Declarations that are not for the faint of heart: Part 2

The following is another declaration that I have done for some time and am now doing over each of us daily.  As Job was one of the most blessed, most successful men in history, so much so that the devil had to approach God and ask for permission to try to take him down, there are therefore certainly lessons we can learn from the way that he approached life.

Job chapter 29 is a perfect example of Job's approach to life before the great affliction that opened the door to greater blessing.  In this passage, Job was in tremendous suffering and reflecting on the days of his life past and all that they encompassed.  I have taken this reflection as it declares his previous state and have adjusted Job 29 from a past tense to a present tense as it is the state that we should expect of ourselves.

However I must warn that the following declarations are not for the faint of heart.  Any trace of a religious spirit is quick to rise up and declare that the expectation to walk in the same things is presumption, arrogance or even just plain sin in the form of pride.  The religious spirit denies the power and the goodness of God.  The spirit of religion has the right words, right act, but at the end of the day can't display the goods.  Instead it criticizes and becomes offended at the fact that another could believe and walk out in the fullness and the goodness of God for their lives.

The spirit of religion says you can't handle the fullness of the goodness of God because if you did experience it, you couldn't handle it or you would grow prideful and God would have to resist you.  Let me tell you the devil is a liar, a cheat and a thief and we are not going to listen to him any more.  God is good and he does good, everyday.

Job however, was a man just like us and the Lord says, "do not give up your confidence, for it shall be richly rewarded" and "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he."

If you will take these declarations and make them a consistent part of your life, over time you will find that you will think different, act different, people will treat you different, more than you could ever imagine and that difference, is going to be Christ in you, manifesting himself through you.

Job 29 Present Tense

How I thank you for these days, because God is watching over me.  Your lamp is shining upon my head and by your light I walk through darkness.  


Thank you for these days, because I am in my prime and God's intimate friendship is blessing my house.  The Almighty is with me and my children are around me.


My path is drenched with cream and the rock pours out for me streams of olive oil.  When I go to the gates of the city and take my seat in the public square, young men see me and step aside, old men rise to their feet, chief men refrain from speaking and cover their mouths with their hands.  The voices of nobles are hushed and their tongues stick to the roof of their mouths.


Whoever hears me, speaks well of me and those who see me commend me, because I rescue the poor who cry for help and the fatherless who have none to assist them.  The man who is dying blesses me; I make the widows heart to sing.


I put on righteousness as my clothing, justice is my robe and my turban.  I am eyes to the blind and feet to the lame.  I am a father to the needy, I take up the case of the stranger.  I break the fangs of the wicked and snatch victims from their teeth.


I will die in my own house, my days as numerous as the grains of sand.  My roots reach to the water and the dew lies all night on my branches.  My glory remains fresh in me, the bow ever new in my hand.


Men listen to me expectantly, they wait in silence for my counsel.  After I speak, they speak no more and my words fall gently on their ears.  They wait for me as for showers and drink in my words as the spring rain.


When I smile at them, they can scarcely believe it, the light of my face is precious to them.  I choose the way for them and sit as their chief, I sit as a king among his troops.  I am like one who comforts mourners.


Go and be blessed.  Let God's word be held true and every man and every devil a liar.