T&T Logo Header 2
~ Day Fourteen ~
MAGNIFY
No Other Name
The Book of Job ~ Chapter Fourteen
"If a man dies, shall he live again?
All the days of my hard service I will wait,
till my change comes."
(Job 14:14)
MORNING MEDITATION
Resurrection and the Life
Many writers agree that the book of Job is one of the oldest and best pieces of literature of all time; with a message that is also one of the most important we need to learn. Yet, many people avoid the study of Job's life because they are fearful that they too might suffer as he did. However, in order for us to truly grasp the message the Lord would have us learn from Job's story, we can expect that the Lord will have prepared some tests for us to take along the way to prove the areas we've improved in and the spiritual gains we have made. From the first day that we began our journey with Job, the furnace was already being heated for our first test, as one of our dear friends and faithful intercessors in the Tabernacle house of prayer, here in Williamsburg, was in a tragic accident. For these first two weeks of our journey together we have joined Job on the ash heap with weeping, mourning, and fasting, crying out to God to heal dear Judy and wake her up out of the coma and restore her back to life. Chapter after chapter, and verse after verse, every word of Job's story began to take on new light and life as we waited upon the Lord to answer our prayers according to His perfect will. Yesterday, as we joined Job in his bold declaration of faith: "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in Him!" (13:15a), our dear friend received the ultimate healing as she was carried into the loving arms of our blessed Savior and Lord! While we rejoice with her in the joy that is now eternally hers in the presence of Jesus, our hearts grieve for her family, and we pray that we will be a better source of comfort to them than Job's friends were to him. "...that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God" (2 Corinthians 1:4). Still, I can't help but think that this test seemed better suited for a midterm or final exam; but our divine Teacher, whose ways are supremely higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8, 9), knows better than us what course we must take and the valuable lessons He desires for us to learn that will work to accomplish His greater purposes for our life and bring Him glory, honor, and praise. "But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold" (Job 23:10).

"Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life.
He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.
And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.
Do you believe this?"
(John 11:25, 26)

There is much hidden meaning behind every brush stroke of Gods' Word, which faithful scribes labored diligently under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to preserve. Not until we are in the furnace of affliction do those true textures and tones leap off the page and provide healing salve to bind our wounds and cure our broken hearts. "Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know" (Jeremiah 33:3). Take poor Martha for instance who, when faced with the unbearable sorrow of her brother's death, limited the Lord's words to only what her understanding would allow her. "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day" (John 11:24). Every word that is written in God's Holy Scripture is a rare and precious jewel that must be mined for its highest meaning - this is the duty of all those who have been raised to sit in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6). Our neglect of digging daily for those choice and hidden gems which we do not yet know, has robbed the church of spiritual riches meant to benefit every believer and bring heaven's blessing to the world. The Lord has spread before His children a banqueting table of the richest fare, and an eternal fountain of living water that never ceases to flow, so that we would help ourselves daily to the portion He has promised us and be filled with the fullness of Jesus! (Isaiah 55:1-3). "Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me though he may die, he shall live" (John 11:25). Martha only saw the future meaning of those words as intended for all of God's children, instead of realizing there was a present, precious promise from the Father that was meant for her to receive that very day. She believed that if Jesus had been there her brother never would have died, but the Lord purposed in His delay to raise her faith to higher ground, and teach her that not only does He have life to save, but also to give. "I am the Resurrection and the Life!" Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8), so He is able to bring back our loved ones just as He had done with Lazarus. "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26). But, before we ask so selfish a request of God, let us first ask ourselves, would we really want our loved ones to leave His glorious presence to come back to suffer again just to gratify our own need for momentary comfort and relief? It is true that the Lord gave His church the keys to heaven, but there is a rarer jewel He expects us to seek after - Himself! Today, may God apply the Balm of Gilead to all those who are experiencing life's deepest pain - the loss of a loved one. Let us pray for those who are enduring long suffering because they believe all their hopes have been buried in the grave with their loved one, that they would have their eyes opened to see Jesus as the Resurrection and the Life, and be willing to enter into that precious union with the One who will show them how to truly live! Let us pray for all the dear saints all around us who are suffering and dying, and for their precious families, that they may know the comfort and peace of God that surpasses all understanding. "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints" (Psalm 116:15)."Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy" (Psalm 126:5).

"He who believes in the Son has everlasting life;
and he who does not believe the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."
(John 3:36)
AFTERNOON DEVOTION
Read: Job Chapter Fourteen

"Man who is born of woman
if of few days and full of trouble.
He comes forth like a flower and fades away;
he flees like a shadow and does not continue.
And do You open Your eyes on such a one,
and bring me to judgment with Yourself?
Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one!"
(Job 14:1-4)

Job provided a accurate description of life when he said, "Man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble" (Job 14:1). It is true that life is difficult, and Job's life shows us how very true that is, but his life also shows us how unfair life can really be. It is in this context of undeserved suffering that he longed to be set free. "Oh, that You would hide me in the grave, that You would conceal me until Your wrath has past, that You would appoint me a set time, and remember me! If man dies, shall he live again?" Job wanted to be sealed in a box until all his trouble had passed, he couldn't see God's higher purpose or understand God's present plans through all the dark shadows of his pain and suffering. His view of God, like Martha's was severely limited, but the Lord was using his trials to bring him up to a higher realm of understanding. This is the Lord's desire for all of His children, to get our idea of God out of the box of our own imagination and into the realm of human experience. In their counsel, Job's friends presented the God of their dead traditions, and gave their friend no hope of life beyond his present tribulations. Through His servant, Isaiah, the Lord rebuked the spiritual blind guides of his day: "Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men, therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work among this people, a marvelous work and wonder; for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden" (Isaiah 29:13, 14). Instead of applying healing balm to the peoples wounds, His servants were applying embalming oils and leaving His people in their shackles of suffering and death. Jesus put on our garment of human flesh and entered the earthly realm of our human experience to bring us into the heavenly realm of freedom and liberty. Just as the Tabernacle in the wilderness had to be dismantled and moved whenever the Lord led His people in the wilderness, so also the Lord had to continually dismantle the setting up of false belief and idolatrous worship systems in their journey toward the promised land. Over and over the Lord brought discipline upon His people from other idolatrous nations in order to purify their worship. Sadly, as soon as they were given the opportunity to rebuild, they would work even harder to cement their human traditions into the work of God. How sad, when the Lord had freed them from the hard labor of laying bricks while in bondage in Egypt, that they so willing to enslave their people again in shackles of human labor for their worship of God and for their salvation. Our Lord Jesus came into the world in human flesh to tear down all those traditions that blocked the people from seeing the true work of God He had purposed when He first gave Moses the blueprint for the tabernacle. In laying down His own life, the true tabernacle, on the Cross He set men free from sin and dismantled all religious ritual and tradition. In this season, where we have had activities halted, systems dismantled, and the church itself shuttered, may we have eyes to see and ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church in this hour. May we not be in a hurry to jump back into the box of our religious traditions, but rather ask the Lord to show us how He would have us look outside the box and present a view of Him that is more worthy of His majesty; one that would help people to see Jesus for who He is, so they can be set free and truly live! "Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together" (Psalm 34:3)!

Lift your glad voices in triumph on high,
for Jesus hath risen, and man cannot die.
Vain were the terrors that gathered around Him,
and short the dominion of death and the grave;
He burst from the fetters of darkness that bound Him,
resplendent in glory, to live and to save.
Loud was the chorus of angels on high, -
"The Savior hath risen, and man shall not die."

Glory to God, in full anthems of joy;
the being He gave us, death cannot destroy.
Sad were the life we must part with tomorrow,
if tears were our birthright, and death were our end;
but Jesus hath cheered the dark valley of sorrow,
and bade us, immortal, to heaven ascend.
Lift, then, your voices in triumph on high,
for Jesus hath risen, and man shall not die.

(Lift Your Glad Voices, Henry Ware, 1794-1843)
EVENING PRAYER
"LORD, I know that You can do everything,
and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You."
(Job 42:2)

Listen to the evening audio prayer by
clicking or tapping HERE or the YouTube image
Subscribe to the Trumpet and Torch Ministries official You Tube Channel
to receive automated notifications for the daily prayers.
"Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord - that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful" (James 5:10).
It's been 400 Years
LORD Forgive Us!
Global Prayer Meeting with Times Square Church
LIVE Stream from Plymouth, Massachusetts
October 6th at 7PM
Read about 2020
The Year of Divine Government
IF My people will humble themselves
and PRAY
A Pandemic Prayer Proclamation
Read more HERE
Trumpet and Torch Ministries provides spiritual nourishment and encouragement from the Word of God
to cultivate within the heart of the believer a disciplined life of holiness, prayer, and deepening intimacy with our Lord Jesus Christ.

TRUMPET AND TORCH MINISTRIES
P.O. BOX 5933, WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA 23188
WWW.TRUMPETANDTORCH.ORG

Setting the World on Fire for Christ ~ One Heart at a Time!
MAGNIFY No Other Name
A 45-day devotional prayer and fasting journey through the Books of Job and Joel
copyright (c) 2020 Traci A. Alexander. All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New King James Version,
copyright (c) 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.