Trials God allows. Curses God never made.

Job 1:1-22
King James Version (KJV)
1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
2 And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.
3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.
4 And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
5 And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.
6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
11 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.
13 And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:
14 And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them:
15 And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
16 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
17 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
18 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:
19 And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
20 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,
21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

You wake up in the morning, take a deep breath, and thank God for a beautiful day. You go to your prayer closet and spend some time in prayer. You leave your prayer, open your Bible, and begin reading and studying God's word. You sit there and meditate on His Word as you quietly listen for God's voice. You leave that place, and as you go, you have placed a song of praises and worship into your heart.

God has given you many things of this life for your enjoyment because you have placed God first and center of your life. He gave you a good job, and you are making good money even though the economy is terrible. You have a wonderful wife or husband, a good marriage, and beautiful children, and you all worship and praise God.

You never rob God because you pay your tithes and offerings unto God without fail, and you help the needy, the widows, and the children. Because of this, God has blessed you abundantly, and you have not a need or want for anything. You have no Idols in your life that you bow and pray to. You have kept the commandments of God, and you are at peace with your heavenly Father.

Then it happens; you get up the following day and do as you have always done every morning; you get dressed and leave for work. Your boss calls you into the office and says, I am sorry, but we must lay you off; the economy has caught up with us, and we have had to cut back. I am sorry.

You get your things, and you are heading home when your phone rings. It is the hospital, and they tell you there was an auto accident, and you are needed at the hospital right away because your children are injured. You get there only to find out your children did not make it; they all died while the doctors tried to save their lives.

A big storm comes up while you and your wife are at the hospital grieving over the loss of your children. Tornado sirens are screaming, so you and your wife head for safety until the storm is over. You listen to the radio, and you hear that an F5 tornado destroyed many homes somewhere near your neighborhood.

You head towards home see all the houses destroyed and rubble all over. You say: I feel sorry for the people who lost their homes, which they have worked so hard for, but then, you come to your home, only it is not there, and all that is left is a concrete slab where your beautiful home once stood.

You ask: God, why have you done this to me? I served you; only you have I served. I lost my job, my children, and my home all in one day. Why, God, are you punishing me?

My question to you is this: Was God punishing you?

Job went through a similar situation as I just described, and even some of you may have gone through this type of case or one similar. But who is the one who cursed Job? Was it God? No, he did not. Why then did God allow this, and who did this to me? I serve God with everything in me, yet he did not stop this. Why?

When there are trials and trouble in our lives, we want to do one of two things; we either blame God for the problems we are facing or accuse God of being asleep on the job. Most of the time, we forget there are two powers in the spiritual world: God and Satan. There is a great battle going on in the spiritual world, and it is affecting today's world; it is changing the physical world we live in today.

Much of what is happening today is the cause of the spiritual world. With that being said, the spiritual world can only do what God allows it to do; even the angels of heaven cannot and will not do anything in our physical world without God's permission.

I want you to remember this, "even though God allows things to happen most of the time, we choose to have it happen;" let me explain. When God created man (you and me), he gave us a will; this means you and I have the right of choice. We use this choice every day of our lives. We use it in our personal lives, in our homes, in our marriages, in raising our children, even in the color of socks or clothes we will wear each day. In everything, and I mean everything, we have at least two choices, and we continuously exercise that right. It would be a very dull world without that right. It is the same in your spiritual life; you consistently have choices that you will make and must make. Our first and foremost choice is whether we will serve God or Satan. The Bible says we serve one of the two masters. We either serve God, or we serve Satan.

Matthew 6:24 KJV "No Man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye can not serve God and mammon." (Also found in Luke 16:13)

Some of you say I don't serve either one. If you are one of those who believe that you don't serve either one, then you are just fooling yourself because only by that statement alone you are serving Satan; it may sound hard, but I am not the one who wrote the Bible; so you will need to take that issue up with God.

There is a great battle raging in the spiritual world over you continually, and if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior by repentance, then there is a battle raging to get you to turn your back on God.

God allowed Satan to test Job, and God allowed Satan to strip Job of everything, including his children, home, and wealth. Job had no say in this matter, for as you can see, this was a spiritual battle for Job and a physical battle. The only thing God would not let Satan do is to kill Job.

Many of us create our trials and losses because we too often make bad choices in life, and when we do, we expect God to fix it for us right away. Bad decisions are made because we did not ask God for his perfect will or wisdom, resulting in disaster.

Choosing to seek God's wisdom and His perfect will is the most crucial part of your daily walk with Christ, and it is something we need to do daily. So when you pray and seek God, and before you decide on anything, seek God for these two essential ingredients.

One is his perfect will; "if" we will take a moment, and ask God for His perfect will, and allow him to be God in your life, and will enable Him to have total control of your life, then he will tell you and show you his perfect will. Number two is asking God for his wisdom; this is something God will give to you free every time you ask Him. Asking God for His perfect will and His wisdom goes hand in hand.

Here again, when we do not take the time to ask God for His perfect will and his wisdom, we will, more often than not, make the wrong choices in our daily lives. Satan will then take that time and use it to his advantage to wipe you out and destroy you.

Satan is the destroyer, not God. In Job's case, God allowed Satan to take Job to the limit, to test Jobs's faith in God. Even though he lost everything, Job did not turn his back on God, even with his wife telling him to curse God and die. Yet Job served God.

God allows things to happen to test our faith and, in most cases, to bring us back in line with Him and his word. We, too, often grow cold, and we become lazy in our daily walk with God. When we do, we leave the door wide open for Satan to come in and destroy everything you worked so hard for.

Satan is the one who cursed you, not God. If God curses you, it is everlasting, and you will know without a doubt that God has cursed you.
Satan is the great deceiver, and he is a master of illusions. He can and will; I Said: "He can and will" deceive you and paint you a dream to make you think it is God's will or that the choice you are about to make is the right choice. He does this to destroy you. This is why we are to be in constant communication with God, and we are to spend time in prayer and God's word, so we know when it is God and when it is Satan painting us a beautiful picture.

God will test your faith in him, and when he does, it just means school is in session, and he is trying to teach us something, and most of the time, it is to teach us to depend solely upon him for every aspect of our life, and to teach us to be patient, and to wait on God to bring things about in our lives.

Learn when trials are of God or when it is of your doing because of the wrong choices of life. (Know your enemy.) Learn Satan's tactics so that you can overcome them. The next time you get the urge to blame God for the trials you are going through, ask yourself these questions. Am I where I am supposed to be with God? Are my prayer life and my time with God on a daily basis? Have I been asking God for his perfect will and wisdom in my life, home, marriage, and family? Does God have total control of my ministry? Did I allow Satan to paint me a false picture?

Do as Job did, and learn from your trials by keeping your faith in God no matter what. Job was a true man of God, and he loved God in every part of his life. God said Job was perfect.

Let us learn to blame where it truly belongs, and most of the time, it is on ourselves for not seeking God's perfect will for our lives and not asking God for his wisdom. When we do things ourselves, Satan will take advantage and destroy us or the work we are trying to do.

Much of our trials are self-made; some are at the hands of Satan, and some are by God. God puts us through trials to make us strong and pure. The trials God puts us through will eliminate the garbage in our lives, homes, marriage, or ministry. You will use your tests in the future to help yourself and help others overcome them.

Ask God for wisdom and seek God for His perfect will. Satan was defeated at the cross where Jesus died, so we do not have to defeat Satan, but we must overcome Satan and the demons of hell. We can do this through the power of God in the name of Jesus Christ. This same Jesus, who shed his blood upon the cross, is the same Jesus who sent us the Holy Spirit and power.

Know your enemy (Satan) and his tricks, and overcome to live a victorious life through Jesus Christ.

Written By: Ron Alfredson
Email: ltm@ltm4christ.com

Mailing Address:
LTM
PO Box 87083
Vancouver, WA 98687

Trials God allows. Curses God never made.

Trials God allows. Curses God never made.

Trials God allows. Curses God never made.

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