The Job Factor

THE JOB FACTOR

INTRODUCTION:

Now I know to some or most of your this is “Christianity 101” but stay with me this morning! I think I have something that will bless you if you are struggling anywhere in your walk with God! When I say “STRUGGLING” I don’t mean “STRUGGLING” in the way that you’re losing out with God, I mean “STRUGGLING” in the way that many Christians do with their lives at one time or another!

Recently I was thinking & praying about my “FAITH!” I want my “FAITH” to be alive in me greater than ever before! So with this in mind I began to ponder on the properties of “FAITH!” I began to think about what it is that makes “FAITH” pop in our lives, that makes “FAITH” come alive! “FAITH” is something that we cannot afford to live without! It is one of the easiest things about Christianity but yet at the same time it is one of the hardest more daunting aspects of our Christian Walk and Existence!

Heb. 11:6 tells us that

“...without FAITH it is impossible to please God.”

So we know that “FAITH” is a no-brain-er when it comes to relationship with God! So what is it that is so “DISTURBINGLY DIFFICULT” to so many? Well in two words it’s easy: it’s the “HUMAN FACTOR!” It is the flesh we live in that is the biggest factor in our walk with God! Now you can blame the enemy of your soul, and rightly so give the devil his due, but, there is a “HUMAN FACTOR” that has to be taken in account within ourselves & our walk with God!

Hebrews 11 is known as the “FAITH CHAPTER!” It is that passage that shows us how “FAITH” was a part of the lives of “HEROES OF THE FAITH” & “HEROES OF FAITH!” Two separate things! Heb. 11:1-2 is a passage that we all know for certain but it bears repeating!

“FAITH is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.”

This passage is not a “DEFINITION” of “FAITH” but a “DESCRIPTION” of “FAITH” By no means do I mean to imply that our walk of “FAITH” is easy in any way, shape or form! IT IS NOT! But, it is “DOABLE!”

I Cor. 10:13 tells us...

“No temptation is overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is FAITHFUL, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond that you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape for you, that you may be able to bear it.”

We need to remember this passage of scripture when the temptation, & everybody has them, becomes so extreme to our thinking that we cannot take in another minute that “GOD’S PROMISE” is that He “WILL NOT ALLOW” the temptation to over take you so that you fall!

He did it with Job! I believe that God knew that Job had it in him, because God put it there! God knew that Job could withstand more than the average man because God knew that Job had tapped into something dynamic in his “FAITH!” Something that not everybody had at that time or even in this time! Although there are some, you this morning can be one of those “SOMEBODIES” who have tapped into that...“JOB FACTOR!”

Job understood something about “FAITH” whether he put it into the words that actually described what he did & said on that fateful moment when he spoke in so eloquently & powerfully in Job 13:15...

“Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.”

One translation says, “...yet, will I wait on Him.” The word “WAIT” implies not only trust but to “SERVE!”

There are “3” things are happening in this simple little, yet so profound passage! “3” things that I think have gone largely unnoticed but needs be applied to & for your lives this morning! I believe that these “3” things will help revolutionize your way of thinking and your “WALK OF FAITH!”

These “3” things are, what I believe, Job used whether he realized it or not. He tapped into these things almost subconsciously. How did he do that?

His “APTITUDE” defined his “ATTITUDE” which in turn determined his “ALTITUDE!”

I. APTITUDE!

We read in Heb. 11:6...

“...without FAITH it is impossible to please God!”

Folk, “FAITH” is already a part of us, but we have to tap into it in a “SUPERNATURAL” way in order to accomplish what it is that God wants for us!

Webster’s Dictionary defines “APTITUDE”

“an inclination, a tendency, a natural ability, general suitability”

How do I know or think that? First of all the only thing that God didn’t give us in the creation was “SALVATION!” There was no need for it because there wasn’t anything to “SAVE” until the fall of man!