Once Upon A Time
there lived a man named
JOB
who had it all,
and then he didn't,
as GOD allowed it all to be taken away.
JOB'S story CHANGED.
BUT JOB'S FAITH didn't~
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart.The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised ”
(Job 1:21).
In all of this, JOB did not sin,
by charging GOD with wrongdoing.
Could you have?
Would you have?
Not cursed GOD
when the going gets tough.
Oh how little this makes me feel,
when my story CHANGES
and goes in the direction I don't want it to,
because I didn't plan it to go that way.
But
LIFE IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WHAT
YOU HAVE PLANNED HAS CHANGED.
And that is where
FAITH IS.
Because tucked
IN FAITH
is where
HOPE is written into your STORY.
HOPE is your
STORY CHANGER.
If you don't have HOPE,
you don't have.
JOB
is just an ordinary man,
living his ordinary life,
not knowing what was about to happen.
In a moment,
what was his life
was no longer.
He didn't see it coming,
and then it came.
He lost it all.
First his possessions.
Then his family.
Then his health.
Then his friends.
His worst FEARS happening.
Where was GOD?
With him.
GOD never left.
But did JOB question GOD,
wondering
where HE was?
Because how could GOD,
why would GOD
allow all this misery
to happen to one of
HIS creations?
Have you ever questioned GOD?
Oh I have, as I have questioned HIS whereabouts~
"WHERE ARE YOU GOD,
have YOU left me!"
Oh the terror of just thinking of
LIFE WITHOUT GOD.
Didn't GOD'S SON question
HIS FATHER'S whereabouts
as HE was bleeding to death on the Cross~
"MY GOD MY GOD WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME"
(Matthew 27:46).
Oh you can hear HIS pain.
That space and place
where you are stripped down
left to yourself,
yet you still have enough breath in your lungs
to CRY OUT TO GOD,
because deep down you KNOW that GOD didn't leave you.
JESUS KNEW where GOD was.
JESUS KNEW GOD didn't FORSAKE HIM.
But in that moment,
JESUS EXPERIENCED LIFE WITHOUT GOD,
the terror of LIVING WITH SIN
as HE became SIN.
JESUS stripped down to the end of HIMSELF,
for you and for me.
"For GOD so loved the world that HE gave HIS one and only SON,
that whoever believes IN HIM shall not perish but have eternal life"
(John 3:16).
Those words of LIFE, that JESUS died for.
Once Upon A Time
there lived a man named
JOB
who had it all,
who didn't lose it all,
because
he had
THE GOD OF his FAITH!
But was JOB grieved?
Oh yes.
But did JOB curse the day of his birth?
Oh yes.
But did JOB want to die?
Oh yes.
But did JOB complain and challenge GOD?
Oh yes.
Did GOD hear him?
Oh yes,
as HE ANSWERED him
with a question~
“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?"
(Job 38:4).
Oh you.
Oh me.
Where were we when GOD CREATED ALL THINGS?
GOD IS GOD.
Who am I to question GOD?
But did JOB REPENT.
Oh yes,
and then the flood gates opened.
THE TEST OF FAITH ALWAYS WINS.
Is your FAITH being TESTED now?
Where is GOD in the TEST?
OH HE IS THE ANSWER TO THE TEST.
GOD WAS. GOD IS. GOD WILL ALWAYS BE.
GOD so LOVES you,
that HE is sitting right next to you right now,
even if you are sitting in a space and place
that you don't want to be sitting.
GOD CHANGED JOB'S LIFE,
even though JOB wasn't asking for his life to be
CHANGED.
"Then Job answered the LORD and said,
'I know that YOU can do all things,And that no purpose of YOURS can be thwarted' " (Job 42:1-2).
GOD'S WILL IS GOD'S WILL
and it is ALWAYS better than our WILL.
Therefore,
"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is GOD'S WILL for you in CHRIST JESUS"
(I Thessalonians 516-18).
Oh to have the WILL to LIVE JOYFUL
just because
we can,
because
JOY IS ALAWYS HERE.
Jesus
Only
You.
Will you join me
as we enter into
MAY tomorrow
with
EXPECTANT JOY,
through our
NEW MAY DEVOTIONAL SERIES~
"BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED"
as we
BELIEVE like we have never BELIEVED before
and as we
HOPE like we have never HOPED before
by
FAITH~
"May the GOD of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing
[through the experience of your faith]
that by the power of the HOLY SPIRIT
you will abound in hope and overflow with confidence in HIS promises"
(Romans 15:13).
Get Ready.
Get Set.
"BLOOM"
(listen to the song below)
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