Job trials... can you induce one?

[RickyZ]

It's not a game Ricky.
It's not a turn at bat.
Satan isn't Nolan Ryan.
How powers are taken down is by the blood of the cross.
No shortcuts.
The devil doesn't play or fight fair.
He's a lion, he isn't a pitcher.
"The prayers of a righteous man availeth much."
"Not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit sayeth the Lord."

It's a partnership, Rick, God does indeed have all the power, but He enlists us to use and enforce it for Him over those who would seek to usurp it. The devil is indeed a lion, seeking to devour. It's up to us to take God's power and overcome him with it. The question I'm raising is, to what hights can we go with that, under God's leading? And will we need to in the days to come?

Jesus shed the blood. It is for us to take it to the enemy. And yes it's a dangerous mission.

 

[RickyZ]

Michael took a big hit yesterday. Without going into the lengthy details, let's just say it was one of those things that leaves you shaking and scratching your head, and pondering just where such insanity might come from. Of course, we all know where such insanity comes from. Michael said all he could do was raise his eyes heavenward and ask "why are you punishing me Lord?". He is indeed being stripped of his self pride and primed towards hearing and accepting the truth from God in Christ. May God give me the words to help him see and accept that truth.

 

[john832]

And so, I prayed to loose demons upon him, with the charge to test him of his smug self-righteousness.

I am glad I am not your friend and please forget you ever heard of me.

 

[RickyZ]

I am glad I am not your friend and please forget you ever heard of me.

LOL you got it. Obviously this is not a tactic one would employ often, or outside of God's leading. And if it leads to his salvation then it's a good thing, right?

 

[Mammachickadee]

My oldest friend is Jewish (observant when it's convenient). He believes that being one of the "chosen people", he needs no other ticket into heaven. I've tried over the years to talk with him about how Jesus doesn't negate his Jewishness, but instead completes it. And that is how I feel, I don't really consider myself Christian but Jewish by adoption in Christ. But he doesn't want to hear it, gets offended, walks away. And I don't push it, worst thing you can do is preach to someone who doesn't want to hear it. But when the door opens I have stepped in only to be met with the usual brick wall.

Michael wasn't born with a silver spoon, but he was given one at an early age. I don't care what the situation was or who the people were, he could get whatever he wanted out of it and them. I've been around the world with the guy, and it just always amazed me at the magic he could pull, to do as he pleased.

One night I'm praying for him, why he's so resistant, and meditating on this 'talent' of his, and it comes to me that with that kind of experience, why would he ever change? He literally had the world on a leash. Why would he disrupt that? And so, I prayed to loose demons upon him, with the charge to test him of his smug self-righteousness.

He's since lost is job. Failed (miserably, something he's never experienced) at two business startups. He was offered a job doing something he'd wanted to do his whole life, only to have to broken heartedly turn it down because of family circumstances, which includes but isn't limited to 2 suicides. He almost split from his wife, I prayed to bind that and to uphold that Godly institute, and they're doing better now. But he's out of money and failing interviews and finding himself to be suddenly quite the ghost as far as the world is concerned.

*

Pause here for a moment. Is this coincidence? Is this Biblical? I feel as if God led me to impose a Job trial upon him, for the purpose of bringing down a stronghold. But what is your opinion of this, can demons be commanded in this manner?

*

I sense something coming, that it's soon to reach a breaking point. I know the power in this group's prayers, please pray and intercede that he does reach that point, and that I be placed and willing to yield to the Spirit's leadings. And that he be too.

He saw a psychic once, who told him he would be holy warrior. I think so, the difference being that she was pitching for the wrong side. satan and his crew have gone to great lengths to keep him from the truth. Please back me in prayer in bringing it to him. This one will require much to be redeemed.

There's a reason why, in this day and age and in most cultures, people respect masochists more. They ooze self confidence and are highly sought after for their leadership qualities and iron wills, ability to focus and to convince. It's a God given gift, but in a non-believer it's a damning source of pride.
Will he read the Bible with you at all? It is my understanding that most Jews of old persuasion do not believe in the canonicity of the New Testament, so you may have to literally show him in the Old Testament and New Testamen the occasions where a man's heritage was meaningless before God. Just look at how he used the various people in the lineage of Christ who were not even of the line of Israel. Yet they have the greatest privilege a human can have... being the ancestors of Christ. Even glorified "father Abraham" wasn't a Jew.
The Lord is showing him through his failures that his success is not owed to himself. Praise the Lord he and his wife are still married. Though I don't agree with psychics, he could be destined to be a holy warrior. He could be destined to be a saint... for both are Bible names/concepts for believers.
How will he require any more than anyone else to be redeemed? We all have gone astray, and all sin is equal before God. Will he be stubborn, sure... but who isn't. Even after salvation we still insist on driving without a spiritual seatbelt at times. It is God who quickens; God who saves; and God who preserves. He is fortunate to have an example of a believer in word and in conduct who he can ping things off of.

 

[Blain]

Ricky, I understand the reason you prayed for such a thing on your friend. for those who don't know you they may see what you did as an act for pain and suffering on a so called friend. And hence may dislike you very much for it as I have seen in these posts. What they do not understand is that you did not do this for the wrong reason and is actually a tactic God uses a lot.
Pain in the end is the best teacher, God knew this back then when he allowed such trials on his people. People go through such trials and get angry with God me included, As you said there has to be a breaking point in order for one to accept the lesson God is trying to teach.

Heck even now when I go through severe pain as Lately I have I do not understand God's reasoning for the pain and cry out in anger sometimes. So I have to force myself to be strong in order to make it through the night, Do I know why I have this pain or what good will possibly come from it as God's word promises? No I have no clue, but I have learned how to make myself be strong inside by just mere force of will from it.

 

[Shilo]

Ephesians 4:29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

[h=3]Proverbs 18:21[/h]Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.



[h=3]Proverbs 12:18[/h]There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.


[h=3]Romans 12:14[/h]Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.



[h=3]Proverbs 27:2[/h]Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.


[h=3]Matthew 7:12[/h]“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

 

[RickyZ]

Not quite sure where you're going with that, Shilo.

 

[RickyZ]

Michael did something that was incredibly generous and totally out of the ordinary for him yesterday. God's Spirit must be stirring in him!

 

[RickShafer]

So he's not dead yet?

 

[RickyZ]

No, No, he's going to find new life!

 

[ForthAngel]

Hi Ricky. I think a better prayer would have been for God to have His will with your friend to teach him a lesson, without specifically calling a force of demons down upon him. I can't think of one example in the bible where this took place. Paul was very specific about the sin that required the church to "turn them over to Satan" and that was incest. It never says for the church to conjure demons on the person..

Just my opinion.

 

[Donkeyfish07]

If I had the ability to do so at my whim, I would never...ever.....ever....use it. That type of thing isn't a joke or something to be taken lightly.

 

[RickyZ]

No it is not to be taken lightly, or pursued at one's whim. It is only to be used upon God's leading. But sometimes when someone becomes so pig-headed that they can't be reached by any other means, when they take such a concrete stand against the truth of God, there is no other alternative but to tear the old house down and build anew.

 

[RickyZ]

Michael stepped again outside his usual bounds to do good for another, saying he feels like he needs to build karma points or something. Or something indeed. I think the other shoe, a really big one, is about to fall. Pray for him please!

 

[BeanieD]

"Can someone please tell me is loosing demons upon our friends something that Christians should be practicing - really? "

No, I believe this is totaly against the will of God. I believe we can call on God to bring such circumstances into ones life that will bring them to their knees, but this is not asking for demons. It is asking for the will of God.

Blessings

 

[Angela53510]

When Paul was still Saul and a Jew of the highest degree, God (not a person) struck him down and blinded him.
Your friend is blinded!! I would pray that God would knock the scale from his eyes, and he would see with spiritual eyes.

"And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized;" Acts 9:18

God is the one who can convict and change the heart of your friend. Pray that he would be convicted of his need for a Messiah or Saviour.

"And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: [SUP]9 [/SUP]concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;" John 16:8-9

Pray that his heart would be enlightened to the grace of God.

"praying that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, [SUP]18 [/SUP]having the eyes of your hearts enlightened" Eph. 1:17-18

I would not pray for Job's trials upon your friend. Job was a righteous man - the ancient equivalent of a Christian. His trials were NOT so anyone would be saved. That is really a misuse of Scripture.

Pray and read the book of Acts to see the story of how the church grew and spread and how Paul preached to Jews and pagans. That will give you some ideas on how to share the gospel in a way that Michael will be saved - as Jews were saved in the early church!

 

[RickyZ]

When Paul was still Saul and a Jew of the highest degree, God (not a person) struck him down and blinded him.
Your friend is blinded!! I would pray that God would knock the scale from his eyes, and he would see with spiritual eyes.

"And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized;" Acts 9:18

God is the one who can convict and change the heart of your friend. Pray that he would be convicted of his need for a Messiah or Saviour.

"And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: [SUP]9 [/SUP]concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;" John 16:8-9

Pray that his heart would be enlightened to the grace of God.

"praying that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, [SUP]18 [/SUP]having the eyes of your hearts enlightened" Eph. 1:17-18

I would not pray for Job's trials upon your friend. Job was a righteous man - the ancient equivalent of a Christian. His trials were NOT so anyone would be saved. That is really a misuse of Scripture.

Pray and read the book of Acts to see the story of how the church grew and spread and how Paul preached to Jews and pagans. That will give you some ideas on how to share the gospel in a way that Michael will be saved - as Jews were saved in the early church!

Sorry Ange I've wanted to reply but only get so much time here.

I do, and I have, prayed for Michael since the day I met him 20 years ago. He does have scales upon his eyes, among many other things. The issue God brought to bear is that he had been perfectly comfortable in the hands of satan, and it was time those hands became uncomfortable. I think that's the intent behind turning one over to satan, if satan is the master who's gifts they prefer, then satan can be the master they suffer to. Kinda like showing them the flip side of the coin.

Your point about Job being a Godly man is well taken. I do believe Micheal is to be a Godly man too. He just needs to switch Gods. And to do that he needs to see the one he's chasing for what it is.

The Spirit is moving. Michael knows something has to change.

 

[RickyZ]

Wow, it just keeps raining on Michael's parade. Even I have cringed a time or two thinking my Lord, what have I done? But then God reminds me that I just did what He asked me to do; with the understanding that Michael wasn't going to change as long as he was perfectly happy amongst the enemies furnishings.

And it's working. The Holy Spirit is convicting him and leading him as to the way... In the 20-some-odd years I've known him, I have never heard him humble himself and ask someone's forgiveness. And he is doing just that. He knows in his soul that what he is going thru is related to what he has been, and he hears the Spirit's call as to what must be done about it.

I will be going up to visit in early October. Please pray a covering over that time and place, that a great soul may be redeemed.

Zone, I know I had you penciled in for that time, tho not now I'm still not saying no, I'm just waiting for God to tell me the land is fertile. But I do pray for you, and your hospice and all who are in it. I pray they don't have to wait on my schedule for someone to step in and say sure God, I'll participate in a miracle. It doesn't require me, it requires faith and belief.

 

[RickyZ]

Tomorrow I leave to spend a week with Michael. Please lift this time up in prayer, that a new soul's name be added to the book of life!