw" was not the Light, Jesus Christ.  It was just performance of a person's ability.  That will last for only the time it takes to perform.  "The word of the cross of Christ" will last and take you for eternity. 

Father, in Jesus' Name, in a world where so much seduction is rooted in personality, attractiveness, and cleverness, keep me in the "simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ."  Amen.
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* If you wish to access a devotional later, you can go to the devotional blog site at:                         apfdevotionals.blogspot.com    
* News, Commentary:          www.antipasprayerforce.blogspot.com


"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2



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Monday, March 30, 2009

"The Beast" And "The False Prophet"-- Are They Here?

"And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet." (Revelation 16:13)
 
The Greek word translated, "Revelation," means a "disclosure," to "take off the cover."  Hence, the revelation of things not yet disclosed, things hidden.  I always wondered if I would see our text in my life time, yet world events and contemporary world leaders are showing just how plausible this is.  It is true that "the dragon" has been with humanity from the beginning.  "The beast" and "the false prophet," however, were yet to be revealed at the time of "The Revelation."  I believe they are both alive on Planet Earth today, and there are people alive now who will see the fulfillment of the events disclosed in Revelation. 
 
I have personally known people over the years, including charismatic leaders, who have said that Revelation is symbolism, metaphoric.  This "sells."  It basically says, "Don't let anyone frighten you about future scary stuff.  We all just die and go to Heaven.  Just keep enjoying your happy place"-- a most dangerous and ultimately catastrophic attitude.  We all have a choice as to what and whom we believe, but the news coming out of Europe and Washington and the recent American election, reveal just how apocalyptic is the present time.  Are you ready for "the Day of the Lord?"  
For those who are not ready, not living in obedience to Jesus Christ, there is a solemn warning--"Prepare to meet thy God."  For those who are living in obedience to Jesus Christ, for those who are "looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ," I have "a word" for you-- "Messenger of good news, shout to Zion from the mountaintops!  Shout louder to Jerusalem-- do not be afraid.  Tell the towns of Judah, 'Your God is coming!'"
 
Father, in Jesus' Name, I pray for me and my friend what Paul prayed for Onesiphorus, "The Lord grant to him that he may find mercy from the Lord in that Day...."  Amen.
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News, Commentary:    www.antipasprayerforce.blogpost.com
 
 
"Looking Unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

Worried about job security? Check out the 5 safest jobs in a recession.
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