Life Series — Part Three — A Blessable Place

This is Part Three in the Life Series—a series which promises to reveal the fundamental secrets of dominant victory.  These secrets, found in the Word of God, will make today the best day of your life, and tomorrow better.  This promise sounds impossible, but be assured it is readily attainable.

The reality of dominant victory begins the day one is washed in the blood of Jesus—the day one is born-again—and it develops as we grow in Christ.  At least two of God’s reasons for delivering this dominant victory that overcomes the world to His children are as follows:

1. That we might have life and that we might have it more abundantly.

2. That we may demonstrate before the sons of men the great benefits of being a Christian.  Psalms 31:19:

Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!

II Corinthians 1:20:

For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.

God is glorified when His children enjoy His promises and the sons of men see the marvelous benefits of salvation.  An excellent example of this is found in the following paragraph of David Limbaugh’s book Persecution.  It reads:

The great American statesman Patrick Henry said in his later years, “Oh, how wretched should I be at this moment, if I had not made my peace with God.”  On his deathbed he affirmed his Christian faith to his doctor with even greater conviction, poignantly recognizing that Christianity had been under constant attack but always emerged victorious.  “Doctor, said Henry, “I wish you to observe how real and beneficial the religion of Christ is to a man about to die...I am, however, much consoled by reflecting that the religion of Christ has, from its first appearance in the world, been attacked in vain by all the wits, philosophers, and wise one, aided by every power of man, and its triumphs have been complete.” [End of quote]

Have you made your peace with God?  Have you surrendered your life to Jesus Christ?  If you have not, click onto “Further With Jesus,” and do it now.  Today will be the best day of your life.  NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.

GOD SAID, Job 1:8-10:

8 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?

9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?

10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

MAN SAID: There is no God-given technique for something as bizarre-sounding as dominant victory.  There just isn’t.

Now THE RECORD.  If you have yet to read or listen to Part One and Two of this series, please do so before you continue. 

Without proper approach, no man can communicate with God.  I must first have a fundamental understanding of who God is, and also who I am.  Once the smoke has cleared and I have begun to understand these critical issues, I am ready to continue in the quest for dominant victory.  Following is an instant replay review of Parts One and Two of this series:

“Life Series – Part One – Who Is God?”

1. God is the Creator.

2. God is truth.

3. God is light.

4. God is love.

5. God is the God of fierce judgment.

6. God requires true fidelity.

“Life Series – Part Two – Who Am I?”

1. All mankind are sons and daughters of Adam and Eve.

2. Because of the fall, we were all spiritually stillborn.

3. The only way of escape is to be born a second time.

4. At this moment, you can be in only one of two conditions: born‑again or not.

5. Salvation is a journey that is finally completed when we see Jesus face to face and become as He is.

6. Basic carnal traits are extremely hard to detect.

7. Every man’s way is right in his own eyes.

8. We see ourselves as smarter, more skilled, and more appealing than we actually are.

9. Your heart is not the place to put your trust.  God’s Word is the only sure foundation.

10. We must approach God in humility and have an empty cup.

11. Jesus Christ is the only answer to this carnal dilemma.

Part Three.  Is there such a place as Job’s hedge?  Is there a place that Satan recognizes as the hedge of protection—a barrier that he cannot breach?  I Peter 5:8:

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Note, in Job 1:7, Satan’s response to God when he was asked of his situation:

From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

Is there a condition in which you or I might find ourselves that Satan may devour?  If Satan knows what this hedge of protection looks like, it’s critical that you and I do, too.

A believer once framed the idea of Job’s hedge in the term, “a blessable place,” a place that God can bless.  God defines Job’s hedge in Job 1:8 when He said to 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?

If I place myself in a blessable place, God will bless me.

Dominant victory requires being in a blessable place.  It requires the hedge of protection that Satan recognizes.  In Job 1:8, quoted above, God points to four qualities of Job that we must mimic in order to enjoy Job’s hedge:

1. Job was a perfect man.  After listing a series of commandments in Matthew 5, Jesus said the following in verse 48: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”

Step One of a “blessable place” is to be perfect.  Scripturally, it is well documented that our spiritual skills, understanding, and Godliness are in a developing process, and when we finally see our Lord Jesus Christ face-to-face, we will be as He is.  I Corinthians 13:9-12:

9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known

Along this journey, we are directed to mortify our members (or put to death our carnal desires) and to bring every thought into subjection to our Lord Jesus Christ.  If we slip and fall along the way, we are instructed to repent and forsake the error.  I John 2:1-3:

1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

A good example of being perfect, and the perfecting process, is considering the development of an apple.  In the spring, a baby bud begins to form on the apple tree’s branches.  It is a perfect bud, yet not a mature apple.  Soon the baby bud breaks out into a beautiful apple blossom.  It is a perfect blossom, yet not an apple to eat.  Next, from the blossom, a baby apple begins to form.  It is a perfect baby apple, but still not yet ready to eat.  All along the way, the baby apple grows and develops, and all along the way it is perfect in its state until it reaches its full measure of development when it is perfect and ready to pick.  Each stage is perfect in its time.  Being perfect before God is to have all your sins washed away by the blood of His only begotten Son and to be fully surrendered to His Word.  This is a perfect state.  This is necessary if one expects to be in a “blessable place.”

2. Job was upright. 

Step Two of Job’s hedge is to be upright.  Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language defines upright as: “Honest; just; adhering to rectitude in all social intercourse; not deviating from correct moral principles; as an upright man.” [End of quote]

3. Job feared God. 

Step Three was that Job feared God.  God speaks of attributes that He finds acceptable in man in Isaiah 66:1-2:

1 Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?

2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

A man that approaches God with humility and repentance, and who trembles at His Word, finds grace in His sight.  Fearing God is also the beginning of wisdom (Psalms 111:10).  On the other hand, taking the Word of God lightly, or adding and subtracting from it, brings one to a cursable place.  Revelation 22:18-19:

18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:

19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

A wise man fears God.  This is a blessable place.

4. Job eschewed evil. 

Step Four of what God found admirable in Job was that he eschewed evil, which means to shun—to flee—from evil.  II Timothy 2:20-22:

20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.

21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.

22 Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

RECAP:  God was impressed with four attributes of Job:

1. He was perfect.

2. He was upright.

3. He feared God.

4. He eschewed evil.

The concept of Job’s hedge is found in Deuteronomy 11:18-21:

18 Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.

19 And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

20 And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:

21 That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.

Note the linkage in the following passage.  III John 1:2:

Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.                            

The blessable place requires action on the part of the blessed.  Matthew 24:11-13:

11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Psalms 50:16-17:

16 But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?

17 Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.

It is common to mouth covenant promises, yet cast God’s instructions behind one’s back.  These include promises such as:

• God is my Father.

• God’s angels are watching over me and my children.

• (When a loved one passes away) He or she is in a better place.

• (When I die) I’m going to Heaven.

In order to be in a blessable place, we must receive God’s instructions.  I John 1:6:

If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

I John 2:4-5:

4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.

Job’s hedge is God’s blessable place.  To access dominant victory, I must strive to dwell there.  Following is the recap of what we have discovered concerning this place of protection and blessing:

1. There is a blessable place known as Job’s hedge.

2. There is a place that Satan recognizes as the hedge of protection—a barrier that he cannot breach.

3. If Satan knows what this hedge of protection looks like, it is critical that you and I do, too.

4. God mentioned four attributes of Job that He found admirable:

a. Job was perfect.  (Remember the apple.)

b. Job was upright.

c. Job feared God.

d. Job eschewed evil.

5. Our days can be like the days of heaven upon the earth.

6. The blessable place requires faith and obedience to the Word of God.

There is a blessable place where today can be the best day of my life and where tomorrow can be better.

GOD SAID, Job 1:8-10:

8 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?

9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?

10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

MAN SAID: There is no God-given technique for something as bizarre sounding as dominant victory.  There just isn’t.

Now you have THE RECORD.

References:

Authorized King James Version

Limbaugh, D., Persecution, Regnery Publishing,” 2003