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Job 1:12 - Then the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him." So Satan departed from the presence of the LORD.
Job 2:4-6 Satan answered the LORD and said, "Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. "However, put forth Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse You to Your face." So the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your power, only spare his life." NASU
Job 1:8-11 - The LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil." Then Satan answered the LORD, "Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face." At different stages of our life, we can be sure God's adversary (satan) will want to inflict some type of suffering into our lives. In the case of Job, we can see his sufferings were financial, family, religious, marital and health. They all came upon him immediately and without any warning signs. I studied the book of Job a few years back and arrived at numerous conclusions but the one that sticks with me the most is this: Job suffered because the LORD had faith in him. The LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job?..."
Yeah, I didn't think so. It isn't generally my first thought either. BUT, it is true. The LORD has faith in us. He has given us His Word which is able to strengthen us to endure any temptation. Here is how the apostle Paul penned it down: 1 Corinthians 10:13 - No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. God has faith in us. Any temptation we face has been faced by others before us. God also makes us two promises, the first promise is He will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear and the second promise is He will provide us a way of escape in order for us to endure the temptation. Therefore, when you find yourself suffering or being tempted, keep looking for the way to escape. It is there. You must remain calm and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you God's plan of escape for you. Think About This: A person falls into temptation because he is unwilling to stand up against it. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word
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Luke 1:45 - "And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord." NASB
And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end." NASB Mary believed what Gabriel revealed to her about what was soon to take place in her life. She believed what she was told by God. The scripture says, "And blessed is she who believed…" If you and I want to be blessed in this life I believe all we have to do is READ GOD'S WORD and believe what God has said.
Paul tells us in Colossians 1:13-14 - For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. We need to believe this. We have been rescued from the domain of darkness, we have been transferred into the kingdom of Jesus, we have been redeemed, and our sins have been forgiven. What better news could I share with you? We should wake up every day with a smile on our face because we are a part of Jesus' kingdom. We have been redeemed and our sins have been forgiven. In other words, we are like Mary, we are blessed to have God change our surroundings. March 2, 1975, God changed my surroundings. I confessed Jesus Christ to be my Lord and Savior and was buried in a watery grave called "baptism". This is exactly what Peter told the first converts on the day of Pentecost: Acts 2:38 - Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Let me encourage you today to become apart of Jesus' kingdom and you will travel the remainder of your days as a "Blessed" person. That my friend is good news! Think About This: Knowledge knows a fact. Wisdom knows what to do with that fact. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word 1 Samuel 30:6 - “Moreover David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.”
David goes from being loved after killing Goliath to being hated by the king. When the Israelites sing songs about David and he is praised to a greater degree than Saul, he becomes Saul's enemy. In the passage above, David and his men left for a few days and while gone all their loved ones were taken captive by the Amalekites. I Sam. 30:3-4 - When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him lifted their voices and wept until there was no strength in them to weep. Right after they are finished crying the people want to blame David and stone him. As you can see David's life is filled with ups and downs or highs and lows. The point is your life will most likely be similar. You will have your highs and lows.
If you are a college football fan then you are familiar with the name Dabo Swinney. He is the head coach of Clemson. Now if you happen to think man what a life he is living please allow me to give you a little background information about Coach Swinney. From Wikipedia: After the conclusion of the regular season, many fans called for the firing of both Swinney and athletic director Terry Don Phillips.[11] Swinney would say years later he expected to be fired after the regular season ended with a loss to South Carolina.[14] Don Phillips instead gave Swinney a vote of confidence and allowed him to return for the 2011 season.[15] Discontent with Swinney grew even more after a bowl loss to South Florida made Clemson's final record 6-7, Clemson's first losing season since 1998. Swinney, who was 19-15, entered the 2011 season widely considered to be a coach on the hot seat.[16] In 2011 Coach Swinney was on the HOT SEAT, in other words, he better have a great year or he would be fired. I wonder if any of the Alumni are calling for him to be fired now. The answer is unequivocally NO. I have said it for years it only takes 20 years to become an overnight success and if you are like Coach Swinney you can do it in half the time. Since 2014 Coach Swinney's record is 65-7 and he has won 4 ACC titles and 2 National titles.
There are a lot of different ways your life can be on a roller coaster. King David and Coach Swinney's would have been work related ups and downs. Your life's roller coaster may be with your health, finances, loss of loved ones or another way, the key is to keep your faith in God and you will overcome the ups and downs of this life. King David strengthened himself in the Lord. Coach Swinney gave all the glory to God and these are the correct formulas for us. Give God the honor and glory for where He has us and we will be victorious. Think About This: Failure is the path of least persistence. Often GENIUS is just another way of spelling perseverance. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Matt. 18:1-4 - At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." NASU
God was going to forgive you of your sins. God was going wash away your sins with the blood of Jesus. God was going to give you the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit to help you through this life. God was going to give you eternal life. God was, God was, God was. While this all may be very true if I were starting my ministry today it would be very different.
I am not teaching salvation by your works. I will always teach we are saved by the works of Jesus. What I would be teaching is what are you going to do to say "thanks" to God for saving you from an eternity in hell. I believe by establishing the correspondence this way the new convert knows right from the start he is required to be active in the Lord's Kingdom. As a minister of God's Word I have baptized more than one person and then spent way to much time trying to get them to honor their commitment to God, but wait a minute did they ever know they were making a commitment? It appears all I did was inform them about what God was going to do for them. I think I may have made it appear God was begging them to come and be a part of His team. May I tell you something? God doesn't need you or me on His team? His team will win regardless if we are on it or not. We NEED to be on God's team. Well, have you ever participated in a team sport? What did you have to do to be on the team? Listen to and obey the coach's rules were probably great places to start.
The Greek word for "convert" means "to change or to turn". So you see there will always be something for us to do. What "changes or turns" have you had to make in your Christian life?
Troy was a National Champion at 142 lbs in 1992 and would have been odds on favorite to repeat at that weight. Coach Gable asked Troy to think about going down to 134 lbs. in order to put Lincoln McIlravy in the lineup. Troy's contribution was to lose 8 more pounds, which he did. The only difference instead of being a repeat National Champion he took 3rd place. He made a tremendous sacrifice or contribution for his team and Yes, his team won the 1993 NCAA team title again that year. (Used by permission from Troy Steiner)
It is my prayer you will ask God what He desires you to contribute so you can be a part of His winning team. What changes or turns do you need to be making so you will hear those words "enter in my faithful servant?" Think About This: Brains and beauty are gifts from God; character is your own achievement. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word I Kings 18:43-45 - He said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” So he went up and looked and said, “There is nothing.” And he said, “Go back” seven times. It came about at the seventh time, that he said, “Behold, a cloud as small as a man’s hand is coming up from the sea.” And he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down, so that the heavy shower does not stop you.’ ” In a little while the sky grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy shower. NASU
In this vision God had told him that it was going to rain: 1 Kings 18:1- Now it happened after many days that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, "Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the face of the earth." NASU Now, no one else knew it was going to rain. Everyone had been programmed to believe it wasn't going to rain because it hadn't rained in over three years. In verse 41, Elijah could hear and see a storm coming. While Elijah was on Mt. Carmel he knows a storm is coming but only he is able to see and hear it. He says to his servant (vs.43) “go…look towards the sea.” The servant does as Elijah said, but when he returns he informs him he saw nothing. They go through this ritual six times and each time his answer is the same, “There is nothing.” Imagine going through this same routine six times and coming back with the same answer, “There is nothing.” Elijah’s servant was not able to see what Elijah saw. God said (vs.1) that He was sending rain and Elijah believed him and he could see the rain coming. He didn’t see it physically but he saw it spiritually.
So what are you to do when you can see what no one else can see? You keep on displaying your faith in what you believe. At least that is what Elijah did and on the seventh time, his servant came back with a different answer, a "don’t get your hopes up too high" answer. He says, “Behold, a cloud as small as a man’s hand…” The servant doesn’t have much faith in this little cloud. In fact, he says it is a “small” cloud. It is only the size of a man’s hand. Now if you think about that for a moment, physically speaking, that size of a cloud isn’t going to do much. That is what makes this story all the more fascinating.
God uses this small cloud to rain down heavy showers (vs. 45- In a little while the sky grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy shower.). You might have a vision or a dream and you have shared it with your family or friends and they all think you are “crazy” or worse yet: they even call you a “dreamer”. All I can say is keep believing or having faith in your dreams. This is how to keep your dreams alive. Elijah did and in the end, he was right and they were wrong. You may be the small cloud and God is going to do great things with you. Don't stop believing you are partnering with God. Think On This: Small minds are the first to criticize large ideas. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word |
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