The Battle Within Ourselves

King James Bible Study Daily Devotional

Message Title: The Battle Within Ourselves
Date: Tuesday June 28, 2011
Today's Chapters: Job 39-40, Proverb 28, Psalm 18
Click Here to Read Them or Go to: http://imfollowingjesus.com/bible-june-28
Details of Today's Chapters: God asks Job a number of questions, Job answers God, and God's response

Hello My Friend/Guest,

“Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice. He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me: for there were many with me. God shall hear, and afflict them, even he that abideth of old. Selah. Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God. He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him: he hath broken his covenant. The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords. Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee.” - Psalm 55:17-23.

The word sustain means to maintain, to keep alive, it's the ability to bear, to uphold, and to endure the circumstances in our lives without failing or yielding. God, sustains the life of every person who calls on Jesus Christ to save them, meaning when the flesh dies the soul remain alive up in heaven. Now, having eternal life does not mean that we will not have to deal with any suffering while here on earth, but it does mean that in every trial we face, God is with us and will help us bare it. The strange thing is that many of us keep on suffering because we fight the biggest battle we will ever fight and that is ourselves. Satan loves to keep us dwelling on the past, keep us feeling guilty for things God has already forgiven and forgotten about. But as we cast our burden upon Jesus He will not only give peace to our soul He will also help us win the battle.

The entire time Job and his friends were debating over Job's afflictions God was listening in on all of it, He carefully listened as Job's friends accused him of being a secret sinner, liar, and hypocrite. He carefully listened to Job as he defended their accusations, questioned God, and even wished that He would end his life at one time. Little did they realize that the entire time a storm was brewing, all of a sudden a whirlwind appears, God stops them in their tracks and begins asking Job a series of questions He knew he could not answer and now come the second set of questions.

“Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib? Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee? Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him? Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy barn? Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks? or wings and feathers unto the ostrich? Which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in dust, And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them. She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers: her labour is in vain without fear;” - Job 39:9-16.

God shows Job what little acquaintance he had with the untamed creatures that run wild in the deserts and live at large. The unicorn, (yes they were real) a strong, stately, proud creature, is able to serve, but not willing. The peacock, an emblem of pride, when he struts, he shows his fine feathers. The ostrich, a foolish bird, careless of her young. There are some creatures that are willing to serve man, they take pleasure in serving them and to have the love of their masters. Yet many are so wild that they will never submit to a human, these are all examples of those who know God exists, yet will never submit to Him, everything they do in life is in vain, it's worthless. Until we know Christ, we are walking, talking, dead souls, laboring in vain. “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” - I John 5:11,12.

When we are afflicted the first thing most of us do is question why we are suffering, some people will replay what they have been doing, even retracing the past to see if it was something back then that they had not repented of causing the affliction. Then we start asking God why He is afflicting us, He will give us the answer eventually, but you can be sure that if we have questions for God He will have questions for us. God demands an answer from Job.

“Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said, Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it. Then Job answered the LORD, and said, Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further. Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.” - Job 40:1-7.

Job did not know how to answer God's questions, his only response, “I am vile or wretched, I have no answer.”
Amazingly the closer we get to Jesus the more wretched we feel about ourselves, which is probably what gets us thinking about the past in the first place. However, we have to face God, we must stand before Him and answer His questions. If we truly think about what we are asking He will show us the answers to our questions, the truth is, we are much harder on ourselves than God is and that is what causes us to suffer longer that we need to. If you have Jesus in you, God has forgiven you of all your sins, that means it is time for you to forgive you and stop suffering in vain.

“Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain...Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree...For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” - Galatians 3:3,4,13,26,27. The burden of afflictions we face are very heavy, especially when attended with the temptations of Satan, there is also the burden of sin and corruption. The only relief under it is, to look to Christ, who bore it for us.

Care is a burden, it makes the heart stoop to levels that it would never stoop to, but we must commit our ways and works to the Lord, let Him do what seems good to Him, and let us be satisfied with what He gives us. To cast our burden upon Christ, is to rest upon His providence and promise. And if we do so, he will carry us in the arms of His power. He will never suffer the righteous to be moved, He will sustain all who put their faith and trust in Him. Jesus said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” - Matthew 11:28-30.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

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