“The time will come … “

The time will come when God will say to Satan, “Enough! No more!”

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Job 22:1-23:7

Job’s ‘friends’ assume that Job is being punished by God. They are unaware that someone else is behind Job’s suffering - Satan! Job isn’t sure what to make of it all. Is God punishing him after all? Deep down in his heart, he knows that God loves him. Job asks the question - ‘Would He contend with me in the greateness of His power?’. He answers his own question - ‘No; He would give heed to me’ (23:6). Job knows that God is a God of great power. He knows something else about God. He is a God of great love. He is not ‘all power and no love’. ‘God is love’ (1 John 4:8). What really lies behind Job’s suffering? - ‘The devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!’ . The time will come when God will say to Satan, ‘Enough! No more!’ (Revelation 12:12; 20:10)!

Numerical Growth And Spiritual Growth

The numerical growth - "three thousand were added to their number that day" (Acts 2:41) - was accompanied by spiritual growth - "the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved" (Acts 2:47). The spiritual response of the new believers of the new believers is described in Acts 2:42. A key word, in the final verses of Acts 2, is "together" (Acts 2: 44, 46). This spiritual response - unity in Christ, trusting Him as Saviour, commitment to Him as Lord - arises out of the powerful presence of God among His people (Acts 2:43). Let us pray that God will be among us - in power and in love - and let us pray that our lives will be filled with His power and His love.
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This is the fifth and final post in a series on "The Word of God and the Spirit of God in Acts 1-2."

As We Read God’s Written Word, Let's Keep Our Eyes Fixed On Christ, God's Living Word.’ of God’

Proverbs 24:1-14
‘Wisdom is sweet to your soul. If you find it, there is a future hope for you’(14). How do we find wisdom? We read the written Word of God, seeking God’s promised blessing: ‘The law of the Lord is perfect and revives the soul. The Lord’s instruction never fails. and makes the simple wise’. As we read God’s written Word, keeping our eyes fixed on Christ, the living ‘Word’ of God’, we discover that He is the ‘Wisdom’ which is ‘sweeter than honey’ and we rejoice in Him, our ‘Hope of glory’- ‘You believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls’(John 1:1-2,14; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Psalm 19:7,10; Colossians 1:27; 1 Peter 1:8). ‘Ask God’ for ‘wisdom’.‘Seek and you will find’(James 1:5-8; Matthew 7:7).

Proverbs 24:15-34
‘Though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again’(15). We are ‘kept by the power of God’. We do not raise ourselves. It is the Lord who is ‘able to keep us from falling’. He ‘knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations’(1 Peter 1:5; Jude 24; 2 Peter 2:9). When our ‘faith’ is ‘tested by fire’, we must pray that God will give us His victory: ‘Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace’(1 Peter 1:6-7;Daniel 3:17). When our strength is almost gone, the Lord comes with His Word: ‘My grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness’(2 Corinthians 12:9), ‘Amazing grace!... Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come. ‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home’(Mission Praise, 31).

Proverbs 25:1-28
‘The Lord will reward you’(22). The work done by God’s servants is tested by fire: ‘the fire will test what sort of work each one has done’. There is work of real ‘quality’- ‘gold, silver, precious stones’. There is work which has no real value - ‘wood, hay, straw’. God wants us to think about the work we do in His Name. We are to ‘remove the dross from the silver’(4). We are not to be content with superficial work which does not lead to changed lives. Our words are to be ‘apples of gold in a setting of silver’. They are to be words of wisdom, words which are ‘better than fine gold’, words which ‘surpass choice silver’(11; 8:19). We are to bring God’s Word -‘good news’- and God’s Spirit -‘rivers of living water’- to our hearers (25; 1 Peter 1:12,23-25; John 7:37-39).
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Blessings in Christ
Christ in all the Scriptures
http://christinallthescriptures.blogspot.com