You are welcome to the August edition of El Shaddai Heritage!
God has done us well, therefore, we have every reason to give Him thanks. He has not forgotten you! He woke you up this morning! He is working something out for you! Wait on Him!
He is a faithful father!
I hope we are all enjoying the goodness of God. He promised in His Word that He will never, never leave us, nor forsake us.
My Prayer is that, you will continually look up to Jesus and as you look up to Him, you will never be put to shame in the name of Jesus Christ!
This month we shall continue from where we left off in July, we shall analyze the meaning of Torment in the light of 1John 4:8b
“…for God is love“.
as regards the situation of Job.
From the understanding of the Word of God, fear is a spirit and it has the ability to inflict pain that can be felt physically. There is a vivid connection between the physical and the spiritual.
In Genesis 1:3
“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”
In John 4:34, we see that God Himself is a Spirit
“God is a Spirit…”
He is also the father of all spirits.
Hebrews 12:9
“Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits , and live?“
We will notice that when God who is a Spirit declared, “Let there be light”
Light manifested in the physical.
We also need to understand that God does not need light.
In 1 Timothy 6:16
“Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.“
God Himself is light, He dwells in light, so it’s not like God was in darkness and He needed light.
We need to understand also that darkness connotes evil.
Proverbs 4:9
“The way of the wicked is as darkness:…“
1 John 1:16
“If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:”
From the above scriptures, it is unequivocally clear that God is not in darkness neither does He condone darkness.
2 Timothy 1:7
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind“
2 Timothy 1:7 eradicates every doubt we might still be entertaining:
God does not torment man, it follows therefore, that, the torment Job was talking about is not from God.
Proverbs 29:25
“The fear of man bringeth a snare but whose putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe”
Job’s trust in the Lord as regards his safety was not in place.
Proverbs 15:33
“The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.“
Also, Proverbs 14:27 and
Provers 19:23
“The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.“
“The fear of the LORD tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.”
If we pay close attention to Proverbs 19:23 we will discover that whosoever has the fear of God will not be visited with evil.
Challenges do come but the good news is that we are overcomes in Christ Jesus!The Lord said in Isaiah 59:19
“So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him” Here the Bible refers to the fear of God but we already explained that above.
Remember, God is not a man that He should lie – Number 23:19
In Isaiah 43:2, God said:
“When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.”
Irrespective of the situation you find yourself, God is saying to you:
Fear not!
In fact “Fear not!” is the most repeated command in the Bible. There are more than 365 “Fear nots” in the Bible — one “Fear not” for each day of the year!
From the previous edition, it is unequivocal clear that God is not and could never have been the architect of Job”s predicament.
In our next edition, we shall look at the various provision made by God and how to harness them.
See you next month!