Good Morning Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
How about some encouragement today? We have enough bad news in this world, to which we shouldn’t be giving any attention, so let’s see what The Truth is concerning the world and us, as Believers, in it.
Job 36:11
If they obey and serve Him [God], they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.
For a very brief context, when you read Job, three of his friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar come alongside Job after the tragedy to “mourn with him and to comfort him (Job 2:11).” With friends like Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, you don’t need enemies. Elihu, a fourth man, young, and from the lineage of Abraham, appears. He sits and listens for quite some time to Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar speak. Finally, Elihu speaks to Job and Job’s three friends. All of them are reproved of their speech. Elihu is elaborating God’s promises to His children.
Job’s three friends find Job guilty of a sin he must have committed; otherwise, Job would never suffer such tragedy. Elihu also found Job guilty of sin. However, it was not a hidden sin as Job’s three friends alleged. It was Job’s present speech. He accuses Job of finding fault with God (Job 33:9-11), speaking without knowledge (Job 34:35), and putting God in the wrong (Job 34:5-6, 36:23). Notice Job’s three friends presume sin but offer no evidence. Elihu has evidence based on Job’s present speech.
This message is not to dwell on the sin but to dwell on the promises of God Elihu speaks to Job and Job’s three friends. We want to be encouraged. Let’s go back to Job 36:11. Elihu is prophesying the children of God “who obey and serve Him, SHALL spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.” Let me ask you, do you like the sound of all your days being spent in prosperity and all your years in pleasures? Why of course. Only a self-righteous fool would say something else. We have enough of those in the world.
Let’s take a quick look at the words “prosperity” and “pleasures” in Job 36:11.
Prosperity = Hebrew word “tob” which means “welfare, prosperity, happiness.”
The word “prosperity” in Job 36:11 is the same word used by The Holy Spirit in I Kings 10:7 when the Queen of Sheba visited Solomon and made the famous exclamation of astonishment:
I Kings 10:7
Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard.
You see, our God is NOT cheap. He doesn’t expect His children to live cheap. What kind of example of the Kingdom of God are we if we live cheap. Cheap means miserly, clutching onto our dollars, trusting in our wisdom and our power to make and keep that which we need to live and to abound. The Kingdom of God demands we TRUST God at His Word to increase us every single day, “you and your children.” How are we a “light” to this world if we look no different than the world? Cheap is living in darkness. Cheap doesn’t emanate light. Cheap means your trust is in you and in man. This attitude is spoken about many, many times in Proverbs as a poor man’s or poverty-minded man’s attitude or thought life.
Why does God not want us to have a “cheap” mindset? Because cheap mindsets cannot be blessed. It is a mindset of “fear.” And fear is the exact opposite of faith. You cannot accomplish Spirit and life in fear. Fear doesn’t speak The Word of God. It speaks the economy of satan – fear. God cannot fulfill His great desire expressed in Genesis 12:2-3 – to bless you and to make your name great so you shall be a blessing. Fear completely blocks The Blessing from supplying its blessings to you (Deuteronomy 28:1-14). God never stops, we just block. We’re blessed to be a blessing to others. Cheap can’t bless others because they barely have or may not have enough for themselves, or they just store up for themselves. This is NOT God’s economy.
Pleasures = Hebrew word “naim” which means “pleasant, delightful, sweet, lovely, agreeable.”
The word “pleasures” in Job 36:11 is the same word The Holy Spirit used in Psalm 16:11 and Psalm 36:8.
Psalm 16:11
Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand [Jesus] there are pleasures for evermore.
Psalm 36:8
They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Thy house; and Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy pleasures.
Again, why does God want us to live out our days on this earth “in pleasures?” Sisters and Brothers, we, as Believers, are here for ONE reason found in Luke 4:18-19.
Luke 4:18-19
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Jesus spoke this about Himself when teaching in the synagogue. This is Jesus’s ministry mission statement. And guess what? It is OUR ministry mission statement. It hasn’t changed. The ONLY thing that changed is Jesus is not just one man, in one place any longer. He is now in ALL of us, and He goes with us throughout the world enabling us to fulfill Luke 4:18-19 which is Jesus’ New Covenant version of Genesis 12:2-3. Read Luke 4:18-19 and substitute your name every place you see “Me.”
Again, God wants us to “let our light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven.” What are the “good works?” Everything Jesus did.
John 10:32
Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone Me?
Again, the good works Jesus did, and WE are charged to do, are spelled out in Luke 4:18-19. We have an order from the Supreme Commander, God. It is to spread The Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world. Our mission is Luke 4:18-19. These are the good works.
In closing, if WE don’t look like the “finished works” of Luke 4:18-19, then we are not being the “light” God called us to be in this world. If I’m working as a personal fitness trainer in a gym, but I’m 6 feet tall, weigh 300 pounds, and have rolls of fat on my body, what person is going to be drawn to me to help them get into shape? No one in their right mind. What good is God’s Word through us if we’re not representative of God’s promises in His Word? We’re just looked at as an empty vessel. All talk and no walk.
Decree and walk mightily in God’s Word every day enjoying increase in all areas of your life. This is God’s will for us.
Blessings,
Larry