I have heard someone say, “Satan attacks those that are next in line for promotion.” Into which another preacher added, “It is not the time to quit for you might be the next in the line for promotion.”
Remember good old Job? The one who was already blessed and was already upright and righteous? Yet, he came in under attack by Satan himself. How insidious of Satan to cause the Lord to agree to be able to touch Job and do whatever he wanted to do with him, except take his life. He spared nothing and stopped at nothing. He took everything Job possessed and owned and had all his ten children killed in one day. Thank God Almighty He knows what Satan was up to and kept Job protected throughout his ordeal, and in the end worked it all out for his good and blessed him. What did Job say though, after everything was taken away from him and his body was attacked by a horrible disease? He said, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” {Job 1:21} Job worshiped and praised the Lord. He did not turn around and blame God foolishly. He acknowledged that everything he had was the Lord’s. Who is he to complain for losing everything?
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Satan sent people to Job to belittle him in his walk and faith in God. That’s when it gets really tough. When your own wife thinks you’re crazy for holding on to your integrity and not go against God, and then your three best friends believe with all of their hearts that you were in the wrong and God is actually the one correcting you, what is one to think? It will definitely wear you out. No wonder Job was constantly affirming his trust in the Lord. Like King David, he had to learn to encourage himself in the Lord:
“But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” {Job 23:10}
“For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.” {Job 23:14}
“And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” {Job 19:26}
Then I think about Joseph, the 11th son of Jacob, the one who dreamed dreams and shared them to his brothers and father. His brothers hated him for it. One time his own father corrected him for dreaming such a dream of promotion, because Joseph’s dream implied that even his parents were going to bow down before him. It’s a lonely place to be in to have dreams and visions you believe God has given you, and because he did not give it to them they cannot understand it.
Jesus Christ suffered this very thing. He had said, “A prophet is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.” {Mark 6:4} His own brethren the Bible states did not believe him, “For neither did his brethren believe in him.” {John 7:5} Even his own friends thought at one time the Lord was out of his mind. “And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.” {Mark 3:21} His elders and the Jews in his community thought he had the devil and scorned the people who believed in him. “Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?” {John 8:48}
If God has called you though and you believe this with your whole heart, nothing and no one else can deter you away from it, except yourself. You can either choose to believe in God’s unfailing love for you, or listen to the lies of the enemy of your soul. Satan is going to come against you and attack you in every direction to try to weaken your resolve in trusting God. He will afflict you in your mind and in your faith in God. Because it’s really a matter of, “Are you going to trust in God or in yourself?” Trusting the Lord is not just when things are honky-dory and the path before you is paved with roses. Faith and trust aren’t needed in these times, believe it or not. It is when the heat is turned up that you can hardly breathe and don’t know which is right or left, and you feel completely alone and feel lost about who you are now. This is where true faith comes through and is birthed. Jesus Christ said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” {John 12:24}
Remember that Shunammite woman that Elisha had prayed for to have a son, and a day came that son was grown but became very ill and died? When Elisha and his servant saw her on a horse rushing towards them, Elisha sent his servant ahead to ask how she was doing. He said, “Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well.”{2 Kings 4:26} Can you believe it? She answered, “It is well” even though her son was dead! And sure enough, a few verses later we see indeed it is well. Elisha prayed for her son and he came back to life.
Job got to see God and heard his voice directly after his long ordeal with his trial. This was more than gold and silver to Job. Having God, to see and hear the voice of God and know him for yourself in your soul, is more than silver and gold. It is more than anything you will ever experience in this life. The Bible states that the Lord blessed Job double what he had lost and had before.
Joseph indeed became the leader of his family as his dreams showed, for the Lord lifted him up so high and made him a governor of Egypt second only to Pharaoh. They had no other choice but to bow before Joseph and give him reverence because this was the law of Pharaoh. God used Joseph to save their lives and thousands of lives in his time because he was tried and remained faithful to the end.
Jesus Christ came and triumphed at the cross and is alive and well today, reigning victoriously over all principalities and powers, and had made many sinners to become sons and daughters of the most high God. He is truly faithful and will never ever fail. He is soon coming back, and will bring all those who believe and trust in him to be with him where he is in heaven forever and ever.
No matter what happens, never ever give up on the dream that God has placed in your heart. Never ever give up sharing your thoughts with him, your doubts and your fears, no matter how you feel inside. Always talk to him about everything because he alone can carry you in your times of loneliness and heartaches. He is the only one who will be true to you when no one else believes the word he is saying to you.
Unless we learn to die to ourselves and truly learn to depend on God for everything in this life, we are not ever going to make it. True faith is not going to get true fruit out of us if everything in our way is easy. It’s when we learn to believe that Jesus is still with us and for us no matter what happens and no matter what Satan throws at us. It is when we know and believe the voice that we hear in our soul tells us again and again, “It is well. It is well. It is well. I have not left you nor forsaken you. I will be with you until the end. It is well with you.” It is the same voice that has given you his word of knowledge and his word of assurance in times past of what he desires to do in your life. It is the same voice that has called you before and you gave up jobs, family, loved ones, friends, and even yourself, to go and follow him. It is the same voice that has carried Job, Joseph, King David and the Lord Jesus Christ, and is carrying you now. It is the same voice that the apostles listened to and because of suffered many afflictions with. No matter what happens, you know it is well. He has not left you before, he will not leave you now. He has been there for you from the beginning he will be with you until the end. It is the same voice that is speaking to you now and is telling you, “It is well.” Just believe…
“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”{John 16:33}
” Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”{John 14:17-18}
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”{John 10:27-28}
