Father, I Adore You! Psalms 31:1-4, 8:1

My Shepherd met me in His green pastures, and as I worshipped, Satan accosted me with vain thoughts and stirred up false guilt; he attacked my mind with a variety of silly temptations, and others that were serious. I cried out, “What’s he doing here?” My Shepherd took me over to Job to lay me down:

Job 1:6 ¶ Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.

Job 2:1 ¶ 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.

What I described isn’t routine, but it’s not unusual for Satan to show up in my prayer closet. However, it is very disturbing when it occurs, and today it was particularly intense. I asked why Satan can show up while I’m in my prayer closet? I pleaded, “By what right does he interfere with my time with You?” I exclaimed: “What’s he doing here?”

Jesus gently reminded me that when the “sons of God” came before the throne of the Almighty, Satan would sometimes enter the room. When that happens, something serious is about to happen. My Shepherd assured me that I should not assume this only happens when GOD is about to open the hedge; sometimes it happens when GOD is about to open Heaven.

Who are these “sons of God”?

Later in the testimony of Job, God Personally answers Job’s complaint (Job 38-41). He challenged his understanding: “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding” (Job 38:4). In this challenge, God mentioned the “sons of God” again, asking, “Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:6-7).*

Job was not present when God laid the “corner stone” in the foundations of the earth at creation. But these “sons of God” were.

Outside of GOD, angels were the only sentient beings that existed before the creation of the creatures that inhabit the earth. Angels are spirit beings under the command of GOD who have access to His throne (Hebrews 1:7; 2 Kings 22:19b, “I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left”; Revelation 5:2, 11; etc.) These “sons of God” are called to assemble before Him (2 Kings 22:19-23), and on some occasions, Satan is invited (Job 1:6; 2:1).**

Along the still waters, I reflected on this and thought, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). And when the “sons of God” assemble in the presence of our LORD (Hebrews 10:25; Matthew 18:20), Satan does sometimes enter in to disrupt, and to distract the saints from their Saviour.

While Jesus was gathered with His disciples at the Last Supper, teaching them, He kept a wary eye on Satan’s movements. He watched Satan petition His Father’s throne for access to Peter, in order to sift him as wheat is sifted (Luke 22:31). He explained that He had interceded on Peter’s behalf, that his faith would not fail; He instructed Peter that when he was converted, he should strengthen the brethren (Luke 22:32).

Satan had a particular interest in Peter. He once gathered with the assembled saints and used Peter to oppose Jesus’ message. Jesus preached that He would be given into the hands of sinful men, be killed, and rise on the third day (Matthew 16:21). Peter “took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: it hall not be unto thee” (Matthew 16:22). Jesus turned and said to Peter: “Get thee behind me Satan: for thou art an offence unto me: for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men” (Matthew 16:23).

Sometimes, Satan attends church and looks for ways to provoke the saints to reject the message of Christ preached from His word. Sometimes, when we come boldly before the Heavenly Throne seeking mercy, to obtain the grace we need in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16), Satan will attack us here on earth. His seducing spirits will sometimes swarm us (1 Timothy 4:1), distractions will arise in peculiar ways, and your thoughts will be drawn away from Him.

Remember, when Satan gathers with the “sons of God,” it is to petition God for access to us (Job 1:6; 2:1; see Luke 22:31).

While not so intense as was his attack when he seized Christ in Gethsemane, he does assault us for the same purpose: to provoke us to abandon our Father’s will and serve our own instead.

Satan secured access to Job and dragged him through the crucible of grievous loss, physical pain, and the betrayal of friends. Jesus endured the greater crucible of the Cross.

Job, a type of Christ, suffered for no sin of his own (Job 2:3), and at the end prayed for the “saving” of his friends’ lives and was heard because he declared what was true concerning God (Job 42:7-8).

Jesus, the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15), who was made to be sin for us who knew no sin (2 Corinthians 5:21), mediated our salvation (1 Timothy 2:5), and advocates for us throughout our lives (1 John 2:1-2). Whatever access Satan might secure, Jesus will pray that our faith will endure, and our service will resume (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25).

When Satan shows up in church, he is there to take God’s message from us. God allows it to test and teach us. It tries our hearts and exposes our thoughts, and it teaches us to resist the devil till he flees. When Satan shows up in our prayer closet, it’s the same thing; he wants to provoke us to grieve the Spirit, even to quench Him. Our enemy labors to stop the prayers of saints and the preaching of God’s word.

Generally, when we experience a particularly intense assault, it is because God is preparing to pour out His Spirit of supplication and grace (Zechariah 12:10). He is about to do some great work, and Satan attempts to stop you, to provoke you to give up on your mission to fulfill His will for your life.

In the valley, Jesus spoke with a compassion that comes only from personal experience. He who was tempted like us in every point, and, though He never yielded, felt the power of darkness, is “touched with the feeling of our infirmity” (Exodus 10:21; see Hebrews 4:15). He calls us to follow Him: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

At the table, He anointed my head with His oil, filled my cup with His grace, and stirred in sufficient grace to sustain me against the sufficient evil of the coming day. Goodness and mercy followed as we went together into the harvest.

Praying for revival! 🙏

Going live asap;

https://rumble.com/v7bq1u8-shepherds-pasture.html

[*The answer to the question, “who laid the corner stone thereof,” seems obvious: “You, the Almighty Creator.” Yet it must not be obvious, else the question would be superfluous. We find a similar question in Proverbs 30:4: “Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son’s name, if thou canst tell?” The question about the name of Who gathers the wind in His fists, bound the waters in a garment, and established all the ends of the earth, was known: יְהוָ֥ה (Yah-ho-vah) is the name of the Creator) (Genesis 2:4). But the name of His Son was not yet known. We can answer: JESUS (Matthew 1:21). John testified that the Word was in the beginning with God, and was God, and all things were made by Him (John 1:1-3; Genesis 1:1). When the Word was “made flesh” and dwelt among us, the Father declared His Name would be JESUS (John 1:14; Matthew 1:21). The Spirit testified through Paul that God created all things by Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3:9). The symmetry of creation speaks to the orderly design of the Creator, and this characteristic appears in the Scripture. Jesus Christ laid the “corner stone” in the foundations of Earth, and the Father laid the “precious corner stone” (Isaiah 28:16; 1 Peter 2:6), Jesus Christ, His Son (Ephesians 2:20), in the foundation of His “habitation of God by the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:21-22).]

[**Angels are creatures of Heaven, and apparently, they were the first created sentient beings when God created “the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). Angels are symbolically identified with the stars (Revelation 12:4). The symbolic representation of the angels was set in place on the fourth day (Genesis 1:14-19). Some suppose, reasonably, that the angels were created on the fourth day, with the stars. My problem with that supposition arises from another question: “Where did the darkness come from?” (Genesis 1:2). “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). We know that God forms the light and creates darkness (Isaiah 45:7). He is the unformed Light. The “light” He formed was created on the first day (Genesis 1:3-5). Why did He need to “form” light since He is Light? The show that this is a valid question, consider that the Spirit says the new city, heavenly Jerusalem, will have “no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof” (Revelation 21:23). Light existed before darkness. Genesis 1:1-5 never says “And God created the darkness.” And the “light” He formed was formed after “darkness” appeared. We know He creates darkness, and does so in association with the creation of evil (Isaiah 45:7). In fact, throughout the Scriptures, darkness is associated in one way or another with sin (Psalm 107:10; Proverbs 4:19; Matthew 8:12; John 3:19; Acts 26:18 (Colossians 1:13); 2 Corinthians 6:14; Ephesians 5:11; 1 John 2:9-11). The reason God hides Himself in the “thick darkness” (Exodus 20:21) is a consequence of sin, for if He appeared in His glory, the light would destroy mankind (2 Thessalonians 2:8). Satan presides over the “power of darkness” (Luke 22:53). Christ is the “Light” Whom God sent into the world to overcome the “darkness” (John 1:5). We know Satan was cast down from his former glory because of his sin (Isaiah 14:12-14; Ezekiel 28:11-19). The principality of darkness was created when Satan fell, and he was cast into that darkness. I believe this answers the question: “Where did the darkness of Genesis 1:2 come from?” Lest anyone vainly imagine I’m trying to accommodate the evolutionary theory of origins, that the order of creation evolved from chaos slowly over time, consider this. First, I believe all creation was put in place in an instant (Genesis 1:1). Second, the chaos described in Genesis 1:2 is not how God created—He does not begin with chaos and then bring order from it. He begins with order, and Satan introduced confusion by his pride and arrogant boast that he would “be like God” (Isaiah 14:12-14). This brought destruction and chaos; God then proceeded to deliver His creation from the “power of darkness.” He began by forming the earth to be inhabited by a new creature, man, who would bear His image and likeness.]