Hello My Friend/Guest,

Today is Sunday June 21, 2009 (Happy Father's Day!) and we are continuing our studies on the book of Job. Please read chapters 21-24 in your Bible or Click Here to read them online. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Job%2021-24&version=9

Today's Message: Spiritual Defeat
Spiritual defeat inevitably faces the Christian who lives year after year, never reading through the Bible because they ignorantly believe they have sufficient wisdom without God's Only Written Word.

Job's friends mistakenly assumed that all his problems were the result of his secret sins. They assumed that wicked men are miserable and, since Job was exceedingly miserable, he must be very wicked. Job responds to his friends and the question arises: Why do the wicked prosper and go unpunished? “Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.” - Job 21:7-9. We often do not understand why we face disappointments, sufferings, or being misunderstood, but we can believe and trust in God, since He always gives His best to all who desire to do His will.

Eliphaz, continued with his blunt, critical, and cruel condemnation of Job, telling him to repent and return to God. “Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect? Will he reprove thee for fear of thee? will he enter with thee into judgment? Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?...............Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee. Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart. If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.” - Job 22:3-5,21-23. There are still self-righteous, overbearing, opinionated people like Eliphaz, who are quick to pass judgment on anyone who doesn't believe as they do or who experience difficulties or sickness.

Job, confident in his faith declared, “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:

But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.” - Job 23:8-12. Job believed that, since God was faithful to His Word, He also would be faithful to His obedient servant. Furthermore, he believed that although God seemed nowhere to be found, his faith did not rest in his fears and feelings, but in His Word. The devotion of Job should be an inspiration to all of us who are not as concerned about knowing the "reason" for our suffering as with knowing God and His Word, the only true source of guidance.

Some have assumed they were a Christian because they were a member of a church, but they have not experienced the transforming power of God's Word, they may talk like a Christian and yet they do not desire Christ as Lord of their lives. To have a Bible but no desire to know how God would have them live is useless. Until they repent of their sins and accept Christ as both Savior and Lord, the Bible has little value. “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” - Colossians 2:6-8.

Today's Psalm: 126:6
“He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”

Today's Prayer:
Dear God,
We are so thankful that there is nothing in our past or future that can separate us from Your love or daily provision for our lives. You provide the necessary tools to overcome the difficulties we encounter from earliest childhood to present day.  Though the enemy seeks to disrupt our lives, pollute our minds and sear our conscience we will not be defeated by evil.  Instead we overcome evil with the steadfast goodness You instill in our hearts as we hold dearly to the light of Your Word.  We say “no” to ungodliness and worldly passion as we eagerly wait for our great hope in the second coming of Your Son, Jesus, who will unite us with You in heaven. In Jesus' Name..........Amen.

Have a wonderful and blessed day/night and week.
God Bless,
Christina

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