Consider Job's Friends

How do you handle a situation or a tragedy in the life of a friend? Do you comfort with silence? Do you love? Do you offer your words? If so, what would ever could you say? Do you speak God's words? How do you discern God's heart toward that person before you speak?

Job was a man in the Bible that lost everything. Job had three friends that came to him with the intention of mourning with him and comforting him (2:11).  With all their good intentions, we know that in the end of this story these men were in error (42:7).

I believe that there are some serious implications in the book of Job.  I do not want to make the errors that Bildad, Zophar, and Eliphaz did. As I read Job I gleaned the following about his friends and the text as a whole:

1. God makes it clear in chapter one that He, the Creator of all things, was testing Job. His calamities were designed by God. Job's friends misrepresented God by accusing their brother of having some unrepentant sin in his life (8:6).  Can you image how Job's pain increased as he did the best he could to bless the Lord in his life yet have some of the closest people to him point an accusing finger? Telling him that the God he loves has something against him? 


2. Through it all, Job knew his own private life was clean and he maintained his belief in God's sovereignty and would not curse him. Job questioned God because of his trial, but he did not reject nor curse him (2:10). This is a beautiful picture of God's power in the life of a believer. Even through the circumstantial trials, and condemning voices of other believers, Job did not lose his faith, walk away from, nor curse his God.

3. God allowed Job's friends to speak into his life despite their error even though it brought Job more grief. God was ready to be glorified in Job's suffering and he would be further glorified as the error of his friends was exposed. Job's initial trial, then enduring condemning words were going to bring God glory because Job refused to curse God. And his friends were about to learn a valuable lesson....
Job's friends were believers. I'm pretty sure they attended religious services and worship through animal sacrifices too. His friends spoke a lot of truths about God (8:20) but got it all wrong when they tried to discern Job's situation. We need to be so careful of our judgement of others. The measure we judge another, is the measure we will be judged. We also need to have a strong personal relationship with Jesus so we can weather the voices of other believers if they happen to be in opposition to God. Other people will not be standing with us on judgement day. We stand alone before God.

4. Job had a question for God and that question was "why".  We always ask that question don't we? I know I do when I suffer. Job's friend's attempted to answer that "why" question but they misrepresented God.  They thought surely Job has some sin in his life...but that was not the correct answer. God answered Job's question even though he did not sin with his lips during the ordeal (2:10).  I cannot fully touch the depth of the real answer why God decided to allow Satan to strike Job.  The quick answer is that he was testing him and glorifying himself. But take a moment to read God speaking to Job in chapter 38-41. I found it interesting that God actually uses sarcasm to get his point across (38:5) and we also learn many things such as;  God made borders for the ocean and it's proud waves, God reserves snow and hail in a treasury for the time of trouble, God has put wisdom in the mind and given understanding to the heart, God deprived an ostrich of wisdom yet made her eggs too strong to break and her legs faster than a horse, God made the extinct dragon to shout sparks of fire, be plated with prideful scales of protection, and watch the sorrow he causes dance before him! God why do you do what you do?  

"Shall the one who contends with the almighty correct him?" (40:2)
"Will you condemn me that you may be justified?" (40:8)
"The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom!" (Proverbs 9:10)

God had admiration for Job, he loved the fact the he feared Him and shunned evil. Job was humble. We see in this story that Job submitted to God's authority. Job's friends were prideful. They were not okay with not knowing the answers. Even a fourth person came on the scene named Elihu. He was wrathful against Job because Job maintained his innocence (32:2). He was also wrathful against the three friends because they didn't come up with an answer (32:5). Can we be okay in not controlling others? Can we be ok with not controlling God and allowing God to speak? Once we are okay with these things we are humbling our self in the sight of God. We are allowing Him to be God in the lives of others. Job's three friends would have been better off loving Job without their many words as they did in the first seven days they were with him sitting in silence (2:13).


Fear is a great motivator for control. People like to control things because they are afraid of what could happen if they don't. But God's perfect love will cast out our fear! Job's friends may have been afraid of the suffering of Job, not wanting it to happen to them. They in turn had to be able to explain why the trials came upon Job- so they could predict how to avoid them.  His friends operated in fear and pride. Fear, pride, and unbelief are cancers. They cause us to be in error and allow ourselves to be deceived.  We serve a God that cares about our character more than our comfort. Trials produce character so we should not avoid them...we should not protect our children from them as well. God loved Job and allowed his suffering to shape his character and the character of his friends. I don't want to forget these many lessons in God's word...these lessons bring about the salvation of our souls.

The Voice Of Men

Have you ever been in a place in your life where the Holy Spirit is telling you to go in a certain direction with your life but people you deem important are telling you to go in a different direction?

When I walked through this situation it was one of the most challenging things I have experienced in my Christian walk. All the events were set up as a crossroads for me. Would I obey the voice of the Lord or would I obey man?

My decision was agonizing at times. I prayed, I asked, I listened, I pondered.  I went up on the mountain by myself to seek God and his will for my life. Ultimately I knew that I would be standing before Jesus one day to give an account of my life and would answer to him. No man's opinion built off his own understanding would be there standing with me.

The opposition from man was fierce: "You have a false peace", "You serve another master". I kept standing on my week knees not fully understanding what just hit me. When I received my answer from the Lord however, I had the strength to stand against the voice of man. 

The Holy Spirit was convicting me further to do something revolutionary to obey him. I had to lose my "righteous" spiritual standing in the eyes of men. I had to let go and walk into, what I thought would be lonely places. But when I "disobeyed" the voices of men, it wasn't a lonely place I went to at all! It was a place of peace traded in for bondage and freedom traded in for condemnation. No more would I look to a mere man to validate me spiritually or otherwise...I look to GOD and his word.

Sometimes our lives are attached to a persons own fears and insecurities. When we don't do what they say, they lose control. Which in turn, they lose power and they don't feel safe. Once you disobey them, they must condemn you as being in sin because their opinions have to be right. They have a reputation to uphold. But this is destructive because God does not do this to his own creation and neither should we.  We should never seek to control other people nor should we spiritually manipulate them to feel condemned if they do not obey us. If you truly believe someone to be in sin then intercede for them in prayer and trust God to deliver them...but leave room for God to be God. If the actions of others leave us feeling out of control then we may need to ask ourselves if we are living in fear of man, or fear of God. 

Usually the most painful things we experience bring about the most growth and produce the most fruit.

Proverbs 29:25
The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.

Led by the Spirit

I am really experiencing some freedoms lately at work, in my marriage, and in my life.  It seems like I am allowing God's words to come alive and I am relying on them more and more.  Recently the Lord posed a question to me that I couldn't answer right away; "Are you ready to trust me with everything yet." 

I remember being reluctant to answer yes because I was fearful of what he would allow into my life. Why was I afraid of my God? My God rescued me from my own life of sin when I was in my early twenties. He has done nothing but good in my life since then.  He brought me a man that is a strong leader because I desired to be led spiritually, he has always provided for my son and I financially as a single mom for almost a decade, and he has certainly spoke to me many times and taken me through many experiences that would teach me to trust him.

I finally answered yes, that I will trust him with everything. A few weeks later something has come into my life that will now change my new family forever.  And God in his sovereignty already prepared my heart by asking if I was ready to trust him with everything. I am almost laughing at my words I spoke to a friend in 2005 "I want an adventure, I don't want to be a single mom in an apartment for the rest of my life." 

Well my adventure has begun and my new husband is the perfect partner for it. We both share a similar conviction for the kingdom of God instead of letting our American Dream desires crowd out spiritual things.  And every year it twists and turns. God has never allowed any kind of complacency in my walk with him, whether it be financial or spiritual.  He is always growing me and challenging me. I need to know this is because he loves me and I am ready to trust him with every area of my life. I am willing to choose what will glorify him instead comfort my flesh. 

Fear? What is that? 

I will take my fears and anxieties and dissipate them in prayer! Oh how it really works! My whole day can loom with giant sized problems yet I can walk that day without fear because my God has plans for me and will work all things out according to his will for me. Even evil things. 

Thank you Jesus. You are worth more than any comfort this life has to offer. 

Mormons are not Christians

The Angel Moroni giving Joseph Smith new revelations in the early 1800's, but in Galatians 1:8 it states that if any angel preaches another gospel "let him be cursed."

Since living in Utah I have been confronted with people, situations, and doctrine that would question my faith.  I have come to a few conclusions.  ANY twisting of scripture is from hell itself and takes authority away from Jesus being the only way to God.

I have been heavily thinking about the danger of Mormonism in particular.  These people have made a whole culture out of their religion.  I was reading on LDS.org and was overwhelmed.  This religion has so many rules and regulations put on them in order to be considered righteous. They even tell them what underwear to wear, and how to wear it.

I know 100% that Mormonism, Catholicism, Islam etc... are from the very pit of hell. Jesus said, "I am the way the truth and the life. No man comes to the father (God) but through me." John 14:6. Each of these religions base salvation on Jesus...and our works.  But the Bible clearly tells us salvation is a free gift so no man can boast about their works. (Ephesians 2:9) Making Jesus the Lord of my life has caused me to do good works because I love him. But my works don't save me, my faith that Christ covers my sin does.

We need to examine everything the LDS church is teaching. Let's take baptizing for the dead. They use a living "proxy" person to baptize a person who has already died and not yet been baptized. When we look at the account of Jesus on the cross in Luke 23, Jesus clearly tells the man, "Today you will be with me in paradise."  Baptism for the dead is another belief of the Mormon church that is unbiblical.  The Bible doesn't teach that you must be baptized to be saved from your sins. Being baptized should be done, yet it is a profession of faith but does not grant you salvation nor secure you a better place in the afterlife.

What about being married for eternity? The Mormon church says "we are driven by our doctrine that teaches that marriage and families can continue beyond this life." http://mormon.org/family-history/  But the Bible clearly teaches in Mark 12:25 "When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven."

This is not about hating LDS people or making fun of them. This is about Satan and his twisting of scripture to keep people from salvation by focusing on their works. Why would Mormons even follow the Bible (too) if their book contradicts it in many foundational ways? It is because Satan has concocted Mormonism! He wants "just enough truth" mixed with his lie so he can hook more people. Satan will cause people to say "Mormons are Christian, they believe in Jesus." Mormons are not Christians! Mormonism is belief in a false Jesus and a false God.


Other troubling Mormon beliefs:

Those who choose not to follow our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will receive a reward according to what they have done in this life, but they will not enjoy the glory of living in the presence of God. http://mormon.org/faq/eternal-life-belief/

8. We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.
http://mormon.org/articles-of-faith?gclid=CNqv0uzUo7ACFQF_hwodEVo-YA

Pray for Mormons and speak the truth in love to them. It is then God's job to help them see truth.  Pray they they will want to see truth because many times they have to go against their whole families in order to leave the LDS cult.

Abundant Life Academy

I am currently working at a Christian therapeutic boarding school, an "Early intervention for troubled teens". I really never knew that these schools existed until God placed me in one as an employee, but to be more accurate, a ministry worker. We are not behavior modification, where the focus is only on the behavior and punishment/rewards are delved out accordingly. We are constantly looking for opportunities to speak truth and extend the love of Jesus in a non-judgmental atmosphere. When our students mess up, and they sure do, the last thing we do is flip out, and the first thing we do is use it as an opportunity to extend grace. We do have "choice and consequence" as well as "positive solutions" when sin occurs, but these young people will never be able to walk away from this place not knowing their sin patterns and the destruction that it will cause because they are confronted with these issues daily. Whether a student decides to choose Christ or not is their decision, and at our school it always will be theirs alone. The students that are most successful when they depart are the ones that have opened themselves up to a relationship with Christ.  

When I was a teenager I was doing all the things that these teens were doing before their parents made the difficult choice to send them away. I was sneaky, I was on drugs, I was completely lost. I remember having a dream when I was 17 years old and living with my much older boyfriend. I dreamed I was at an outdoor concert , similar to Woodstock in the hippie era, or Lollapalooza, which a younger generation may remember. Basically a gathering of music, sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. I was standing near a tree and was looking out over a grassy field as hundreds of teenagers sat together on blankets. All of a sudden the landscape of young people turned into an ocean and all I could see were hands reaching up out of the water for help. During the time of this dream I professed belief in "Jesus" but didn't know the first thing about having a relationship with him or knew that one even existed.

I could have used a school like Abundant Life Academy back then. Sometimes young people can be so angry, so rebellious, that putting them completely out of their comfort zone and stripping them of everything that they took for granted in a controlled, safe environment can be a very good thing.

But I hit many brick walls in my young years and made many far reaching mistakes until the age of 23 when God did that work in my heart and I gave my life to Christ. So now 17 years after the dream I remember so well I find myself working in the midst of a generation of young people.

When working at ALA there are not too many dull moments. There are also many self-reflecting experiences for not just the students, but staff as well. It really takes a special kind of person to work in this industry. I think I have seen the most successful staff are the ones that are willing to love unconditionally, forgive, apologize, search their own hearts for faults, and repent when necessary.

Recently God had been showing me how much my flesh really controlled my life. How self focused I had become. He took me through a process of showing me how to control my emotions. Once that was accomplished I was able to see so clearly how self focused I really have been. I found myself complaining a lot even though God has given to me so much of what I have prayed for. I literally spent many years in prayer for something and I have now received it.

I then began to ask God to change me. To help me be more like I was when I first became a Christian. I was always asking God spirit who I could bless and opportunities to snatch someone from the fire. The very next day he answered my prayer. At ALA he brought about a situation with a young man. He needed freedom and God set a course in motion for him. I was so blessed that God answered my prayers so quickly. Matter of fact I spent most of the day with the kids, speaking life. My paperwork is always stacking up and when I got to my office I only had two hours to work. It was the most productive two hours I ever had in there! If only I can be about God's business with his heart leading me I could accomplish so many eternal things with each 24 hour period I am given.

"I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell."

-C.T. Studd

Tragedies

I'm thinking about tragedy today. Not just the event itself but all the feelings and implications of tragedy in our lives after they have occurred.  Tragedy is not just a major event, I believe some tragedies can be on a smaller scale but can certainly rock someones life nonetheless.

I recently had a small scale tragedy. I owned a pet for five months and he got free. Someone picked him up off the main road and reported it to a shelter. She reported him but decided to give him to a friend. When I called the shelter and got in touch with this lady, her "friend" had said the dog ran away from him as well.  Now I don't want to accuse anyone of lying, the dog was not neutered and was looking for a mate.  He wandered away from us so he may have truly wondered away from this other person as well.

So, he is gone. If I get him back at this point I will know God has heard my prayers. But the point is, my heart is grieving. God in fact provided this little guy for me when I was going through a lot of change in my life. This little dog would comfort my heart because he loved me. He would chase his tail when I cried and would sit up like a prairie dog, beg for bacon, and have me in stitches.  He used to run in my room or wherever I was during opportune times to uplift my spirit. He was another picture of God's grace to me.

I was careless with him. I never bought him a collar. If I did, I'm sure that lady would have called me instead of given him to someone.  I also let him outside on a couple mornings I was too lazy to walk out to the dog pen. I thought he was used to running free anyway. I knew better than that though. Now he is gone because of my laziness. Sometimes our tragedies can be caused because of our carelessness.

Other times our tragedies are caused by another persons hard heart.  I have certainly had one of those. And I know someone who is walking through one of those tragedies right now. Mine was a BIG tragedy...a painful, crushing, ongoing, bitter tragedy. How dare that other person cause a tragedy in my life!

And finally, we have those tragedies that just happen. Either by accident, or genetics, or time, or chance.
I spoke with a mom today who's teenage son is blind.  This young man is bitter, depressed, and angry. My sufferings have been different than her sufferings. My heart can never know her bitterness and her heart can never know mine.

Lord, what should I do when these things happen to me? Should I blame YOU for some of my tragedies? My flesh wants to react. My flesh wants someone to pay for them.  Sometimes I want you to pay for them.  

Will I be angry with you Lord, if you never give me the answers I seek. If you never tell me "why" in my timing? Will I be disagreeable with you, will I not trust you if my tragedy is an ongoing one and spans over the years?

I'm going to choose to trust you God. I'm going to trust you with the duration of my tragedy.  However long, however much it costs me, by your grace, help me to trust you. Take my need for justice, take my bitterness, and my anger. It's too much of a load for me to carry. Help me forgive, just as you forgave when it was undeserved.

I love you. Let me never forget that you rescued my darkened mind and enlightened me. You set me free as I was practicing many sins. Why should I let go of your hand now?  Why the lack of trust now? I will not blame you...I love you!

A Testimony of Friendship

The Lord ordained a friendship for me that began eight years ago.  I know it was given to me from the hand of God because it was not someone I would think to choose for myself.  I met her through a mutual friend when she was 18 and I was 25.  I was a single mom of a 2 year old boy and she was a headstrong and opinionated teenager.  Because there was a need we begin living as roommates right after we met. As we began to discover one another I started learning lessons right away. God's typical MO.

She was incredibly messy.  She would spill jelly on the kitchen floor in the morning and it would be there when we returned home from work.  She would eat Little Debbie's oatmeal cream pies for breakfast.  I on the other had was a perfectionist. I liked things clean and put in their place.  Everything had to be done right and I had a hard time trusting the ability of others.  Can you say 'control freak!'  As she had her feet up on the coffee table reading a book, I would be cleaning or decorating, unable to enjoy the moments of life.

I recall a time when I became physically ill for 3 days. The Lord said "Be patient in affliction."  As I was bedridden God began to work through the sickness and the essence of my friend.  She worked (a little!) to live, but had no desire as a woman to allow work to define who she was.  I had to work. I had to strive...but God was saying through the circumstances..."No my daughter, you need to rest and trust me".   I was learning to let go of myself slowly, piece by piece.

My friend was also going to teach me a huge lesson about God's dealings in grace with us. I thought I knew grace. But what I discovered was what God had started within me in the spirit, I tried to perfect in the flesh.

Years passed and we changed. My friend, whom I had prayed with, cried with, and sought the Lord with started to desire the things of the past. I found myself mentally going to places that I never belonged in as a redeemed child of God. I started to become prideful, almost against her, even though a piece of me always loved her. I started to put her sin on a scale and tipped my sin in a more favorable light than hers. This is against the word of God. Proverbs 28:21 says "To show partiality (favoritism) is not good, because for a piece of bread, a man will transgress (sin)."

I also put certain people I knew on a spiritual pedestal and I was becoming blinded. Among the Christians I knew I was pretty obedient. But it was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain. When you get involved in performance based religion, whether conscience or unconscionably, a mixture of self righteousness and condemnation always manifest as rotten fruit.  God in his love for me allowed this to all come crashing down for my own good.

I saw how God had sought after my friend. Even in her sin, even after she had tasted the things of God. One day I had had it with her and threw myself on my bed in complaint to the Lord.  He spoke to me right then, "Yes she is in sin, and I will deal with it."  Did he condemn her, forget about her, or think he was above extending his arm toward her in her rebelliousness as I had done in my mind at times? No, he sought after her.  She was drowning, by her own doing, but desperately longing to purge the shame and be one with Christ again. God saw into the places of her heart that are not, and will never be visible to me.  How dare I ever think I was above falling.  Apart from the grace of God I would be back wallowing in my sin of years past.

The Lord had orchestrated events in my life to deliver me from legalism, performance, religion, self righteousness, and condemnation.  He set up circumstances so I would need to either listen to the voice of people that I determined were righteous or the voice of God.  I chose to listen to God and the floodgate of Grace opened.  I lost some precious friendships but brand new ones of Grace were born, and one special relationship was reborn.

My reborn relationship was with my friend that God placed in my life several years ago.  I am not afraid of her sin anymore. I'm not afraid of my own sin....and I can admit that MY sin is no less putrid in the nostrils of a Holy God.  My relationship with God has changed. I no longer think I am on his naughtly list when I fail and on his nice list when I am doing everything right.  I no longer think certain Christians are closer to God than other Christians, I no longer look at my friend like I am more favored by God, or more obedient than her...because I really STINK.  It's Christ that makes any one of us righteous.

Where the SPIRIT of the Lord is, there is Freedom! 

Jessi I love you dearly.  I see you as a powerful force against the kingdom of darkness. God is filling you with his spirit right now and I see you accepting it and living it and pouring it out to others. May God bless you with every good thing! May you get the same wages as those people who started working for our master early in the morning...and who is anyone to complain? God may reward his servants as he pleases!  You bless me and in this tribute to you I tried to tell you how special you are to me, but honestly I only scratched the surface of all the ways God used your life to bless me.  Your pain was not wasted. Neither was mine. Oh God, Jehovah our redeemer....no earthly joy he has promised to us compares to the promise that is coming, our salvation that he is faithful to bring us into.  I love you!