Job XXIII

 By definition, an enemy cannot be your friend. Whatever an enemy offers you, however pleasing to the eye, know with certainty that it is poison, something that will weaken if not outright kill you because even though he pretends to be empathetic to your situation or seems as though he’s had a change of heart, he isn’t, and he hasn’t.

The modern-day church doesn’t give the devil enough credit, and this is largely the reason so many find themselves in sinking sand rather than a sure foundation, not knowing how they got to where they are, yearning for the freedom they once took for granted. The devil is cunning. He is a tactician of the highest order, and when he allowed for one of Job’s servants to survive each calamity, it wasn’t because he was being nice or genteel. Their survival served to aid Satan in his purpose of breaking Job. Job needed to know what was happening in real time so that he wouldn’t have the opportunity to recover from the last catastrophe. As far as plans go, it was well thought out and brilliantly executed.

The only thing Satan didn’t figure into the equation was Job’s steadfastness and faithfulness. He was a man who had become superior to pleasure and, as such, had likewise become superior to pain. When God is your everything, there is nothing the enemy can do to shake you from your foundation. It doesn’t mean he won’t try; it means he won’t succeed.

Whether it’s in the form of pleasure or pain, the devil’s purpose is the same. Sadly, many today give in to the pleasure before the pain can ensue because it’s more convenient and beneficial for the devil to tempt someone away from the truth with pleasure than it is through suffering. He can wring more shame and embarrassment out of someone falling into temptation than he can from someone despondent over the pain that has been visited upon them.

You’re more likely to hear of pastors, preachers, and evangelists who fell into sin than you are of ministers who stepped away from ministry because of some tragedy that befell them.

My grandmother’s passing was hard on my grandfather. It was the only time in my life that I saw the light go out of his eyes. I witnessed the same thing with my father when my mother passed. It wasn’t easy, but it was a season they had to battle through, and nothing could alleviate the pain of their loss except for spending time in the presence of God.

As most Eastern European families are wont to do, we were close. The seven of us lived in a two-bedroom apartment for the better part of thirteen years, and when seven turned into six, the loss was monumental and evident. By the time my mother went to her reward, half of us were living in the States and half in Romania, so the constant reminder of loss wasn’t so vivid, but still, it is inevitable that we feel loss when a loved one is no more. Even so, we do not sorrow as those who have no hope. We know that one day, we will be reunited with those who sleep in Jesus, and if our day comes that we return to the earth before His return, those who will mourn us will do so with the same hope.  

The overarching hope of salvation and the promises of God must be an ever-present reality in our hearts and minds, no matter the valley we must presently traverse. It is faith in Him and nothing else that will see us through, perhaps scarred and wounded, but whole and with our conviction that God is good fully intact.

Positivity, witticisms, mantras, slogans, platitudes, and catchphrases will fail you when the pain gets unbearable. The comfort that the presence of God brings never will. It is the reason that throughout the ages, those who knew God only desired more of Him. He is not some side dish we can pay the extra dollar for if we are so inclined. He is the main course, the one thing without which nothing in life would make sense.

Job didn’t have a church family to lean on, he didn’t have a counselor he could pour his heart out to, he didn’t have the modern conveniences we take for granted in that he could pick up a telephone and call a friend. All Job had was God, and God was enough.

Millennia later, God is still enough. He is unchanging in His power, He is unchanging in His attributes, He is unchanging in His promises, and He is unchanging in His love for His creation. This unchanging nature of God provides us with a sense of security and reassurance in our faith, knowing that we serve a God who is consistent and reliable.

Satan had wrongly assumed that Job’s relationship with God was superficial. He wrongly assumed that Job served God because God blessed the work of His hands, not out of a genuine desire to know Him. Upon hearing of the multiple tragedies that had befallen him, Job’s response was direct and unwavering: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

No more needed to be said. There was no need for Job to elaborate. Two sentences encapsulated Job’s most fundamental conviction that God was sovereign over all, and whether He gave or He took, His name is to be blessed. How many people walking about today, beating their chests, and insisting they are prophets to the nations and the apple of God’s eye would have the same reaction given the same circumstances Job faced?

That is the hard question with which we must all contend as individuals: Will we serve God as faithfully and unwaveringly if everything we’ve come to take for granted in this life were snatched away in an instant? Our answer will be contingent on whether our relationship with Him is deep, profound, and all-consuming or merely a superficial thing we wouldn’t miss were it to go away.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Job XXII

 Among the household responsibilities my wife and I divide among ourselves, picking up the girls from school is high on the list. Sometimes one has an after-school activity such as volleyball, so the other must be picked up early, or my wife has an afternoon meeting and I have to pick up both, but communication being the key to a healthy relationship, we figure out who’s picking up whom that morning over breakfast and, as yet, no child has had to have the front office call one of us reminding us to come pick them up.

We make it work. We have to. We’re parents responsible for two pre-teen girls who have more of a social calendar than we did combined as adults, but I guess that’s just the way of things nowadays, with extracurricular activities, sports, music class, adventure club, Bible study, and a handful of other things that make us feel like an odd combination of chauffer and indentured servant.

Whenever it’s my turn to pick them up, the conversation goes the same way. I ask them how their day went, and they regale me with stories, whether of making a new friend, doing well on a test, learning a new fun fact, or not liking what mom packed them for lunch since it contained the dreaded green stuff. She knows I never eat the broccoli, but she still packs it, to which I answer, because she loves you. Not everything they share with me is positive. They don’t hold back on discussing bad experiences, whether it’s the naughty boy in class pulling their hair or not having made any new friends this year.

I’ve often said that fatherhood helps you understand the heart of God better than any seminary course on the attributes of God ever will. It’s hands-on, and you’re emotionally invested. It’s your child that comes to you with a smile on their face or tears in their eyes. It’s your child who needs an encouraging word, a high five, or a long, heartfelt hug. God’s not a stranger. He is our Father who is in heaven, and whether it’s to share our joy or our sorrow, we run to Him, always, every time, without fail.

Whenever either of my daughters approaches me, they know I will take the time to listen. I will not reject them, ignore them, tell them to come back later because I’m busy doing something else, or act aloof or indifferent. I love them. They are mine to protect, provide for, teach, instruct, see myself in, and yes, sometimes correct.

One of the most frequent discussions I have with my wife is whether we’re making life too easy for our girls. We are each other’s accountability partners in this area because I grew up poor, and my instinct is always to spoil them. All the while, I know that if they grow up thinking life is easy and there will be no hurdles to overcome, I’m not doing them any favors. I know what it’s like to walk into a store, want something, and have your mother tell you we can’t afford it. I still remember the look in my mom’s eyes whenever such situations came about, and I learned to ask less frequently because of the evident pain in her countenance whenever she’d have to deny a request.

Conversely, growing up the way we did made me more resilient. It taught me the value of a dollar and the importance of not shying away from hard work. These are good virtues that I want my daughters to possess, and if it means saying new to a new pack of gum until the last one we bought is done, even though wintergreen isn’t their favorite flavor, so be it.

Job knew God as Father and knew he would not be turned away. He knew that God's presence was the only place he could be, where he could pour out his heart, cry out, and verbalize his pain, and that God would listen.

As any good Father would be, God is involved and invested in the lives of His children. He desires to see Himself in us, and although momentarily it would seem loving if He let us have all the cotton candy our hearts desire, He knows that eventually, the stomach ache that would ensue would be more harmful by far. I’ve seen spoiled children who pitch a fit and roll on the floor in the middle of a supermarket, and it’s not something I want to see in my own daughters. I’ve seen toddlers bunch up their little fists and strike out at their mothers for denying them their third Kit Kat bar or scream like their hair was on fire because the adult chose to put back the mountain of stuffies they’d thrown into the shopping cart.

God has a reason and purpose for allowing trials and testing in our lives; whenever such things happen, we trust in His goodness and providence. We know He is good, we know He is loving, and we know that our temporary affliction is creating an eternal weight of glory in us.

If Job had known God as a cruel taskmaster, one absent love and affection, his first instinct would not have been to run to Him in worship. The most important knowledge one must possess amid trial is the character of the God they serve. We cannot separate the love and goodness of God from the trials of life. He does not cease being good or loving when He allows hardship to buffet us. There is a purpose in it, perhaps, momentarily out of the reach of our limited understanding, and knowing this, we press into Him all the more.

God tests your strengths. The devil focuses on your weaknesses. There is a difference in approach as well as the intended goal. While God’s testing is meant to strengthen you, solidify you, teach you to trust Him and walk in greater faith, Satan’s attacks are intended to weaken, cripple, and destroy you. It’s the difference between holding on to the bicycle seat as your daughter is learning to ride a two-wheeler for the first time, jogging alongside, ready to catch them if they fall, or kicking the bike out from under them, hoping they get a concussion in the process. In either case, the child will exhibit fear and anxiousness, as they are trying to do something they’ve never done before, the bike wobbling, and their reaction uncertain, but one is intended to grow them and teach them something while the other is needlessly cruel and hurtful. Know the difference and react accordingly.

James 1:2-4, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job XXI

 A man’s true character is revealed not in his time of plenty but in his time of lack. One can readily pretend at being virtuous and noble when it costs them nothing, but things change, and the mask slips off when you go from hurt to hurt to more hurt and you weren’t truly anchored in Christ but just pretending to be.

It’s in moments of dread and despair that one’s nobility, virtue, and integrity shine through all the brighter if they possessed them to begin with. Your circumstances do not dictate your uprightness or blamelessness. The situation you find yourself in on any given day does not dictate your virtue or integrity. If all it takes for you to give in to despair is a change in tax brackets or the loss of something you attached value to, then your spiritual house was not built upon the rock but upon shifting sand.

1 Corinthians 3:12-13, “Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.”

Upon hearing that all he had, including his children, were no more, Job’s first reaction wasn’t to try and get what he could back or salvage what little, if anything, remained. He didn’t run to his Rolodex to find a crisis management firm or contact the attorney he had on retainer. He didn’t try to find someone to blame, shake his fists at the heavens, punish the servants who brought him the bad news, or shut himself away from everyone. He arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, fell on the ground, and worshipped. He ran to God first. His instinct wasn’t to try and staunch the bleeding or mitigate the loss; it was to go before God and be in His presence.

What is your first reaction upon getting devastating news? What is your first impulse when you hear something that makes you stop dead in your tracks and instantly changes the course of your life? Is it to try and find answers, to understand the why, to insist you didn’t deserve this happening to you, to get angry, deny it, or is it to run to God, knowing He is the only place where you will find peace and comfort?

When tragedy strikes, the only thing we have complete control over is how we react to it. We can’t turn back time and undo what has been done. Time machines exist in novels and movies but not in real life, so spending days on end wondering what we could have done differently is a wasted effort on our part. In hindsight, everyone’s a genius who would have invested in Amazon when it was two bucks or Tesla when it was a buck and change. We would have been able to identify disruptive technologies like Uber and live on easy street next to a televangelist or his ex-wife, but one shot is all you get at this life, and there are no redos.

Eternity’s a long time to get something as important as eternity wrong. It’s why I involuntarily cringe when I hear someone half my age going on about only living once, not understanding what that really means. It’s not a license to act the fool; it’s an impetus to be sober and make the choices that will lend themselves to an eternity in God’s presence and not the outer darkness.

Had Job’s hope been tethered in anything other than God, his reaction would have been markedly different than what it was. It wasn’t that Job didn’t feel loss or sorrow; he tore his robe and shaved his head, but then he worshiped. Here was a man at the end of his tether, with Satan having done the worst his wicked mind could conceive, having planned the escalation of the destruction and catastrophe as though directing a symphony, and broken, humbled, grieving, shattered, Job worshiped God.

That single tableau, that moment in time, that frame of a man to whom four servants brought worse and worse news, including the death of his ten children, having shaved his head and torn his robe rather than shaking his fists at the heavens, or wailing, inconsolable and broken, worshiped is both humbling and revelatory.

What would it take for you to keep from worshiping God? We find excuses every other day to spend as little time in His presence as possible, and we’re not dealing with the loss of all things material and the death of ten children. It is something to ponder next time we feel too tired at the end of the day to spend time in His presence or are in too much of a rush to get to where we’re going to take a breath and show God gratitude and thankfulness.

Before you think I’m scolding you or I’m sitting perched atop my high horse, I’m as guilty as anyone of not making more time for God than I do. I have my morning routine ironed out well enough. I get a solid two to three hours before the girls wake up and the house comes alive that I can read the Word, meditate upon it, and spend time in prayer, but it seems as though the smallest distraction derails my good intentions, and rather than a full three hours I get maybe a solid two of unadulterated, uninterrupted time with God. It’s little things, too, like the coffee maker not working and having to drive to the local gas station for a cup or the phone blinking telling me a new message came through during the night; distractions are everywhere, and the older I get, the more I learn to tune them out.

Distractions are not innocuous or accidental. They are intentional and purposeful, seeking to keep you from pressing in and spending time with God. The enemy knows that the less time we spend with God, the less likely we are to be strengthened, equipped, encouraged, and edified. He is hoping that one failure to spend time with God turns into two, two turns into three, and then eventually that it becomes a pattern wherein we are always finding reasons not to worship, not to be in His presence, and not to commune with Him.

On his best day, Job worshiped the Lord. On his worst day, Job worshiped the Lord. Every day in between his best day and his worst day, Job likewise worshiped the Lord because God was the desire of Job’s heart, and his circumstances, his environment, his excess, or his lack held no sway and had no bearing on the singular object of his desire. 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Job XX

 The last servant came in with the worst news because that’s usually the coup de gras or the death blow to one’s constitution if there is a chance that they might bend and break. You soften them up with a few punches to the mid-drift, then go for the uppercut, right cross, or haymaker straight to the jaw while they’re trying to catch their breath from having just had their ribs bruised.

You save the best or worst for last, depending on which side of the coin you’re on, and you hold nothing back. This should have been Satan’s crowning achievement, his moment to gloat and insist that he was right after all, but it was not to be.

Oxen, donkeys, sheep, and camels could be replaced, but the last messenger to rush in brought news of Job’s children, who were all gathered in their oldest brother’s house drinking wine when a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, killing all of them. As was the case the previous three times, one solitary servant escaped to bring the bad news to Job.

Throughout my life, I’ve noticed that whenever there’s bad news, there’s always someone to deliver it. Some even do it with glee, as though delivering some bit of devastating news to you sets the world aright and confirms their suspicions that if there was justice in the world, something bad needed to happen to you. Just as God has His messengers, Satan has his messengers too. Although I don’t believe that the servants who survived and came to tell Job of his misfortune were knowingly doing the devil’s bidding, for whatever reason, some within the church today are.

Not every messenger is of God, nor is every messenger who claims to have been sent by God. This is a crucial conversation worth having within the household of faith because many go without being sent, and many give a word without having had a word given to them. It’s in our hands to discern the true messengers from the false ones.

It’s easy enough to know which is which if our hearts are not clouded by the desire for experience rather than relationship. Many ignore the clear alarm bells going off when such a messenger come through with the promise of a personal prophecy for everyone and their grandma, a practice that often leads to vague or self-fulfilling predictions, or healing services wherein no one is left untouched, a spectacle that can be more about showmanship than genuine spiritual healing, because the appeal drowns out the alarms.

First, I cannot guarantee something I am not entirely in control of. Prophecy comes from God via the Holy Spirit. Unless one claims to be the Almighty themselves, they cannot guarantee a word from the Lord for everyone present, the same way I can’t pick a restaurant at random and promise everyone a free meal if they show up. It’s not my restaurant. I made no prior arrangements with the owner, yet I take it upon myself to promise everyone a pancake breakfast if they come in on a given day at a specific time.

Who wouldn’t want a free breakfast? Anyone would, but they’re not mine to give out. The same principle applies to those who insist that everyone gets a personal word of prophecy if they come to the local Holiday Inn on a random Wednesday. No man can promise to give you something that is not theirs to give. Whether that’s prophecy or healing, it is God who chooses when and if, and not man.

Another telltale sign is when the man esteems himself and points to himself rather than the One who supposedly sent him, making himself indispensable in the eyes of those he is addressing. Messengers are servants in service to their Master. Their duty is not to draw glory to themselves but to give glory to the One who sent them if they were truly sent by Him.

If I’m constantly trying to draw attention to myself, my accomplishments, and my ministry while downplaying Christ as the singular way, truth, and life, then I’m doing Him a disservice, and my motives are something other than bringing glory to His name. A testimony is not about what I did as an individual but what God did through me. A vessel is a vessel. It is there to be used at the Master’s discretion and can take no glory for being used no matter how frequently or in what manner.

I’ve gotten into the habit of picking up a hat or a coffee cup whenever we travel somewhere as a family. It’s my way of remembering the places we’ve visited, and although we have a shelf in the house filled to the brim with coffee mugs of all shapes and sizes, there is still one mug I use more often than any of the others because I like the way it fits in my hand, and it’s big enough to accommodate the amount of coffee I drink on a given morning.

The mug I prefer is no better than the rest that are sitting on the shelf gathering dust; I just prefer it. As long as it remains intact and doesn’t crack or start leaking, I will likely continue to use it, but that in no way makes it worthy of any particular praise or reverence. When a vessel insists that they are deserving of high honor for being a vessel, that’s when you back away slowly and find the nearest exit.

Job understood the dynamics of his relationship with God. Just as he had servants who were beholden to him, he was a servant beholden to God. Had he seen himself as something other than a servant, his reaction to the things he’d been told had taken place in quick succession would have been different than it was.

Job 1:20-22, “Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said: ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.’ In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.”

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.

Job XIX

 A test of one’s faith reveals the hidden motives of the heart, if there are any to be revealed. Men may have Christ on their lips and claim to serve Him, but once the rubber meets the road and the hammer hits the anvil, if there was any other reason than true devotion for their declarations, it will be revealed in short order.

The tragedy that men serve God only because of what they can get from Him is exacerbated by the reality that if they served Him from pure motives with a true heart, what they would gain by way of fellowship and intimacy with Him would pale in comparison to anything they could have hoped to receive in the material. Essentially, they’re foregoing gold refined by fire for beads and trinkets that hold no value.

What God has reserved exclusively for His own is superior in every way to anything the world can offer, no matter how much of the things of the world might be in play. You can gain the whole world, but if your soul is lost, where is the gain? When our focus shifts from pursuing righteousness and holiness and consistently committing ourselves to the ways of the Lord and His will for our lives to the things of this earth and their passing impermanence, we’re risking the eternal for the temporal, and when the temporal things go away as they often do, we have nothing left but resentment and bitterness.

God didn’t do it to us; we did it to ourselves. We chose to bypass true and lasting friendship with God. We chose to bypass God knowing our name and looking upon us with delight for the praise and acceptance of duplicitous men whose friendship is situational and temporary.

There is very little talk of perseverance within the modern-day church because it requires exertion and is taxing to the natural man. It requires self-sacrifice and choosing to pursue God with consistency and desire rather than the things of this world.

It goes beyond the declarations we make with our lips and goes deeper into the desires of our hearts. The Word tells us that where our treasure is, there also will our hearts be. If one contradicts the other, it’s always the heart that will win out over the words we speak because our heart resides where our treasure is. Therefore, we can say one thing and do another, and the thing we do exposes the genuine desire of our hearts.

If I say I love the Lord with all my heart, mind, and soul, yet my consistent pursuits are in violation of His tenets, His word, and His will, do I genuinely love Him? If I pursue things in this life other than Him, or if I pursue Him as a means to an end and not as the end all and be all of my existence, the time will come when the true intent of my heart will be revealed.

Job desired God above all else. His singular pursuit was the will of God, and the yearning of his heart was His presence. There was nothing he was willing to trade God for or relegate Him to a second-tier pursuit in his life. It’s the only way he remained standing upon hearing of the devastation wrought upon his possessions and his household.

Given the time he was living in, the first piece of devastating news he received likely went with the territory. Raiders were not uncommon in those days, and men would actively seek out others from whom they could take and make it their own. Nowadays, it’s less common in civilized nations since governments have taken to doing what the raiders used to in the olden days: taking men’s hard-earned possessions lawfully via taxation. Back in the day, it was every man for himself, and the notion of others coming to take your oxen or your donkeys was an ever-present reality.

But then the second messenger came, and it wasn’t something Job could write off as a fluke or a regular occurrence. A fire had fallen from heaven and burned up his sheep and his servants, consuming them all. The servant had called it the fire of God, but knowing that God had given Satan leeway to test Job, we know it was not so. God did not actively participate in Job’s testing. He allowed Satan to test and sift him. Job wasn’t being punished for his faithfulness to God by God, but his faithfulness was being tested by Satan, hoping he could prove God wrong in that Job’s worship was sincere and without ulterior motives.

It’s not splitting hairs; it’s understanding that if you are going through a trial, a valley, or a shaking, it’s not God punishing you; it’s Him allowing you to be tested so that your faith may be proven pure and true. He considers you worthy of testing; therefore, He is allowing you to be tested. That in and of itself is an honor, although few see it as such. Even those being tested fail to see its glory in the midst of it, only realizing the truth of it after the testing has passed.

1 Peter 4:12-13, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.”

We read of Paul and Silas praying and singing hymns while in prison with their feet in stocks or the disciples rejoicing for being counted worthy to suffer shame for the name of Christ, and it’s hard to reconcile or make sense of it if our perception of suffering, testing, hardship, or persecution is not biblical.

If we believe that being a child of God entitles us to the best this world has to offer or that it’s a guaranteed ride on easy street until we find ourselves sitting at the King’s feast, ready to dig in, then we will balk at the presence of hardship or testing in this present life, thinking ourselves undeserving of such things.

Job could have reacted similarly to the things that had befallen him had his view of what it meant to serve God been similar to that of many churches today. How dare God allow this tragedy to come upon me when I’ve served Him faithfully? How dare calamity come upon me when I’ve committed my life to Him?

Job’s attitude was similar to that of the disciples of Christ, wherein, when they encountered difficulty or hardship, they understood it was for a greater purpose, and though it was painful in the present, it did not diminish God in his eyes, nor did it weaken his commitment to Him.  

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job XVIII

 It’s not as though Job had any advanced warning. Everything seemed normal until it wasn’t. That’s how quickly everything we thought to be permanent, substantive, unshakeable, and lasting can disintegrate, turn to ash and dust, and blow in the wind. In a heartbeat, in a matter of minutes, everything Job knew to be his life became an unimaginable nightmare.

Had Job’s trust, identity, and hope been tethered to his possessions, that’s all it would have taken for Satan’s thesis to be proven right. If we equate the presence of God with anything other than the presence of God, then when that thing is snatched from us, whether a job, a house, our health, or our loved ones, then bitterness and resentment are not far off. We seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness because those are the things that matter. All the other things are added on, not because we focus on them or prioritize them but because we sought Him first and foremost. If things get taken away but we still retain God within the context of eternity, we’ve lost nothing.

We thought we had it figured out. Because God has given me this or that temporal, fleeting thing, it proves He loves me, He is with me, and He favors me. If that’s how you view your relationship with God or how you interpret His love and favor, then one catastrophe, one cataclysmic event in your life, is all it will take for you to turn your back on Him. This is why the entirety of the prosperity doctrine is so dangerous to the spiritual man. Because we equate material things with the love, presence, and favor of God, and this could not be further from the truth of what these things entail.

When material things fail to appear, we feel dejected and let down, believing that God’s hand is somehow short or His promises untrue, even though He never promised the things we were expecting that men insisted He did as evidence of His approval or favor.

There’s a reason the Bible tells us to solidify our faith and trust in God, grow our spiritual man, and understand the battlefield upon which we will be engaging in warfare, and it’s not just once but multiple times and in various ways. The primary reason is that only your faith will carry you through the dark days. It’s your complete trust in God that will keep you from retreating in fear and doubt. It’s Him being the single most important priority in your life that will keep you from turning your back on Him when the road gets hard and the storm clouds roll in.

Ephesians 6:10-13, “Finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

There is no secret or magic formula for how we withstand the wiles of the devil or the evil day. There’s no course you need to buy or conference you need to go to. All you need to do is apply the Word of God to your life and do as it prescribes. Not only do we draw our strength from the Lord, we stand in Him and the power of His might. This doesn’t mean we are not affected by our experiences, that we don’t feel sorrow or loss, but that we remain steadfast in Him, knowing His might will see us through.

It’s natural to feel sorrow—we all do—but as children of God, the sorrow we feel is soothed by our hope in Him. It acts like a soothing balm and keeps us from spiraling into desperation. It’s only by being strong in the Lord and the power of His might that we can weather the storms of this life and come through them all the stronger and resolute in our conviction and knowledge that God is with us no matter the circumstance.

Job experienced ten lifetimes worth of pain and loss in quick succession, something that would have cowed any man who stood in his own strength, no matter how strong the individual may have thought himself to be.

The evil day is not a possibility or a probability but a certainty. A wise man prepares for it, putting on the whole armor of God, knowing that if God knows his name, so does the devil, and it’s only a matter of time before he asks to sift us.

Job may have been the first, but he wasn’t the last, and even Simon Peter was told by Jesus that Satan had asked for him that he might sift him as wheat. Gold is tested for purity, and so is faith. The notion that our faith will never be tested is contrary to what the Word clearly states, but the underlying implications of being sifted are something we don’t want to contend with.

Luke 22:31-32, “And the Lord said, ‘Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”

Rather than being strong in the Lord and the power of His might, putting on the whole armor of God, and preparing for the evil day, we come up with inventive reasons why God would never allow us to be sifted, to go through the thresher, and to be tested to the utmost.

We roll out the tired tropes about beating one’s bride on her wedding night or the testing of one’s faith being akin to child abuse, ignoring the reality that our afflictions, light or otherwise, are producing in us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Job XVII

 Once the terms were delivered to Satan, he went out from the presence of the Lord. He wasted no time; he didn’t dawdle; he was on a mission and had been given the leeway to touch all that Job had, except for his person. If you thought there was even an ounce of empathy in our enemy, what happens next should dispel you of such an illusion. The devil takes no prisoners, nor is he interested in an armistice. The notion of a cease-fire is not in his vocabulary, and the sole purpose of his existence is to destroy those of the light, those of the way, and those who have humbled themselves in repentance and live out their faith. This is the essence of spiritual warfare, a battle that is not fought with physical weapons but with faith, prayer, and the Word of God.

Knowing that the enemy will never relent, no matter how many compromises one might make until the individual either overcomes or is utterly destroyed, makes any thought of ceding ground superfluous on our part. We don’t retreat, we don’t surrender, we don’t keep our heads down and our mouths shut because the enemy won’t take it any easier on us if we do. Those who choose to flee the battle and keep silent in the face of evil only serve to embolden it and are often used as a negative example that those of the world can point to and mock.

Why can’t you be like them? Why can’t you say that there are multiple ways to the same destination and that Jesus isn’t the only way? You may get on Oprah if you do! Because it’s a lie. It’s an invention, a fabrication, a well-crafted lie from the pit of hell, that’s why.

Why can’t you go along to get along? No one’s asking you to participate in the perversity and hedonism, but you should be nice and validate people’s feelings and choices. You’re likely to have a bigger ministry and a bigger audience if you do. You know the old saying, you draw more bees with honey than with vinegar, don’t you? Because sin kills, it’s a destructive, corrosive force that only has one destination if not repented of, that’s why. In addition, I’m not a beekeeper, and I’m not trying to draw bees. I am a man who was lost and now is found, and my mission is to point the way to Jesus and beseech others to submit themselves in repentance to His will.

You don’t play nice with the devil because he will never play nice with you. Our only choice is to fight with the last ounce of strength available to us, knowing that if we resist the devil, he will flee. It’s largely the reason so many prominent men and women get into trouble; they don’t resist the devil as they ought. They’ve come to believe that they can flatter the devil into leaving them alone or compromise their way to an accord of some kind, wherein the devil leaves them standing while assailing those around them. Just because he doesn’t see you as a threat doesn’t mean he won’t come for you eventually. All it means is that he’ll come for you last when there’s no one standing beside you, fighting alongside you and going on the offensive against his plans and purposes.

Cowardice is unbecoming of the King’s children. It’s offputting even to those of the world and should not be an option for the children of God.

It doesn’t take an overactive imagination to imagine the glee with which Satan went out from the presence of God. He’d gotten permission to do his worst save for touching Job himself, and he was about to go all out. There was no trial balloon, and there was no tentative probing of Job’s faithfulness; it was the hammer hitting the anvil, with Job standing between the two. The intent was to crush him utterly beyond any possibility of recovering, and Satan relished the prospect.

Job 1:13-19, “Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house; and a messenger came to Job and said, ‘The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, when the Sabeans raided them and took them away – indeed they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!’ le he was still speaking another also came and said, ‘The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; and I alone have escaped to tell you!’ While he was still speaking, another also came and said, ‘The Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels and took them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you!’ While he was still speaking, another also came and said, ‘Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and suddenly a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you!’”

One day. That’s all it took for Job’s entire life to be turned upside down. It wasn’t a slow bleed or something that happened over the course of years where he saw his savings dwindle or his investments decrease in value. In one day, everything he had was turned to dust and ash. Utter destruction, chaos, and attack after attack, wherein while one messenger was still speaking, another came with more cataclysmic news.

Job didn’t have time to recover or even process what he was hearing from the first messenger when another came, then another, because Satan’s plan was to go scorched earth and shatter Job’s resolve before he had a chance to think it through. Job was not privy to the conversation between God and Satan; he didn’t know why this was happening to him, and had it not been for his enduring faith and intimate knowledge of the God he served, it would have destroyed his constitution utterly.

It’s difficult to imagine both Job’s shattered heart and his resolve as messenger after messenger came with worse and worse news. For most of us, just one such event would be enough to leave us dazed and disoriented, but four messengers came to Job, and each report got progressively worse.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.