Protective Purification Parenting while Satan is on the Prowl. In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

The best parenting skill is PRAISING GOD. 

The Book of Job has many deep stories to tell – especially about PARENTING. Job made provisions for his children, not just raising them but also in worshiping God by doing what he could as a servant for God and his fellow family by providing purification prayers and sacrifices for his family. He took the opportunity to praise God’s faithfulness and the prescribed way to forgiveness. Job took on the job. So can we.

‘Job would make arrangements for them [his children after celebration times] to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.’

My dear friend would and does always “Pray the Blood of Jesus” over each person we were praying for. She essentially was carrying out Job’s prayer of purification with acknowledging the now true process of Jesus’s Blood covering our sins. We don’t make purification rituals anymore as Jesus took on the ultimate substitute for atonement. But we must go to Him in asking forgiveness. There has to be a realization that we are human and He is Divine. His blood shed covers our sin-caused dread. We also do have this opportunity to pray this purification for anyone good or bad, everyone human, each child or family member we have. ASK for FORGIVENESS for them…

Why? Satan is on the prowl, not just to trip you up from acting right but from believing that God loves you and has forgiven you. (A preacher I know says it’s not big satan whose attacking you but his little “helpers” who you COULD pray against by calling upon God.) Yes. It’s like the little temptations which eat away slowly at the foundations of faith… Don’t crumble and stumble. Worship and thank God, even for trials. Seek God and Satan will flee (see James 4).

And let us provide this guidance and act for our children. God certainly did by providing His Action Plan of sending Jesus. We act by asking His forgiveness of others and doing this forgiveness ourselves. We must act by praising. We ourselves cannot be forgiven without us forgiving. 

Much befell Job, yet specifically in the first chapter, losing his children,  Job did not fail to praise God. Job did not BLAME God, as that would be a sin. Job praised God, as should also be the first words out of our mouths. We should not become so bitter as not to praise. 

Job said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”

Jesus taught his brothers and sisters, making them Word-filled and Worthy… Jesus’s brother James reminds us to: Submit Yourselves to God. Job did not curse God, nor shall should we. 

Our Way is to be the Way of praise, petition, peace. 

GOD “gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. 

ThisIS the greatest job of parenting, praising God who gave us all LIFE. 

Amen AMEN 

—-

James 4

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

—-

Job 1. Prologe

In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. He had seven sons and three daughters, and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.

His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.

One day the angels [sons of God in the Hebrew] came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”

“Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.”

Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

1While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said:

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart.

The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”

In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.