To See As God Sees

 “Suffer me that I may speak; And after that I have spoken, mock on. As for me, is my complaint to man? And if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled?”

‭‭Job‬ ‭21‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Job replied: “It’s not you I’m complaining to—it’s God. Is it any wonder I’m getting fed up with His silence? Take a good look at me. Aren’t you appalled by what’s happened?”  All Job wants is sympathy and compassion and all Job’s friends do is criticise and condemn him.  We see life through negative lens and open our mouth and spew it out!  God is calling us to be the design that He has created us to be! We are fearfully and wonderfully made in God’s image and likeness and when we lost our identity through sin, Christ redeemed us and sealed us with the precious Blood of Jesus.  God is loving, compassionate, merciful, kind, tenderhearted, righteous and holy just as much as He is just, wise, perfect, powerful, almighty, majestic and full of glory!  Let’s see as God sees, as Jesus said, “I speak to you eternal truth. The Son is unable to do anything from Himself or through His own initiative. I only do the works that I see the Father doing, for the Son does the same works as His Father.”  Amen!

Steadfastly Standing on the Rock

 “as it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: And whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭9‬:‭33‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Paul quotes the prophet Isaiah: “Be careful! I am setting in Zion a stone that will cause people to stumble, a rock of offense that will make them fall, but believers in him will not experience shame.”  The conclusion of the prophetic reference, points towards the Rock as the spiritual identity of human life.  In Christ, God has placed His testimony of mankind’s identity in front of their eyes, in Zion, the centre of their religious focus, yet blinded by their own efforts to justify themselves, they tripped over Him.  But those who recognise Him by faith, as the Rock from which they were hewn, are freed from the shame of their sense of failure and inferiority.  When you stand in the Rock, steadfast in faith, even if the promise is delayed, you will not be disheartened.  May that be our testimony.  Amen!

Our Responsibility to Intercede for Others

 “The increase of his house shall depart, And his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath. This is the portion of a wicked man from God, And the heritage appointed unto him by God.”

‭‭Job‬ ‭20‬:‭28‬-‭29‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Job’s friend Zophar the Namaathite took it upon himself to speak against the wicked as he called Job, “God will strip them of their sin-soaked clothes and hang their dirty laundry out for all to see. Life is a complete wipeout for them, nothing surviving God’s wrath. There! That’s God’s blueprint for the wicked— what they have to look forward to.”  Instead of interceding for his friend, Zophar was accusing Job.  The prophet Daniel was a true intercessor who knew to intercede appropriately, ““O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away..”  Jesus prayed for those crucifying for Him, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”  Our great High Priest Jesus, is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens.  May we agree with our Intercessor.  Amen!

The Holy Spirit Sees & Celebrates Perfection

 “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭26‬ ‭KJV‬‬

In a similar way, the Holy Spirit takes hold of us in our human frailty to empower us in our weakness. For example, at times we don’t even know how to pray, or know the best things to ask for. But the Holy Spirit rises up within us to super-intercede on our behalf, pleading to God with emotional sighs too deep for words.  Earlier it was the creation which groans for the glorious freedom of God’s children.  We also groan for the fullness of our status as God’s children.  The Holy Spirit groans for our complete destiny to be fulfilled.  He sighs within us with words too deep for articulation, assisting us in our prayers when we struggle to know how to pray properly.  When we feel restricted in our flesh, He supersedes our clumsy efforts and hits bulls-eye every time!  He only sees and celebrates perfection.  Let’s agree with Him.  Amen!

Our Redeemer Lives

 “For I know that my redeemer liveth, And that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, Yet in my flesh shall I see God:”

‭‭Job‬ ‭19‬:‭25‬-‭26‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Job laments that his loved ones, friends and servants have given up on him, “Still, I know that God lives—the One Who gives me back my life— and eventually He’ll take His stand on earth. And I’ll see Him—even though I get skinned alive!— see God myself, with my very own eyes. Oh, how I long for that day!”  Being rejected in the greatest trial of his life by his loved ones, friends and servants, Job still made this confession that he knew his Redeemer lives and that he would see him.  What faith, and that too in the old covenant!  But now, our Redeemer came in the flesh, was crucified and rose again and we see Him by the Holy Spirit, in our relationship with Him and through His Word.  Jesus said “I promise that I will never leave you helpless or abandon you as orphans—I will come back to you! Soon I will leave this world and they will see Me no longer, but you will see Me, because I will live again, and you will come alive too.”  What an awesome promise, let’s believe it.  Amen!