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Job 1 - Part I: Still a GOD of Grace?

We have here the story of Job. While it is not known exactly when he had lived, this is definitely an ancient story - not a tale, but true factual account of history in the Holy Scripture.

Reading from the passage, it is described that Job had been a blameless, upright, God-fearing man and one who shunned evil. God Himself said so.


Things I deduced about Job:

Firstly, he was prosperous.
He had 7 sons, 3 daughters, and lots of rich possessions. They were all affluent. He was probably a proud father too, to see his family living in love and harmony (the sons took turns to hold feasts each in their homes, and their sisters were invited too) and living in financial comfort.

Secondly, he was an eminently pious and dilligent believer and follower of God.
Despite all his blessings, he never neglected the religious rituals of sanctification of his children, and the offering of worship to the LORD. He was careful too, to watch that his sons did not sin against God (v.5 "It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts").

Thirdly, He was a good and wise father.
First of all, He was concerned about his sons' spiritual welfare, such that they regularly practised customary religious sancification exercises.
What more was that he called for such exercises only after the cycle of feasts. This, I believe is so that he does not 'spoil' the atmosphere of the feasts, and also to align his children back to the understanding that God is a holy God to be worshipped, and He is the God who had given them all their blessings.
Then, we see that Job offered sacrificial worship of animals for all of his children, according to the number of them all (v.5).


And then, from Verse 6 on, we hear of this adversary of God, his name is Satan. Now, what business does he have in this religious ceremony where the sons of God had come to worship Yahweh? He was, at that time, roaming around the surface of the Earth, looking for something apparently... Oh, he must be in search of new victims. He is looking for somebody or something more exciting than the usual, he is out to challenge the Almighty, and out to want to win too.

So here he comes. Watch what the LORD says to him, 'Have you considered My servant Job?'

Oops! Hey, isn't the Christian God we believe in a God of grace! Did He really say that? How could He! How can He ever possibly give His faithful servant over into the hands of evil? God cannnot and will not do that! ... Or, maybe... does He?

Well, it is plainly evident here in this passage that yes, God does allow trials and tests in our lives, also the interference of the devil in our lives. God knows exactly the portion of our capability and endurance. And His promise to us is this: He will never tempt us beyond what we can bear and will always provide a way out (1 Cor 10:13).

Nothing happens without God's knowing and approval. We can rest assured that all things are in God's control, and He is molding you and I into His image more and more each day. If Job who was the most blameless and upright man in his time, even in the eyes of God Himself, had gone through great testings from God, why then should there be any reason that you and I be excused from trials and temptations? Are we perfected yet, such that we need no discipline from God to make us any better?

The Heavenly Father is preparing the bride of Christ (that's me, and you too) for the day when Jesus comes back to take her. I'm a million miles away from being ready for that day, so my prayer is that God will take me there somehow... whatever it takes...

Friend of God

What is a friend of God? A friend would know and understand:

• God’s will, calling and purposes for the individual himself
• God’s will, calling and purposes and purposes for the nation/church/corporate body of Christ
• God’s ways
• God’s thoughts
• Emotions of God – How God feels towards the individual himself, His Church (the Bride of Christ), His People, the nation(s), etc.
• Desires and passions of God – God is NOT an unfeeling God. He is the Creator of passion, and He is passion itself. He is a passionate God full of zeal.
• Secrets of the heart of God (Amos 3:7)
• Mysteries of God

John 15:15
No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
Many times in the bible, Abraham is called a ‘friend of God’. In 2 Chr 20:7, Jehoshaphat referred Abraham in his prayer as “Abraham Your friend”. Abraham is a servant of God and is God’s chosen one. But more than these, God declared Abraham as is His own friend - What an honor and privilege!

Gen 18:17
Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?”
God is not perplexed or bewildered. He is God. He is all-knowing and all wise.
Also, He did not say, “Shall I reveal to Abraham what I am about to do?”, but rather, He said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?”. This reflects very much on the heart of God and how He thinks and feels of Abraham, His friend. I think God’s customary response is to disclose and make known what He is about to do and His ways to Abraham. So on this particular instance, God had an idea of not revealing but to hide it from this friend of His.

Moses had the privilege of speaking with God face to face (Ex 33:11)
As a friend of God, one can and will

• constantly grow in the knowledge of who God is – who He really really is
• like the sons of Issachar, have understanding of the times and seasons (1 Chr 12:32)
• make sense of things happening around the world, very much about living in the last days we’re in (e.g. disasters, earthquakes, tsunami, happenings in Israel)

Now, here's the best part of the deal:
Being a friend of God is a choice, it is an invitation from God Himself. He is looking for people who will say 'yes' to be in partnership with Him. He is not into the business of making humans robots; instead, He is into the business of molding the church to stand in partnership with Him - to hear Him unload His heart, to feel the way He feels, to think the way He thinks, to fight His battles with Him side by side.

So then, will you be His friend?

My Name

My name is Precious - yes that's my name.

It is the name my Beloved calls me by.

He calls me Fairest, the fairest among women, His Fair One. He says I am all fair - fair as the moon and clear as the sun. 11 times in the Song, He calls me FAIR.

He calls me His love, His beloved. 7 times in the Song, He calls me LOVE.

He says I have dove's eyes.

He tells me I have no spot in me.

He says I have ravished His heart, even with one look of my eyes (my dove's eyes).

He calls me His sister and spouse - this is what I am to Him.

He tells me how much better than wine is my love, and the scent of my perfumes than all spices!

He calls me His dove.

He says I'm His perfect one, I'm the only one - no competition, no need to fight for love and attention; for I am the ONLY.

He says I am pleasant to Him with my delights.

And yes, I am Precious - that's my name.

Teach me to GAZE

Psalm 27:4
One thing I have desired of the Lord, that I will seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.

What is the beauty of the Lord?
What does it mean to behold the beauty of the Lord?
How to behold such beauty?
Is it real? Can it be real?
Can it really be seen and understood by mere humans like us?

These are questions I’ve been asking for a long time. What exactly is the beauty of the Lord? But I know that these questions require more than understanding of the mind and familiarity with the answers in the Scriptures. While it is vitally important to grasp the truths and depths of the Word of God, I need a far greater revelation in my Spirit.

There is so much sin in my life, how then can I ever possibly behold a holy God who is astoundingly beautifully perfect?

With all the darkness inside of me, around me, encircling me, who in their sanity would have such audacity to approach the brilliant pure Light?

Yet You O Lord said with Your very own Word, Your written Word spoken into my heart...


Turn your eyes away from me; they overwhelm me.
Song of Solomon 6:5

You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.
Song of Solomon 4:9


Me? My eyes? They overwhelm the most Holy One? They overcome the most beautiful uncreated Beauty itself?

With one glance? How about a brief split-second glance? They capture Your heart? They really do?

How can it be! What kind of love is this!

And yet it is true… Yes it is true! Your Word is indeed true. It is true, so true it can’t be truer.

So God, teach me to gaze. Teach me to fix my eyes on You. Teach me to look to Your beauty. For it is through the revelation of Your beauty that I may be changed completely, that I may forsake all my evil ways, that I may seek after You wholeheartedly…

Psalm 84:2
My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh cry out for the living God.

Wisdom Vs Knowledge

"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious father, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better..."
Ephesians 1:17

As most of us know, this apostolic prayer was prayed by Paul when he wrote to the church in Ephesus. When we say "give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation", we are actually asking for wisdom and knowledge of the Word of God.

Knowledge of God can be obtained by studying and meditating on the Word, but wisdom requires putting that knowledge we have into action. If one acquires knowledge but doesn't put it to use, then the purpose of attaining the knowledge in the first place is lost. We need knowledge from the Bible in order to have wisdom to do the right thing.

Perhaps, we can pursue all the academic credentials we want, the degrees and diplomas etc, but putting the knowledge into what we do and maturing in our thoughts, all of these actually require much wisdom. However, to develop in wisdom, we do need knowledge. That is why it is so important to have knowledge first.

Even if we have all the knowledge in the world, when faced with a difficult situation, the question is will we be able to act and react wisely? Hence my conviction is that we should not stop short and only ask God for knowledge, but also wisdom as well.

Pris

God of Holiness

The Hebrew word for holy is “qadowsh” or qadosh” meaning BRIGHTNESS or SEPARATEDNESS. Brightness suggests the unapproachable God who dwells in thick darkness & clothes in light (Ps. 104:2; 1 Tim. 6:16). Separatedness is the positive quality which distinguishes or defines God. He is beyond all things. No one can compare with the God who lacks nothing, yet overflow with all His excellencies. (Ex. 1511; Isa. 40:12, 18)


THE HOLINESS OF GOD
The radiance of all His attributes, working in perfect harmony, perfect purity, perfect potency & perfect gladness is His holiness. The holiness of God is not just an attribute of God, but it is the glorious combination of all His attributes into one perfect whole. As all His attributes proceed from the absolute, so all converge & meet in holiness.


THE BEAUTY OF GOD
Beauty is the combination of elements according to the laws of harmony. The more beautiful the parts or elements, & the more perfect the harmonious, the higher the beauty. As the beauty of God is the perfect combination of all of God’s infinite perfections, how high & glorious, therefore must be the beauty of God!


A HOLY GOD DRAW NEAR
God’s Personality is filled with infinite splendour, majesty beauty & sovereign power. God wants us to know certain aspects of His Personhood. The Scriptures teach us that knowing God’s glorious Personality profoundly impacts our lives by changing the way we think & feel about Him. This change will impact every area of our lives.

God is a real Person with a real Personality. His Personhood is the CENTER of all created purpose & order. Nothing could be more essential than to intimately know this Person n His infinite beauty & majesty splendour. It is the gift of God for the Holy Spirit to reveal the deep things of God to the Body of Christ. (1 Cor. 2:10)

The basic premise of the 1 John 3:2 principle – seeing aspects of God’s infinite splendour & beauty has a powerful transforming impact in our lives. God subdues & conquers the heart of His people by simply letting them see a small glimpse of Himself (Col. 3:10; 2 Cor. 3:18; Isa. 6:1-8; Rev. 1:12-18; 4:1-11; Ezek. 1:1-8). God’s Personality is filled with divine excellence & perfection that can be known & proclaimed. (1 Peter 2:9; Eph. 3:8)


5 ASPECTS OF GOD'S GLORIOUS BEAUTY TO BEHOLD (2 Cor. 3:18)
1. God’s PASSIONS – His ravished heart of passionate affection in His relationships. E.G. Jesus, Holy Spirit & the Church

2. God’s PLEASURES – His exuberant happiness & delight over His works.
a. Concerning Jesus – His eternal exaltation, His incarnation, His ministry, His redemptive death, etc.

b. Concerning the Church – the progressive plan of maturity unto eternal partnership with Jesus.

c. Concerning the progressive triumph & reign of holiness in His eternal Kingdom.

d. Concerning His creation – angels, earth, etc.

e. Concerning the administration of His rule & leadership of History.

3. God’s PERSONAL SPLENDOUR – His infinite beauty concerning His Personhood.
a. Omniscience – infinite knowledge, wisdom & understanding.

b. The beauty of His infinite love, purity, faithfulness, holiness, justice & creativity in perfect proportion & harmony.

c. His incomprehensible condescension, humility & kindness.

4. God’s MAJESTY POWER – His sovereign Omnipotence that has no limit.
a. Omnipotence

b. Sovereignty

5. God’s TRANSCENDENT PRESENCE – His eternal Omnipresence.
a. His self-existence

b. His self-sufficiency

c. His eternal & infinite qualities

d. His immutability

e. Divine transcendence

f. His omnipresence

g. His self-disclosing knowability

Psalm 27:4 - Part 3: Beauty?

Psalm 27:4
One thing I have desired of the Lord, that I will seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.

The stimulating factor to dwelling in the house of God is the beauty of God.

The word beauty probably requires little explanation. Some definitions of beauty we can find in dictionaries are as follows:
- A quality that give pleasure to the senses
- A quality or feature that is most effective, gratifying or telling.

As we can see, beauty is something very pleasurable and desirable.

One common misunderstanding is that Christianity is a boring religion with endless laws and commandments to adhere to that opposes the pleasure and enjoyment of life. The second misunderstanding is that the God we believe in is only a serious, sober, unenthusiastic, uninterested, easily crossed God who demands obedience and submission from mankind.

From Psalm 27:4, we can see that desiring pleasure is NOT a sin! King David desired and sought something that was delightful; he was longing to see the beauty of God. In fact, the beauty of God is something I believe all believers should yearn for. We should seek out the beauty of God and meditate on them constantly.

Psalm 145:5
I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works.

Creation was created in wondrous beauty, I have absolutely no doubt about that. Heaven and earth were formed from nothingness. Man was amazingly created from dust, and yet we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psa 139:14).

While creation is beautiful, the fact remains: God is indeed beauty itself; God is uncreated beauty.

All it requires is a little glimpse of the divine beauty of God to give us a deeper revelation of who He really is. It inspires us to receive still more of His boundless love (Eph 3:17-19).

The beauty of God satisfies the deepest desire of our hearts and souls, not any other forms of pleasure – not a relationship can fill, not achievements can attain, not money can buy – nothing at all can satisfy the void that we were made with in our innermost beings, all except God Himself. After all, we are made after the image of God. It takes God to love God, for it is humanly impossible for mere man like you and I to love God with all our hearts, all our souls and all our strength (Deu 6:5).

May you enjoy God in His divine beauty and find the greatest possible satisfaction in His love. Let Him kiss you with the kisses of His mouth.

Song of Solomon 1:2
Let him (Jesus) kiss me with the kisses of his mouth – for your love is better than wine.

Psalm 90:17
And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands.

Isaiah 33:17
Your eyes will see the King in His beauty.

Psalm 96:6
Honor and majesty are before Him; Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.

1 Chronicles 16:29
Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of His holiness!

Post on Your Love Is Better

Hi there

I came across this blog, and found this post really inspiring, would like to share it with you.

Just click on the title above.

Blessings
Bel

The Heart of Worship

This is more for those of us who are currently serving in the worship team.

I think that it is very important to be focused on God instead on the other things, like the technicalities for one. It is important that our hearts must be right with God before we even step up on the platform.

It actually happened to me once. I was doing prophetic singing that time, and I didn't prepare my heart before that. During the worship time, I felt so distracted and I couldn't really focus on worshipping much. As musicians, prophetic singers, or worship leaders, our job is to lead poeple into worship, but if we ourselves aren't engaging, we certainly can't bring the poeple to that place of engagement with God.

Having a heart of worship does not only refer to preparing ourselves before a session, but it also means that we should have the heart of a worshipper by meditating on God's Word. Doing that and also our daily devotions is the key to having a heart of worship. For me, I would just go to the keyboard and do my worship, or even just take the guitar into my room, shut the door and focus my attention on the Lord. And it would really help to be in a quiet place as it is much easier to hear the voice of God.

I would really like to encourage you guys with this and take it as a suggestion.

May He kiss you with the kisses of his mouth this week as you meditate on His word.

With Blessings,
Pris