Job 2:1-10
1. Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.
2. And the LORD said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
3. And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.
4. And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.
5. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.
6. And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.
7. So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
8. And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.
9. Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.
10. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.
With emphasis on verse 5 & 9.
The conversation in verse 5 took place in Heaven between God and the Devil. With emphasis on the words .and he will surely curse You to your face.
In verse 9, Job’s wife uttered the same thing the devil uttered before God, saying; “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!“. The question is, How does a wife see her husband in a predicament, and the only thing she can focus on is not sympathy for herself, her children or property, but to ask a man about his integrity? How does it relate?
But she reverberated a sound that was echoing from the scheme of darkness in the realm of the spirit. Saying to her husband; Curse God and Die! It is a mystery of carefully strung and plotted from the pit of hell called; Manipulation.
It is a spirit that reverberates a spiritual resonance of the forces of darkness to people around you that make them behave the way they shouldn’t. Jesus our saviour wasn’t spared of this spirit. Through Peter, the Devil told Jesus he wasn’t going to die. But Jesus said “get the behind me Satan.
Beware of the spirit of Manipulation that sets out to strip you of the Faith (capacity) to hold unto to God. The funny thing is that, the spirit of Manipulation doesn’t bring words from strangers. It influences Undiscerning persons and loved ones around you. This is in the bid to make you see what ‘he; the devil wants‘.
The Devil was not concerned about the physical properties of Job, why? Because they were necessary collateral in the bid to test (1) His integrity to God (2) the Testimony of God in Job 1:8.
You may not know, but for every man, God has a testimony. He knows your heart and can validate the range of our integrity in Him. This is why the scriptures says that He wouldn’t tempt us beyond what we can contain.
So when supposed challenges and trials come our way, it is in the bid to give a testimony to the Kingdom of darkness of our growth in Him.
When you have this foreknowledge, the resonance of Manipulation around you can be silence by the potential of your understanding of what it is you are going through. The Bible never recorded to us that Job re-married. Nor was it stated that His wife left him. Hitherto, due to the words of his wife, we have presumed that she left. This is how you would recognize manipulation.
The spirit of Manipulation does not allow the instrument of manipulation (the human) to be concerned about what they should be concerned. Judging from the perspective of what a Motherly affection is and should be, one would think Job’s wife should cry and weep over her loss, but rather, she wasn’t bothered… Why? This is because the disposition of the spirit of Manipulation is to make it seem as if a man has nothing to loose if all goes wrong.
But in the real sense, He does have all to loose.
When you begin to see people talk as if they have nothing to loose, that’s a signal. Why? Because everyone has something at stake. Even the anointed would not want his anointing to be tampered with. All men has one thing or the other that they guard Jealously.
I’d leave you with these prayers of mine.
1. Lord! Via your word, give me Perspective (Sight).
2. Lord! Cause my eyes to be open continually.
3. I receive the spirit of discernment to know the heart of men.
Job 4:12-21
12. Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof.
13. In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,
14. Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.
15. Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:
16. It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying,
17. Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?
18. Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:
19. How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?
20. They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it.
21. Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom.
In the above the scriptures, the devil paints a picture of ‘visions of the night’, and the influence of a spirit(vs 13&15).
This is to let us know that the fact that someone had an extraordinary experience of the supernatural to affirm a feeling, is not a yardstick to make it a direction or revelation from God.
How do I know? (vs 14) the genuine presence of the Divine does not bring fear. Also, Eliphaz, testified (vs16) that he could not discern it’s appearance.
Young Lovers of God. Please be careful what you call revelation or direction, DON’T BE SENSUAL.
I said something sometime ago, that the Devil can also give you an experience that our five (5) senses can validate in accordance to the desires of a man’s Heart.
Manipulation would present facts to people as if it is the tangible reason to validate what they have heard, seen, or known. BUT IT IS NOT THE TRUTH.
