Hindrances to Your Faith

Lesson 2

What About Job?

Let's talk about Job.

I am sure you are familiar with what a lot of preachers teach about him...but sadly most of the time it is completely inaccurate.

There were reasons for the things that happened to Job...and they are not what you have been told.

So...What About Job?
 

This second lesson is going to show us how we let the devil into our lives to cause havoc and disaster, because of fear and unbelief. A lot of people have heard teaching about Job and never actually read the story. They never have looked for themselves to see exactly what happened to him and why. They use the excuse of things happening to them, by saying, well look at Job, he loved God and all the disaster that happened to him. Well what about Job? Did these things just happen to him, or was there a reason? Let’s turn to the story and go from there.

Job 1:1-3 Here we see that Job was a "perfect and upright man that feared God and shunned evil. He had seven sons and three daughters. He had much livestock and wealth. He was the greatest of all the men of the east.

Verse 6- 12 Satan comes before God and says he has walking back and forth across the earth.

God says to him. "Have you seen my servant Job? He is a perfect and upright man, he Fears God and shuns evil."

Satan answers and says "Of course he fears you. Look at all you have given him. You have put a hedge around him to protect him and his house, and everything he owns. You have blessed him in every way. But if YOU were to put out your hand and harm him, he would curse you."

God said to him. "Look, behold, everything he has already in your hands. But you can not touch his life."

Now most people stop here and do not search any further. "See God allowed Satan into Job’s life to do all this!" Did He? Let’s look into that.

Let’s go back to verses 4 & 5 of Job 1.

Job’s sons and daughters were all grown up and in their own homes, and liked to drink and party. And not just for a night, but for days. So what did Job do? Instead of trying to get to them realize that they were responsible for their behaviour before God, since they were adults and out on their own, he went and did sacrifice for them because "it may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." And he did this "Continually".

Once your children have grown up and left home, they become responsible for themselves. Yes you pray for them, but you cannot make sacrifice, or repent for them. These people were responsible to God to repent before the Lord. By continually repeating the sacrifices, Job did not leave them in God’s hands. He was operating in unbelief. His sacrifices were in vain. Obviously if he was worried about them sinning and cursing God, they were not living for God. So what good would his sacrifices be. They were living in sin. So God could no longer protect them from the destruction that befell them. They brought it upon themselves. Destruction was inevitable, and it came. They were all killed.

Now as far as the disaster that came upon all that Job owned, we will have to go further into Job to see how all that was allowed to happen.

Job 3:25, 26 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me. I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet, yet trouble came.

Fear is the opposite of Faith! Have you ever feared that something was going to happen to you, and then it did? Fear opens the door for Satan. God had a hedge around Job. He tore it down, with his own hands. God didn’t tear it down, Job did! Even though he loved God and trusted him, he let fear come in and it destroyed everything around him. Obviously he didn’t tear it down as far as his own life was concerned, but as for everything else? Well we see what happened. By letting fear in, he lost all. But in all that, he still did not blame God.

Then Satan again came to God and challenged God to destroy Job and he would curse him. God would not, but the door was open for Satan to go in and test him.

Hebrews 8:6 We must bear in mind in all of this that Job was operating under the old covenant. We have new and better covenant, based upon better promises. Jesus bore our pain, and sickness and torment. We don’t have to. People under the Old Covenant could only go to God for a healing miracle. It belongs to us.

Hebrews 9:12-14 Also Satan no longer is allowed into Heaven. The Blood of Jesus put a stop to that. He can not enter into the Holy of Holies. Jesus put his blood on the mercy seat in heaven. He did it once and that was enough. No longer is Heaven tainted with the presence of Satan.

He can’t challenge God to harm us. We are under Grace and Mercy. He has to go through the blood of Jesus to get to us. He can only harm us if we let him.

Hebrews 10:19 Therefore with boldness we enter in to the holiest place by the blood of Jesus. Not only is Satan not allowed there any more, but we can go there with boldness and obtain mercy.

So through all of this we see that Job didn’t have the same privileges as we do. He only knew that He loved God and that He wouldn’t harm him. So he did not blame him. His wife and his friends told him to curse God and die. With friends like that who needs enemies? Job went on believing in God. He listened to his friends day in and day out, but still would not curse God. He got weary and wanted to die, and still no relief came. Then one day God spoke to him. He said a lot to him Chapters 38, 39 and 40.Basically He told him to stop whining and "“Now prepare yourself like a man;" NKJ version. In other words...act like the man I know you are. He wanted him to put the hedge back up.

NKJ Job 40:3-5 Then Job answered the Lord and said:
4 “Behold, I am vile; What shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth.
5 Once I have spoken, but I will not answer; Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.”

Job 42:3
New King James Version
3 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.

Then God spoke to Job’s friends and said basically that he was angry with them for telling Job to curse God. He told them to make a sacrifice and ask Job to pray for them, because He would hear him. And he told them to do it or He would "deal" with them himself. "In that you have not spoken of the thing which is right, like my servant Job.

Then God spoke to Job’s friends and said basically that he was angry with them for telling Job to curse God. He told them to make a sacrifice and ask Job to pray for them, because He would hear him. And he told them to do it or He would "deal" with them himself. "In that you have not spoken of the thing which is right, like my servant Job.

In other words. Even though Job had not cursed God, he had sat in his misery instead of doing something about it. God stepped in and told him to repent. Then he dealt with the friends and when Job prayed for them, he was healed! Not only that, God gave Job back twice as much as he had before. "So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more that his beginning."

Now I truly believe that Job could have ended that whole ordeal a lot sooner if he had just stopped complaining and feeling sorry for himself and decided to do something about it. He could have repented way before he did and would have saved himself a lot of grief and suffering.

Sometimes we suffer because we sit in our misery and do nothing to stop it. We have to take a step of Faith, and defeat our problem. I am not saying it is easy, but it won’t happen if you just sit there and do nothing. We need to stand against the devil. And having done all to stand STAND!

Ephesians 6:10-19 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the lord, and in the power of HIS MIGHT!  Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Job didn’t have the New Covenant to stand on. We don’t have to take anything that Satan would try to throw at us. We don’t belong to him! We are God’s children and we have a covenant with him, bought by the blood of Jesus. Do you want to live in defeat like Job did or in Victory?

Job finally repented and received back twice as much as he had before, but he shouldn’t have lost it all in the first place. Don’t tear down the hedge of protection that God has around you. Keep your armour on every day. Your armour will protect you and God will be your rear guard! Don’t let the devil steal from you any more! Take back what belongs to you, whether it be health, prosperity, a sound mind... what ever it is, don’t let him defeat you! Jesus paid the price!

Knock down the hindrances to your faith! If you are having trouble receiving Victory, ask God to show you where it came in and repent! Then get ready to receive!
 

By Judy Warren

Lesson 3

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