WONDERFUL LESSONS FROM JOB

The story of Job in the Bible is a story with lot of lessons. From now till somewhere in march, I would like us to learn some of the lessons found in Job so we apply it to our chrisitan lifes.
We shall start from Job chapter 1. In this chapter, the Bible teaches us that Job was a perfect and upright man and one that feared God and eschewed evil.What a man? Anyway, you can see that he was blessed with children and a lot of animals and the Bible tells us he was the greatest of all the men of the east (vs 3). The chapter 1 talks mainly about his wealthiness to the begining of his suffering. The questions and the lessons in this chapter are;
1. The bible describes him as a perfect and upright man that eschewed evil(vs 1). What of us? How upright and perfect are we and how smart are we to eschew evil in todays modern world?
2. Imagine having all those riches and animals and being the greatest man in America, Asia, Afica, your office or family or wherever you come from. How will you feel? Are you going to be proud? Will you help the poor or you will keep them to yourself?
3. How often do you pray for your sons? Look at vs 5. Job knew in the midst of joy, his sons may say things ungodly so he made sacrifices and prayed on their behalf. Do we do that? How often do we pray on behalf of our family, children, employers, friends etc?
4. Should satan go before God to ask permission to destroy us, how sure do we think God will be about us? Can God boldly give us out for a second without us turning our back on Him? Is our faith that strong that God can use us for an "experiment" as He did to Job? I don't know your name now but can God say to satan, hast thou considered my servant William, Worlasi or daughter Natalie, Josephine etc? Just put your name there and ask yourself. Can God withness about your faithfulness to Him to the devil?
5. Look at the last verse in chapter 1. In times of trouble and difficulties, what do you say to God? The first thing Job did was to worship God after which he said "Naked I come........" (vs 20-22). What would have been your first word or action if you loose all those riches and children?

To be continued........

THE CHRISTIAN AND LONG SUFFERING

The fruit of the spirit as spelt out clearly in Galatians 5:22-23 are Love, Joy,Peace, Temperance,Meekness, Faith, Goodness, Gentleness and Longsuffering.
Longsuffering in other words mean patience or bearing something or a condition usually negetive for a long time. To me, it has been one of the fruits we always find difficut to bear, eat or make manifest in our lives.
We all have needs and I agree some are very pressing but we should have patience. Sometimes, we get angry at God when we present our needs to Him through prayer and does not receive answers immediately. We must learn to be patient, endure and wait upon God. Sometimes we must just wait a little longer. The word the Bible used was not shortsuffering for us to say the time should be short but the Bible said longsuffering. We may need any of the following; money for school or to pay rent, marriage, children or even a neighbour may be hating you for no cause and everything may seem to go wrong but we must learn to endure and when the positives are not coming despite our fervent prayer through fasting, we must still wait. The fact that the Bible says God will supply our needs according to His riches and that silver and gold are His does not mean when you are a christian, you will never face difficulties. At what age did Abraham and Sarah have a son? One thing we should know as christians is that, God has a time table for averyone. Unlike the time tables we have for our college lessons, God's time table may be slow but He is sure to cover everything in it concerning our lives. Even God has patience for us whenever we go wrong (Psalm 145:8-9).All we must learn to do is to have patience for after the suffering like the picture of Christ on the left which is a perfect example is abundant joy.
stay blessed.

SEEING THE POSITIVE PART OF NEGATIVES

This week went into my diary on a different note because I was struck down with some bad cold and headache but thanks be to God who still found me useful and kept me alive to write this post. Am fine now by the grace of God and hope you are also doing well. That is how life is. Sometimes when things seem to go bad, in the mist of sickness and troubles, that is when the grace finds you. There is a good side in every bad situation so don't loose hope. Just look at Jesus Christ, He was born in a manger which was bad for someone who was to save the world from sins and I think you agree with me saving the world was a very good side of Jesus Christ. The Roman soldires also killed Jesus Christ thinking they are ending His reign but unknown to them, they were actually helping Him achieve His aim on earth. Another example is when we miss flights. We get angry at ourselves only to hear that the flight crashed into the sea after take off. It happens everyday in different situations. Were you once angry and cursed your stars simply because you were either sacked from work, your wife not preparing that delicious meal you asked her to, your church pastor asking you to fast the whole day, the food you bought by the road side accidentally pouring away, your car or van developing a fault just when you needed it most? I really needed my week badly because I have an impending exams to write and yet I only ended up sick. That is life but in all the war, you are sure to find peace somewhere, in the dark, you will find light, in troubles, there is a way somewhere and in the dust you have been asked to sweep as punishment lies the piece of gold that can change your life forever. All is not lost when things don't go as you disire. Keep the faith, trust in God and keep praying for a better tomorrow.