But God's going to let Job enter into the battle.
He's going to let the devil attack him and look what the devil says in verse 11.
But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee
to thy face.
And the Lord said unto Satan, behold, all that he hath is in thy power, only
upon himself put not forth thine hand.
So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.
It was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their
eldest brother's house.
And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, the ox were plowing, the ass was feeding
beside them.
And the Sabeans fell upon them, took them away, yea, they have slain the servants with the
edge of the sword, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, the fire of God has fallen
from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them.
And I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
And while he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, the Chaldeans made
out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the
servants with the edge of the sword, and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, thy sons and thy daughters
were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house.
And behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners
of the house, and it fell upon the young men, they are dead.
And I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
Talk about a bad day.
You're just hoping no more servants show up.
But here's the thing, there wasn't any left to come.
He lost all possessions.
Everything you could ever want, everything you could ever have, he had it.
And then he lost it all in a moment.
Just servant after servant, all your money, all your stocks, all your goods, all your
kids.
He's gone.
That's what the devil will do.
He'll take away your possessions.
Now here's the thing.
How many people would keep serving God if tomorrow you lost all of your money, your
job, your house, and your kids, who would still come to church?
Now I think a lot of people would walk away with that.
They'd be frustrated, they'd be mad at God.
That's a serious attack.
You know what?
That's what the devil's gonna do.
The devil is not, the devil will take any possession he wants from you if God will allow
him, because he wants to hurt you.
And you know what?
If Job can still serve God, I mean, look what he says in verse 20.
Then Job arose and went into his mental, shaved his head, and fell down upon the
ground and worshiped, and said, naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked
shall I return thither.
Lord gave, the Lord had taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.
And all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.
If all your kids died tomorrow, would you still praise God?
That's real.
That's a real attack.
I mean, that's to show how Job really feels.
And if you think about it, it's a pretty great saying, because when you were first
born, you didn't have any kids, certainly didn't have any money, none of my kids
came out with money.
Any of your kids came out with money?
They came into this world with nothing.
And he says, if God wants me to start over again, so be it.
You know, it's easier said than done, don't hear me wrong.
But at the end of the day, we need to have a heart that says, if I had to start a thousand
percent over, just a hundred percent over, blessed be the name of the Lord.
I can do it.
That's the type of preparation you have to have.
You know, Jesus was tempted in the same way where the devil wanted to take or offer
him possessions.
Go to Luke chapter four for a moment, I want to show you.
Keep your finger in Job, come on back.
Look at verse five, the Bible reads, and the devil taking him up into a high mountain
showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and the devil said
unto him, all this power will I give thee the glory of them, for that is delivered
unto me, and to whomsoever I will, I give it.
If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, get thee behind me Satan, for it is written,
thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt not serve.
Now this is the inverse of what we just looked at because in Job, he lost the whole
world, he lost everything.
But now the devil's coming to Jesus and what he's doing, he's enticing him with everything.
All give you all possessions because the devil doesn't care which angle of attack
he comes from.
If you have nothing, he wants to try and offer you it all.
If you have it all, he wants to take it away.
So for those of you that are poor, your temptation is going to be to chase money,
to get a better job, to spend more time working, and that's how the devil's going
to try and pull you out of church.
That's how the devil's going to attack you with possessions.
But if you have a lot of money, you know what the devil's going to attack you?
He's going to attack you by trying to take it away by saying, oh you better not do that,
you better not serve God, you'll lose all the stuff you already got.
You know what?
The devil is going to use possessions to his advantage to try and draw you away from
serving God.
And it's stupid because when you were born, you had nothing.
We get our heart and our mind wrapped up in all the possessions that could be had
or that we do have when really God wants our heart.
God wants us to just possess him and for him to possess us.
You know, at the end of the day, we need to be aware of this attack that will come.
And it's not just like, oh the rich people are attacking this way or the poor people,
it's everyone.
Everyone's tempted with either more possessions or losing their possessions, or both.