{"id":12762,"date":"2022-02-01T14:14:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-01T14:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pjhmail.wordpress.com\/?p=12762"},"modified":"2022-02-01T14:14:00","modified_gmt":"2022-02-01T14:14:00","slug":"all-things-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/12762\/all-things-3\/","title":{"rendered":"All Things"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good morning,<\/span><\/p>\n

I was reading the chapter about Job from \u201cThe Suffering and the Saints\u201d* book recently.\u00a0 So wonderful!\u00a0 As I was reading, I couldn\u2019t help but think about Michelle\u2019s testimony and how closely it parallels Job\u2019s testimony.\u00a0 Granted, Michelle has not been through the kind of extreme suffering that Job went through.\u00a0 She did not suffer with boils all over her body or the death of her children, loss of all her material possessions, terrible nightmares, everyone forsaking her, etc.\u00a0 But she has suffered, nonetheless.\u00a0 She went through loss of husband, loss of home, sickness of her daddy, sickness for herself, and her children\u2019s troubles.\u00a0 It seemed like it was one thing right after another, pushing Michelle to the point of not knowing how much more she could take.\u00a0 At her lowest point, Jesus had to help her just to breathe.<\/span><\/p>\n

Through all of the sufferings, however, Michelle knew, just like Job did, that the Lord had done it! \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Job said in 1:21, “the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away.\u00a0 Blessed be the name of the LORD!\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Michelle testified the other morning at your house, \u201cThe thought that thrills my soul.\u00a0 That makes me feel so safe and taken care of is being able to say \u00a0‘Lord!\u00a0 You have put on, and You have taken off!\u00a0 And I praise you for every bit of it!\u00a0 Thank you so much!'”<\/span><\/p>\n

They both glorified God for having given them blessings and for having taken them away.\u00a0 And they both understood that the road leading out of their sufferings was the way of holiness. You wrote, \u201cA man who does not know that God loves him cannot do that.\u00a0 A man who does not trust God\u2019s wisdom cannot do that.\u00a0 And a man who believes in other gods, including Satan, as having power to determine destruction for the saints cannot do that\u201d.\u00a0 Both Job and Michelle knew God too well to believe that anyone other than their Creator could take away their blessings, unless He determined it could be done.\u00a0 When Job\u2019s wife told him just to go ahead and \u201ccurse God and die,” Job told her she was foolish for saying that. He told her, \u201cShall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?\u201d \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Both Job and Michelle received their suffering \u201cwithout cause\u201d, but they both knew it was\u00a0not<\/u>\u00a0without purpose.\u00a0 As for Job\u2019s sufferings, you wrote, \u201cBut that there was at least one purpose in Job\u2019s sufferings, multiplied thousands of saints can bear witness who have been strengthened in the face of sorrow by Job\u2019s example”.\u00a0 Michelle testified to how reading Job had strengthened her.\u00a0 And now Michelle\u2019s testimony can encourage us! \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You wrote, \u201cJob knew that God was responsible (for his sufferings), and that God loved him and would be glorified in his complete deliverance if he would patiently wait for that salvation in the way of righteousness.\u00a0 That is perfected faith. That is faith that is rooted in the unshakable foundation of God\u2019s goodness and power and wisdom\u201d. \u00a0 Similarly, Michelle testified about keeping her feet firmly planted until that last wave hits, just as she had read in your father’s gospel Tract, \u201cStanding Still in Jordan\u201d. \u00a0 You responded to Michelle, \u201cUnmovable.\u00a0 Unshakeable.\u00a0 Established.\u00a0 That\u2019s Jesus!\u201d \u00a0I love that!<\/span><\/p>\n

I finished reading the Job chapter and then had this thought, \u201cWhat if Michelle hadn\u2019t known that her sufferings were from the hand of her Creator?\u00a0 What if she had blamed the Devil for her sufferings?” Instead of testifying of God\u2019s goodness the other morning at your house, what if Michelle had spoken up and said, \u201cBoy, that Devil almost got me this week!\u201d \u00a0What kind of testimony would that have been?!\u00a0 Instead of rejoicing with Michelle, we would all have been wondering what she had done to deserve such treatment by the Devil.\u00a0 Instead of Michelle feeling there was \u201cnot a ripple on the water\u201d, she would have been condemning herself for what was happening to her.\u00a0 Instead of getting God\u2019s purpose for her sufferings, she would have been asking God why He let that Devil do that to her.\u00a0 Instead of feeling \u201csafe and taken care of\u201d, she would be fearing when that Devil might strike again!\u00a0 Instead of glorifying God as the All-Knowing and Almighty Creator that he is, she would have elevated the Devil into a position of authority, as one who had somehow managed to slip past God.\u00a0 Where is God\u2019s glory in that?!\u00a0 How can her faith be perfected in that?!\u00a0 How could any of us be encouraged by that? \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It has been forty years now since Jesus spoke to you, \u201cIt tickles the Devil for God\u2019s children to blame their troubles on him.” What a liberating message!\u00a0 Many of us in this body were taught to blame the Devil for our troubles.\u00a0 Or, we were taught that “God is good” means that God won\u2019t cause us to suffer.\u00a0 I love knowing that there is one God, and ALL of my times are in His hands.\u00a0 There is so much peace and comfort in knowing that.<\/span><\/p>\n

The conclusion of this chapter was so good!\u00a0 You wrote, \u201cThe life of every one of God\u2019s people is the sole responsibility of the Owner.\u00a0 He may use it or leave it upon the shelf.\u00a0 He may brand it, break it, twist it, or melt it.\u00a0 But whatever happens to the Master\u2019s instruments is determined by no one but the Master.\u00a0 Faith, when it is matured, rejoices in that.\u00a0 Who better than our God to be in control of our fate?\u00a0 This is the faith which guided Joseph and Job to victory over suffering, and it is the faith that guided our Lord Jesus through his sufferings to eternal glory\u201d. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That kind of mature faith will guide every one of us to victory over our suffering!\u00a0 I am thankful for Michelle\u2019s testimony, as well as the many, many others I\u2019ve heard through the years that glorified God as the Designer of their sufferings.\u00a0 I am thankful for the \u201cAll Things\u201d message that was given to you forty years ago.\u00a0 It has saved us! \u00a0 And because of that message, we have been able to rejoice with Michelle and so many other Saints for what God, and God alone, has done! \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

God is good!<\/span><\/p>\n

Lee Ann<\/span><\/p>\n

==========<\/p>\n

Pastor John,<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Yesterday I woke up so thankful.\u00a0 I was thanking Jesus for helping me, loving me, carrying me when I felt I couldn’t go one more step and thanking him for the truth.\u00a0 When Leeann called me, rejoicing in what she had read in the “Suffering and the Saints” book, we both just drank in all the goodness of God for a while! \u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I think one of the sweetest things that Jesus has let me take in is that if we blame our troubles on the devil we will always feel beat down and discouraged.\u00a0 That is what Christianity teaches all God’s precious children.\u00a0 That is the heavy load that Jesus brought me out of!\u00a0 Whew I am so thankful for that!\u00a0 We can rest, be encouraged and be happy through it all knowing that all of our circumstances are in God’s hands, whether good or bad.\u00a0 Thank you for teaching me Pastor John.\u00a0 Words just don’t come close to how thankful I am for the life Jesus has given to me.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Michelle<\/span><\/div>\n

* Going to Jesus.com – Suffering and the Saints<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Good morning, I was reading the chapter about Job from \u201cThe Suffering and the Saints\u201d* book recently.\u00a0 So wonderful!\u00a0 As I was reading, I couldn\u2019t help but think about Michelle\u2019s testimony and how closely it parallels Job\u2019s testimony.\u00a0 Granted, Michelle has not been through the kind of extreme suffering that Job went through.\u00a0 She did […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-netmail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12762"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12762\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pastorjohnshouse.com\/mailbag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}