Dealing With Stress

We need to discern the Body of the Lord. There can be some marvelous things happening to us when we discern the Body of Jesus Christ. When we correctly discern it, it tells us that there is healing, forgiveness of sins, all of the kinds of abundant life that are promised in the Word. We are the Body of Jesus and we need to discern the needs and ministries of one another.

Look at the book of Job. I think you can see where basically all six of the people involved know God, but they didn't discern the overall picture of what God could do. So many times we live in a limited way because we limit God. We really don't discern who He is and what

He wants to be to us.

It is said that Job is the oldest book of the Bible. I've always wondered who Job was and how he got there. He really is in the Old Testament! For example, in the book of Genesis, Job is the son of Issachar. Now let me give you a rundown on that. Abraham had Isaac, Isaac had Jacob, Jacob had Issachar, and Issachar had Job. He is a very real person. Also, Job is mentioned in the book of Jeremiah and by James in the New Testament. His name means "desert" and when you think of Job you always think of a very deserted time. Deserted by everyone.

Next, let's look at Job's friends:

Eliphaz: His name means "God is dispenser."

He knew God. He is a relative of Isaac. His father was Tema, the son of Esau, the son of Isaac. This man undoubtedly knew God because he was of the right lineage.

Bildad: His name means "confusion." He is the son of Shuah, who is the son of Abraham and Keturah. Again, we can see that he came from the right lineage, and must have known God.

Zophar: His name means "chatterer." And he lives up to it; he chatters a lot, but doesn't say much.

Elihu: His name means "he is God." He is a descendant of Buz, the brother of Uz, the son of Nahor, who is a brother of Abraham. The Bible talks about God being the God of Abraham and Nahor.

I think we can say that all of them knew the Lord. Not as completely as you do, because you have the written Word; but they knew the Lord, and they knew Him because of the background that had been passed down to them.

When the book of Job opens, the Bible lets us pull back a curtain and see what goes on in heaven between God and Satan. Job is probably about seventy years old as the book begins, and he goes through this tremendous trial. Every time we think of Job we think of a very black, very bleak time, and we don't like it. But when you get into the story of Job there is nothing black or bleak about it. His trial lasted only one year out of his life of two hundred and ten years. He had only one time that was really bad. One year out of two hundred and ten years isn't bad! We can hardly gripe about that. Yet we hold up that one year and moan about poor Job's trial. What about Job's victory? Two hundred and nine years when he did not have this terrible situation. As we look at him, and as the story unfolds, let's discern the body of Christ.

Job 1:1, "There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect, and upright, and one that feared God and shunned evil.” There are four things about Job that are said three times: He was perfect, which means he was mature; he handled things well, but not so that he was sinless; he was upright; he feared God, which does not mean to cringe in fear, but that he reverenced God; and he eschewed evil, he fled from evil. He had seven sons and three daughters, and he was very, very wealthy. The Bible tells us exactly how much he had: 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 she-asses, and a very great household. This man was the greatest of all the men of the east, and "greatest" means wealthiest.

Job 1:4,

"And his sons went and feasted in their homes, everyone his day, and set and called for their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And it was, when the days of their feasting were finished, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually."

Not only was Job a very wealthy man, he was a very spiritual man. This was said of him in the very first verse, and we also see in his activity that he was. He set his children apart. He got up early in the morning and he offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. Before Leviticus, it was the father's place to offer the offerings. Abraham offered an offering for his family. Job said, "It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God." (Remember this word, "to curse.") "Maybe they've cursed God in their hearts." And notice, it says "Job did this continually." He was very concerned that his children serve the Lord.

Now we get a glimpse into heaven. The curtain was pulled back and it was a specific day. Evidently there was an appointed day that the angels of God came before Him and talked to Him. And among the angels was Satan. In Ezekiel 28:11-15, we see a description of Satan. It talks about every precious stone that was his covering, how beautiful he was, how wise, and how he could sing. He was the anointed cherub that covered the throne of God. He walked up and down the mountain of God. One day Satan decided that he was going to be bigger than God. Why be number two when you could be number one? In his pride he tried to exalt himself above the Father, and God cast him down from heaven. But, he still had access to come before God, because he was still an angel, even though he was now a fallen angel. Now you know who Satan is and how he got the way he is. His name means "accuser."

So, on this particular day, Satan comes up to heaven and God speaks to him:

"Satan, what have you been doing?"

"Oh, just going to and fro from earth to heaven."

"What have you been doing on earth?"

"Just been looking around."

"Have you noticed My servant, Job? He's perfect! He's upright! He fears and reverences Me. He flees from evil!" This is the second time this is said about Job and this time it is God who says it.

Satan is the accuser of the brethren, so he says, "Sure, he's perfect and upright and he fears You. You're so good to him, who wouldn't act good when You treat them that well? He's loaded with money, he has ten children, he's got it made! But if You would take away from him all these things, then he would curse You to Your face. He'd really curse You if You took away all these things from him. You've hedged Job in, along with his household and his possessions. He'd really curse You if You took it all away." Satan was accusing Job of serving God for what he could get out of God!

In the New Testament it says that when people teach that godliness is gain, they are teaching false doctrine. That is wrong! We don't love God because He prospers us; we love the Father because we have an intimate relationship with Him. It isn't what we have, it's Who He is in us. Prosperity is an outgrowth of it, but not the end of it. But here Satan is saying, "That's why he serves You, just so he can have money; just so he can be rich, and You're so good to him."

So the Lord said, "All right, everything he has is in your Power." And Satan went from the presence of the Lord, and in one day Job lost everything that he had. One servant came and reported the 500 she-asses were stolen, along with the 500 sheep, and that the servants were killed. While he was talking, another servant came and told about the 7,000 camels, that they had been killed by lightning, and some of the servants were also hit by lightning. Before this servant finished his story another came in and said that everything else is gone, too, and "I'm the only one left to tell you." Then, while he was talking, someone else came in and told Job that his seven sons and three daughters were having dinner and a big wind came up and they were by the wrong wall, and the wall fell over and killed all of them. So Job lost everything except his wife in one day. Yet, after you hear what she had to say, you'll wish he had lost her, too.

Now, let's see what Job did. Look at the end of chapter one. "Then Job arose and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground and worshipped God." He did not curse God. Did he serve God because God prospered him? NO! He served God because he loved him. And this is what he said: (This is why I know what was really in Job's heart, because "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.") "Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord. And in all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly," because he did not love God because he was rich. He loved God and the riches came from that. Because part of God's provision for His children is prosperity, just a little part of it.

Now we see the scene in heaven again. The curtain is pulled back, we see God the Father, and Satan coming up, and all the angels with him. It is on that certain appointed day, and God says to Satan (and I think it's rather sarcastic): "Satan, what have you been doing?" "Oh, I've been wandering to and fro, going from heaven to earth." "What have you been doing on earth?" "Oh, just looking around." "Have you noticed my servant Job? He's perfect, he's upright, he fears Me, he flees from evil! Have you noticed that?"

"Yes, I noticed, but (and remember Satan is always the accuser) skin for skin a man will give everything for his life. If he got sick, he'd curse You! You keep him very healthy, so he serves you." (Satan couldn't use finances or children anymore.) When you feel well you can go to church, but when you don't, why bother? Why read your Bible when you're sick, maybe you just don't want to? The Lord said, "All right, Satan, his life is in your hands, but you can't kill him. You can make him sick, but you can't kill him."

So immediately Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord and smote Job with sore boils from the soles of his feet unto his crown. Job was so bad he went out and sat on an ash heap. When you read the description of what he complained about, you'll find out he probably had black leprosy, which is also called elephantiasis. The only way anyone could get any relief from these boils was to sit on ashes and put the ashes in the running sores. He really looked bad! He took a little piece of broken pottery and scraped himself to scrape off all the corruption that was running out of his boils. You may not like the description, but that's the way it was.

Here sits Job on his ash heap, and his wife comes to him and says, "Are you retaining your integrity still? Why don’t you curse God and die?" I thought, "Wait a minute, lady, this man has been offering sacrifices for his children in case they cursed God, and you're the mother of those children! Surely you didn't want your children to curse God! And now you're telling your husband to do it?" What made her do that?

I read a description once of what they make high bridges out of, and very tall sky scrapers. They do not use cast iron. I wondered why not because iron is probably the strongest of material to build with. But it isn't used in construction because it has no "give" to it. Instead, they use high tension steel, because it is more flexible. When the wind blows against those tall, high bridges or those huge sky scrapers, the high tension steel will sway and bend, but it will not break. It will always come back to its original position.

The Bible tells us that the storms are going to come against our house. The winds and the rains are going to come against us, and if we get hard and brittle and don't allow the Word to move us and soften us and help us to bend, we will crack and shatter into pieces. This is what happened to Mrs. Job. She lost all her wealth and her children. And her husband is very ill. When she began to bend under the trial instead of taking the Word and standing on it in order to come back to the original position, she became bitter and brittle, and said to Job, "Curse

God, and die!" I don't believe she would have said that before the trial came upon them. I believe she was a spiritual woman, along with Job. But she didn't take the Word into the situation and allow it to bring her back to her original position. She became bitter and cracked.

There are times when things are going to hit you and you are going to bend. But let the Word be in the bending, because the Word will always bring you back to your original position.

Now, watch it work in Job's life: It is beautiful what God begins to do. Chapter 3:1 opens with Job cursing the day he was born. It was hard on him. If you think Job never said anything bad and that he wasn't human, just read his words. He says terrible things. "I'm just falling apart. I wish I could die. I'd like to die, things are so bad. I'm sick, I've lost my children, my wife's nasty and everything is bad." Then his three friends came to see him. They said, "Job, we're going to come and comfort you." When they got there, Job looked so bad they couldn't say anything. They just looked at him for seven days. Things were very bad! Then, when Job finally opens his mouth, he curses the day he was born. Now look at verse 25: Job says, "for the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me."

Now his friends begin to talk to him, and Eliphaz speaks first and says some very nice things. Chapter 4, verses 3 and 4: "Behold, you have instructed many, you have strengthened the weak hands, your words have upholden him that was fallen, and you have strengthened the feeble knees." If Job's words have helped the other people when they were down, can the same words help him when he is down?

Now we are going to see some of Job's words, both negative and positive. We'll see him bend, and then watch how the Word brings him back into position. Job is not cast iron, he is high-tension steel.

There is only one thing that can make you high-tension steel—God's Word. Otherwise, the flesh gets hard and brittle and cracks under the trial and we give up and throw in the towel. Verse 7: "Remember, I pray you, whoever perished being innocent? Or where were the righteous cut off?" What is Eliphaz saying? He's saying just what his name says: God is dispenser. He's saying: "Well, if you weren't guilty these bad things wouldn't be happening to you."

Eliphaz isn't all wrong. Hebrews talks about the chastisement of God; it says, "Fear not, when you are chastised of the Lord." That is one aspect of God, but that isn't all of Him. Does evil just come upon you when you are bad? Or do you have some problems when you're good, too. Eliphaz had a concept of God, but just a little one. When you're bad I know you get into trouble, because you reap what you sow. But it also says the righteous will be tried too, doesn't it? Eliphaz didn't see that aspect. He only had this view of his Heavenly Father. All he could see was that Job was being punished for being bad. Look at Chapter 5, verses 17 and 18: "Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth, therefore despise not thou the chastising of the Almighty: For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole." Had Job been doing something bad? NO!!! God said about Job that he was a perfect man, he was upright, he feared Him, he fled from evil. This is said three times! That's not why Job was having trials. Job is having trials because of the devil. Satan is bringing the problems. Chastisement is one aspect of God, but that's not what is wrong with Job. Job, because of his love for God, had become a "marked man by the devil."

Now I want you to notice what Job says about God. Look at chapter 6, verse 4: "For the arrows of the Almighty are within me." Job is saying, "I lost all my children, all my wealth, my health because of God. God did this to me!" Now that is not a full concept of God and Who He is, and it is also being totally ignorant of who the devil is.

Next, look at chapter 8: Bildad is speaking, "Job, let me tell you what I think is wrong. I believe we can get an answer here for you; but let me tell you where I think you can get it. ’For inquire, I pray you, of the former age, and prepare yourself to search of your fathers.’" He is saying, "Job, let's get some good history books, and let's just see what happened to Rome, and then we'll understand what's happening to the United States." Have you heard all that? "Let's see what happened to England, and then we'll see what is going to happen to us." People say that this is the pattern of all nations: They go way up, as the Roman Empire, and then they come falling down. Claiming the same pattern holds for the United States.

Have you heard all that? They look to history for the answer instead of to God. There's a certain truth in that, because the Bible tells us that the people in the Old Testament were set for examples for us. It is true, we can learn from the history of the Bible, but that is still just an aspect of the knowledge of God, or the wisdom of God, or the Body of the Father, and what He is to us.

So Bildad is saying, "Let's check out history. You are probably a hypocrite (8:13)." And then Job answers. I want you to see what's in Job's heart. He's not very happy with these friends, and I don't blame him. In 9:17 and 18, look at the humanity of Job: "For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause. He will not suffer me to take my breath, but filleth me with bitterness." Job is talking about God AND his friends. Who made Job sick? Who put the boils on him? Who killed his children? Who took all of his possessions? Satan! But who is Job blaming it on? God. Why is Job doing that? He knew God. But he didn't know the fullness of what God is. He just didn't have a full enough picture. But he's starting to get one!

Now look at verse 33 of chapter 9: "Neither is there any daysman (mediator) between us that may lay his hand upon us both." Job said, "Oh, if I just had a mediator. Somebody that could connect me with God." Today we'd say, "We've got One!" Job saw the need of one. Now we can say that he is getting a revelation, he's beginning to see what it is.

Then he says to his friends (10:2,3):

"I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me. It is good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked? Dear God, You’re driving me into the ground!"

And then in verse 18 he says, "Why did you bring me out of the womb anyway? Why was I ever born?" Did you ever say that? When did you say it? When you were under high-tension and trials, right? And you begin to bend with it, and you begin to sway with it, and you begin to gripe to your wife or husband, or friends, and say, "I just can't take any more. I wish I was never born!"

Now Zophar comes on the scene (remember, his name means 'chatterer'). In 11:14, he says, "Oh Job, you have been sinning. I knew it all along. If iniquity be in your hand, put it away. And let not wickedness dwell in your tabernacle." Job, you've just been bad, that's all. There's iniquity in your hand. Now, look and see what Job says in 13:15. Each friend, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar has given him an aspect of God, but not the picture he needs; they've just told a little, little part of God. Job answers in bitterness toward God and in bitterness toward his friends, but every now and then we see him get a word, and he starts to come back into place. He was swaying, but the Word was going to return him to his original position.

Verse 15, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him, but I will maintain my own ways before Him."

Who said that? Job, under high tension trials and problems. And then in chapter 14 he started his own philosophy. He says, "Man that is born of a woman is of a few days and full of trouble." (Yes! Yes!)

Job lashes out at Eliphaz, Zophar and Bildad in 16:2: "I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all!" And in verse 8, "You’ve filled me with wrinkles! I’m so tired of you." Then in chapter 17, verses 17 and 19, he talks about his wife: "My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me." Now look at 19:17, "My breath is strange to my wife, though I entreated for the children’s sake of my own body." She won't have anything to do with him. She says, "You've got bad breath, get away!" He wouldn't even use Clorets!

Now look at Job 19:14-16. I want you to see now, how bad it is. "My wife doesn't like me; I have bad breath; you are all miserable comforters; God's arrows are in me; I wish I was dead." Job says, "My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me. They that dwell in my house, and my house and my maids count me for a stranger. I’m an alien in their sight! I called my servant and he gave me no answer. I entreated him with my mouth. Nobody wants to be around me." Look at 19:20, "My bones cleaveth to my skin, and to my flesh am I escaped with the skin of my teeth." Did you know that Job said that first? You've been saying it for years, but he said it first. The oldest book.

You say, "He's really beginning to bend under this. If he bends too far he's going to break and fall." But watch him; he's going to come back up. Look at 19:2526, "For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, and though after my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh I shall see God." God keeps giving him the Word to bring him back. What did he do? God's Word began to come to him and began to bring him back again from this tremendous wind of a trial that was about to break him in two.

In 23:10-12, I want you to see Job begin to come out of this trial. When he first started with these friends, he said almost worse things than they did. But, he starts into it and begins to get hold of the Word of God. He'll bend some, get the Word, and come back up a little more. Now it's even getting better! He started with a mediator and now he has a redeemer.

What's happening to Job? He's beginning to discern the Body. He's beginning to discern who God really is. He says,

"But He knoweth the way that I take. When He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot hath held His steps, His ways have I kept and not declined; neither have I gone back from the commandment of His lips. I have esteemed the words of His mouth more than my necessary food."

Oh people, when you begin to take God's word and put it in that place in your life, what's going to happen? He's going to start bringing you back into place. Now look at 23:14:

"For He performeth the thing that is appointed for me. And many such things are with Him."

Now, I want you to go to chapter 40. All the way through it we begin to see Job starting to say some things. "Some way I’ll have confidence in God. Some way He’ll take me through. Though He slay me, I’ll still trust Him. Some way I’m beginning to see that there’s something of hope in God." Yet all the time he said that, he was also saying, "God made me sick. God took my money. God took my children. My wife doesn't like me." He blamed it all on God. But he's getting a fuller revelation, and now God comes on the scene. "And the Lord answered Job and said, Shall he that contendeth with the almighty instruct him? He that reproveth God, let him answer it." God said, "Job, are you smart that you know it all? You are going to tell Me how to do it? You act like you've got all the answers." And then in 38:21, I want you to see another statement: God is speaking to Job, not the other men to Job: "Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?" Did you ever try to figure out God's ways, and didn't really understand? He said, "Job, you've been talking a lot. Were you with Me when I made the earth? Were you with Me when I made the rivers? Job, do you really know all about Me? You act like you're an expert, Job." Did you notice, He came and corrected Job first? Well, you say, "It's the friends that were so bad!" It was Job, too. You know why? Because he didn't totally see who God is. He was self-righteous rather than word-righteous.

So now look at chapter 40 and see what Job's reaction is to God's correction under this tremendous trial. He said, "Behold I am vile (verse 4), what shall I answer you?"; "I'll just shut up, I'll put my hand on my mouth." But he didn't say, "Well, God, if you'd been through what I've been through, You'd have said bad things about You, too! I've been sick! I've lost ten children, all my wealth, my wife hates me, and my friends don't help. They just told me how bad I am." Yet we say, "Well, Job was perfect, he was upright, he did fear God, and he did flee from evil," but he still didn't have the aspect of God that the Father wanted him to have. He didn't discern the Body of what God really is to him. He was smart enough, when God came on the scene and said, "Hey, buddy, you don't know it all." He said, "You're right, I'm vile."

In 42:6, he did what he should have done in such a situation: "Wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes." Job said, "You're right, God, I didn't get it. I really didn't get it." And God could have said, "Job, I didn't do this to you. The devil did it to you. You've been blaming all these bad things on Me, I didn't do it. The devil did it. Yes, I allowed it, but the bad things came from the devil."

Now look at 42:7, "And it was so that after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job (and Job repented) the Lord said to Eliphaz, the Temanite: My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of the thing that is right as my servant Job hath." God said, "You have not repented of just a concept, a little aspect, a small percentage of Who I am. Job repented, but you didn't so you take seven bullocks, seven rams, go to My servant Job and he shall pray for you, from him will I accept, because he repented." God always accepts the man that repents. "I’ll accept lest I deal with you after your folly in that you have not spoken of Me the thing which is right, like my servant Job."

So they had to bring animals and have the shedding of blood for their sins, and Job was supposed to pray for them.

Let's begin to look at this. Some years ago we went through a trial in our household and a friend came to Wally and said, "I discern that you are going through a spiritual trial." He talked to Wally and prayed with him, and then he came to me. He said, "I've been praying with your husband and he said that I discerned that he (Wally) was going through a trial."

I said, "Yes, he is." Our friend continued, "And I have discerned the problem." I said, "What is it?"

He said, "You."

"Me!"

"Yes, it's you."

"What do you think I'm doing wrong?"

And he told me, "You're just too active in the ministry."

This was years ago, long before I was as active as I am now. He said, "And he can't have a ministry, because yours is so important. He'll never have one because yours is so important. He'll never have one because you're in the way." When he said that it hurt me so much that I couldn't tell anybody about it. I didn't go to anyone. I just hurt inside. Have you ever had anything hurt you so much that you couldn't talk about it? That's how much it hurt.

All of our married life, and before, Wally always encouraged me in every aspect. And now, I thought, "Is this what he really feels? Has he just been putting on a front? Has he not been honest with me? Is he really down on me? Has this really bothered him?" And I became hard and brittle inside. I'll be honest—I became like iron. I just wanted to crack apart and throw it all in. Then one day I called a friend and I told them. My friend said, "Why don't you go to him and ask him? You're carrying all this around, why don't you ask Wally?" So I did. And he laughed at me. He said, "How could you think that when I've always encouraged you. How could you even let that enter your mind? You know the problem in this person's life. He has a beautiful ministry, but he has an aspect of women that is not the total concept of what God has. He doesn't really discern the fullness. He doesn't understand a call."

Then I remembered the things he told us before he was married. When he married, he said that he didn't want his wife to play the piano, the organ, to sing, teach, or play an accordion. She couldn't do anything but just cook and sew for him. That's all. Wally said, "Don't you understand that? There are some aspects that he doesn't really discern in the body of Christ."

Well, then instead of being mad at Wally, I got mad at the friend! I thought, "That's a terrible thing! He could have broken up our marriage over this." And even his name made me angry. If he came through town and wanted to be with us, I always had an excuse so that Wally could be with him, and I didn't have to be. I'll be honest, I didn't like him. I got hard and brittle on the inside. Why? Because I didn't discern the Body. Because the Father says, "You're to forgive." Right? It says that you're to pray for people that despitefully use you. You're to bless them. You're to do good to them. And I surely didn't discern that! I was too busy being mad.

But the Lord will help you, because He doesn't want you to be cast iron and crack. He may see you sway, but He wants to take the Word to you and bring you back to your original position.

One day I got a letter from a university that has a woman in a high position. This man had a position with that university. The letter invited me to come speak there. Now you know what went on in my upset mind. I thought, "I'll see him, and when I do I'm going to ask him how he likes working for a woman. Terrible! Why did I feel like that? Because I had not discerned the Body of Christ is to be forgiven, not cracked. I was still hard and brittle inside. God really called me to pray before I went down there, and when I went you know who I saw first? Him! And you know what I felt? When I saw him I thought, "You know, I just love you." It wasn't my love, it was the love of Jesus flowing through me. I had lunch with him, and his wife visited with me afterwards.

She told me that they were going through a terrible trial, and asked me to pray for them. God worked with me to pray for them and He dropped faith in my heart for them. To this day, when I hear their names, I just love them. I pray for them many, many times, and you know what happened when I prayed for them? I believe God accepted me, and turned a captivity that was in my spirit that could have cracked me, and restored me. He didn't want me to be that kind of cast iron —He wanted me to be high-tension steel. Sure, the winds came, but He wanted the Word to bring me back into place.

Job prayed for his friends, and you know, after you'd had those friends talking to you like that, you'd feel more like kicking them than praying for them. But that's not discerning the will in the Body of God. That's not it. Job repented and he prayed for his friends, and in 42:10 says, "And the Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends." He turned the whole situation at that moment. Job had repented, and prayed for his friends, which is a total Bible concept. God is beginning to take that old high-tension steel of Job and He's taking the Word, and bringing it all back in place. But read on, it also says that God didn't just bring Job back into place; He restored to Job twice as much as he had before. Twice as much! There's twice as much in restoration.

Now, let's look and see what happened: I want you to see Job's restoration, and then I want you to see the discerning of the Body.

"Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all that they had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him. (Who brought the evil? Satan did! See how easily we get out of balance? God is trying to let us see the whole picture of Who the Father is.) Every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold. So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had 14.000 sheep, 6,000 camels and 1.000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 she-asses. He had also seven sons and three daughters (which indicates to me that his wife changed, because it never says that she died)."

So evidently there is a working of the Word in bringing this woman out of that cast iron, brittle, bitter position to be high-tension steel. She bent, but God brought her back.

And in 42:14 we read:

"And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Keziah, and the name of the third, Keren-happuch. And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren."

I think Job's daughters were so sweet and nice, because their mother was sweet and nice, and because I believe that when Job allowed the Word to work in him, it worked in his household, too, which was his wife. It brought her back into the position that he wanted, and said that

"Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons, and his son's sons, even four generations."

Now, how old was Job when this happened? Seventy. And how many years did God give him beyond that? He doubled the 70. And he doubled the children, because when they all went to heaven, there were 20 children in heaven! He had double children also. When we go through a trial and it hurts, and it's hard, if you will allow the Word in, it will not only bring you back into position, but it will bring you into prosperity.

James talked about Job, and I want to read you what he says: "Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord" (James 5:11). Trials do come to an end! Hallelujah! And what is the "end of the Lord"?—To bless you. To give you good health. Wasn't that the end of Job? He had good health. What is the end of the Lord? To give him double prosperity. What is the end of the Lord? To give him a good family. What is the end of the Lord? To give him long life.

What is the Body of the Father? What is the will of the Father? To give His children every good thing. And at the end we see that God's ultimate is for man to be blessed. The New Testament says that He wants us to have abundant life, to bless us in all things. James says the "Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy."

Do you know where Job and his friends missed it? They didn't realize that God wanted them in health, in wealth, and with a good family, for long years. Isn't that what the Word says? You see, Job and his friends didn't understand it, and neither did his wife.

If you need forgiveness of sins, above all, repent before you take communion, because in the Body of Jesus is cleansing. Partake of it as cleansed, and one with Him as is His will.

What is the body? What is the total will of the Father? Look at I Corinthians 11:23,

"For I have received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you. That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: This is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's Body. For this cause, many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep."

If you don't discern the Body of the Lord, it says you can die early, you can be sick, you can drink damnation to yourself. Because you don't realize that in the Body of Jesus is His shed blood for your sins. That's why Job had to repent first. There had to be forgiveness of sins. But also, in the Body of Jesus, are the stripes on His back. The Word says that many are weak and sickly among you. Why? Because they do not discern that Jesus took stripes for their healing. Many are having all kinds of problems because they haven't discerned that Jesus became poor that they might be rich. They haven't discerned that Jesus carried their griefs and sorrows, that they might have His joy and His peace. You haven't discerned all the abundant things the Father has for you.

I'd say to you that when you take communion, discern from the Body what you need. Say, "Jesus, I need healing. As I take communion, I discern that in Your Body, that's part of Your will." It wasn't God's will for Job to be sick, it was the devil's will.

"Jesus, I have a financial need. I discern that You became poor that I might be rich. I take that as I partake of this communion. I discern that it is a part of You for me, because I'm part of Your Body, and that's part of Your promise to me."

If you're worried, up tight, and fretting, you don't have to be like that. You can cast all your care on Him, for He cares for you. That's discerning what He is to you.

Do trials come to an end? Yes, trials come to an end, and the Word says, be patient in them, and don't crack. Let the Word take you from that bent position and restore you to your original position. God's Word works!

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