Promises 3
EPHESIANS 4:14-15
14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;
15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ,
God made man in His image. He intends for man to operate the way He does. God speaks and what He says becomes.
The phrase "God said" appears 10 times in GENESIS 1.
GENESIS 1:27 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Job 1:5
And it came about, when the days of feasting had completed their cycle, that Job would send and consecrate them, rising up early in the morning and offering burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, "Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." Thus Job did continually.
Job lived in fear that his children were in sin. And he said.
When God speaks, what He says happens immediately. We’re made in His image and His intention is for us to operate like Him. What you say matters. Job said and “thus did Job continually.”
Later in the book, Job says. “The thing I feared the most has come upon me.” That’s because that’s where his mind was focused and where the mind is focused, the words of the mouth follow. What a man speaks, he will have. For better or worse.
8 And the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil."
9 Then Satan answered the LORD, "Does Job fear God for nothing?
10 "Hast Thou not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
11 "But put forth Thy hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse Thee to Thy face."
12 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him." So Satan departed from the presence of the LORD.
Satan is ignorant. He was whining about the hedge and didn’t even know that it was down.
The devil tried to con God into doing his dirty work.
But God is also honest. Always. So He said, “Behold all that he hath [is] in thy power..” That was true and Satan didn’t even know it until God pointed it out.
The hedge was down because Job was living in fear and speaking from that fear.
The hedge of protection was broken by Job’s words.
PROVERBS 18:21
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.
God didn’t take down the hedge of protection, Job did.
Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.
Job 1:18 While he was still speaking, another also came and said, "Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house,
19 and behold, 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 died; and I alone have escaped to tell you. "
22 Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.
Perhaps you noticed there in Job 1:19 that there was a “great wind” and it was a force of destruction.
Let’s look at Matthew 8 with that in mind.
MATTHEW 8:
24 And behold, there arose a great storm in the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves; but He Himself was asleep.
25 And they came to Him, and awoke Him, saying, "Save us, Lord; we are perishing!"
26 And He *said to them, "Why are you timid, you men of little faith?" Then He arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and it became perfectly calm.
27 And the men marveled, saying, "What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"
The wind is under the authority of the “Prince of the air.” But since he’s subject to mankind’s dominion again because of the redemptive action of Jesus Christ, you can command the wind and the seas also.
Jesus himself said that the works he did and greater works would we do.
In Matthew 8 the wind is most clearly a satanic force trying to keep The Lord from getting to the other side of the lake. They feared him then and they fear him now.
Notice that had the disciples not woken him, he would’ve slept right through it. They were afraid because they didn’t choose to know what he knew.
It’s all available to us now.
I think that Jesus was shocked that they had learned so little from him.
He was making it clear that they could’ve done what he did.
They could’ve rebuked that wind just as he did.
Fear will connect you to the thing you fear just like faith connects you to the thing you hope for.
JAMES 1:6-7
6 But let him ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
7 For let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Colossians 2:18 Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind,
Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.
Numbers 23:19 "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
Joshua 21:45 Not one of the good promises which the LORD had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass.
Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;