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Job's Hedge of Protection for his family

Job 1:5b And he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, "It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts." Thus Job did continually.

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE!

"The one who finds his life will lose it, and the one who loses his life for My sake will find it" (Matthew 10:39). Each time you lose a part of your life, you will find His Life is right there to fill the void. Every single time. This is a spiritual truth, and there are no exceptions to the rule. Think of what it means. The more I give to Him, the more He gives to me. I trade in my life in exchange for His Life. Which would you rather have? Do you want your life, your failures, your mistakes, your frustrations, your sins? Or would you rather give that up in exchange for His Life? You can have either one you want, but you cannot have both. What happens is we are afraid to commit ourselves totally and unreservedly to the Life. We want the Lord's Life, but we also want to retain a little something of our life. That will never work. This is why you have such ups and downs, simply because you still love your life, and only trust in His Life for the really difficult moments. In a bad situation you will throw yourself upon His Life and it will carry you on through, but in the normal everyday situations you live according to your own life. Instead, let us learn to trust in His Life for every moment of every day. If we will surrender everything His Life will reproduce in us more effectively, gradually transforming, renewing, invigorating, and sustaining us from the inside out.

Spiritual growth

Spiritual growth is not more knowledge or increase of years. It is simply more of Jesus and less of me. "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30). This is what it means to be a disciple. John the Baptist lived this testimony. I believe that had he not been martyered for his faith, people would have sought him for the next spiritual leader. John the Baptist, may or not have understood the implications of his faith. Did he understand what he meant by saying "He must increase, but I must decrease?" John paid the ultimate price when he was beheaded. He was the first martyr. How about us? Do we have the sense enough to get out of the way and allow Christ to have control? Or are we still wanting to control our destiny, our life. Elizabeth Elliot, in "through teh Gates of Splender" wrote about her husband Jim Elliot, and how he was so focused on serving Christ that he selflessly served Him by going to South America and taking the Gospel to them. The Auca Indians, killed him. Elizabeth Elliot, knowing full well that the Auca Indians murdered her husband, went back to minister to the tribe. The result of her being a faithful servant, was a tribe came to accept Jesus' sacrifice for their sins. Do I/we have the courage echo John's words "He must increase, but I must decrease"? Are willing to lay down our life and live a life of self sacrifice? Or am/are I/we so accustomed to our creature comforts that we have become spiritual couch potatoes? I/we must step aside and allow Christ to lead us not ask Jesus to bless our every activity. Does my/our faith go beyond the genie in the bottle? Lord I pray that I may have the faith to say "You must increase, I must decrease." Amen