By: Minister Kevin Tyus
Foul up, Stir Up, Mess up
My wife and I were talking to our Pastor, Dwayne Evors, (Sr. Pastor of City Church – https://www.citychurchwr.com/) this past Wednesday night, the subject at hand was how our adversary the devil will get in foul up, stir up, and mess up the good works done in the name and power of God the Holy Spirit, for the glory of God. Pastor was relaying how God brought him out of past troubles with a mighty miraculous hand, and blessed him and he said “God’s blessing cures the curse” to which we gave a heart-felt AMEN!
Only With Gods Permission
Now we know that God is all powerful, and that Satan cannot do anything to harm us unless Almighty God gives permission for it to happen, like it happened to Job (See: Job Chap 1:6-22 & Chap 2:1-9.) The devil destroyed every physical blessing given to Job by God, and turned it into a curse making a disaster of it; he killed his children, his cattle were stolen or killed, his servants killed, Jobs body was covered with boils from his head to his feet, and his wife in her bitterness at all the unexpected, tragic calamities told Job to curse God and die! Wow! Like Job you may be upright before God in your walk with him (Job Chap 1:8) and bad things still happen! Let me encourage you, hold on and don’t curse, downplay, doubt, or be shaken in your faith towards God your blessings are coming!
A Young Man with Good Points
God used Elihu the youngest of the assembled group to correct and chastise Job and the other older men; Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, who spoke wrongfully about God allowing Job to suffer (Job Chaps 32-37.) There are a few great points we need to take away from this young man full of the wisdom of God to keep in mind and meditate on and lay up in our hearts and draw from when our time of trouble comes… AND IT WILL COME!
Job Chapter 33
- (Verses 10-11) When you are going through a trying time God is not you enemy nor is He angry with you
- (Verse 12) God is… God! He is not a man or like a man and he his greater in every way than mortal man
- (Verses 13-18) God does speak to us in our afflictions, in dreams & visions to turn us away from wrong doing, and to prevent us from dying before our time
- (Verses 19-25) God will allow our bodies to be sorely afflicted to the point of death and contend with us to turn from our secret sins, be righteous, and He will restore our health as in our youth
- (Verse 26) If we repent i.e. confess our sins god will restore our fellowship with him, give us favor and full well-being
- (Verses 27-30) God will allow this to become a testimony to share with others about the chastisement of God and His mercy not giving us what we deserve and His everlasting goodness
Job Chapter 33
- (Verses 10) God will never do evil!
- (Verse 11) We get what God knows we not only deserve, but what we need to grow in righteousness
- (Verse 12) God is always just, even if we don’t understand why we are being afflicted, God can never do wrong
- (Verses 15-15) God is all powerful, that being the case trust that He will sustain you through your times of testing
Job Chapter 36
- (Verse 26) God is eternal and beyond our limited understanding
God’s Blessings Cured the Curse
In Job Chapter 42:10-17, God restores all Job lost, in fact He blessed him with twice as much than he previously had (Verse 10!) In blessing Job, God removed the curse of physical affliction, lack of well-being, financial loss & ruin, death, mental anguish, heartache, social shame, and lack of faith in the goodness of God!
Can’t spit these Seeds out, God has to Burn them out
1 Peter 1:6-7 NIV
[6] In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
[7] These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed
God looks at our total being, not only our actions but the deep things of our hearts, even the stuff we don’t even know is planted deep in there. God see the seeds of rebellion and sin before they germinate and grow, and he has a plan to eradicate them before they take root and render us unusable for kingdom work and His glory.
It may be the seeds of; pride, arrogance, bitterness, lust, lying, anger, sex, drunkenness, occultism, greed, laziness, prejudice, or any other vice. Know that God looks at those seeds and He is going to purge us of them. As God allows us to through the crucible of testing and the fiery refining of our faith, keep in mind it is to grow us up to maturity in Christ!
In going through our trials we will face; financial ruin & loss, foreclosure, health issues, loss of friends & family, bankruptcy, unemployment and a feeling of spiritual uncertainty.
NO, there is nothing wrong with your faith! It’s just your heavenly Father doing urban renewal in your heart!
James 1:2-4
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, a whenever you face trials of many kinds, [3] because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. [4] 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Be encouraged God is working a greater plan and blessing in and for you!
Peace, “Ty”