TESTS IN THE SCHOOL OF FAITH
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Verse for Today
James 1:2 & 3 - Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
It is very difficult to find people who enjoy tests, trials and evaluations. Man would always like to think that he is OK and that all's well with him. He knows very well that his true nature, motives and attitudes will be found out in any test that he is made to go through. So the general tendency is to avoid tests. It is seen that people need to be coerced to go through tests. We rarely meet people who seek and enjoy opportunity to going through tests. This is because these tests will give them an opportunity to show their real self, capabilities and inner worth through tests. Tests also reveal their weaknesses and areas which desperately need improvement. The examiners of these people also usually make tests a trial and make it as difficult as possible. This is the major difference between man and God. When God tests a person, He would make it an opportunity to find out the best in man. It is not to make man feel troubled in the process. The secret of tests is to give man an opportunity to prove themselves so that God will be able to give them greater responsibilities. It will give people a way to know where their faith stands and see what can be done to strengthen their faith. How to learn this truth well is a great challenge before a child of God. It is important to know that God's intention in giving them trials and tests is not to harm them, but to strengthen them further and to teach them more lessons in "God's School of Christlikeness". When a person goes through tests, it gives that person maturity and patience which prepare them to go through greater tests and trials. There is no need to fear tests because it is given by a loving Father to His beloved child to give them a chance to measure their faith to themselves and to God. There is always a reward awaiting those who go through tests and come out victorious.
Dear friend, are you going through some trials and tests at the moment? Is the test hard and the process painful? Do you feel like quitting because the test is too hard for you to handle? Remember, you are still in the hands of the loving Father who is only trying to test the strength of your faith. When you experience a victory in your Christian life, there will soon be another test to see how far you have grown. Christian life is a series of tests, one after the other. Even if you fail in a test, the Lord will not disqualify you, but will help you through His Spirit to see to it that you learn some new lessons from it and that its ill-effects will not negatively affect you. It will thus be a learning experience for you to do better the next time. Even as you take the test, the Lord is with you and He is watching over you. When Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David and Paul went through tests, the Lord was with them and looked after them well so that they went through each test and came out with some new learning experiences about the Lord and His faithfulness. Any one whom the Lord wants to use mightily will go through tests to see how they can be taught big lessons to face more severe tests in the near future. If you don't go through the lower levels of tests, you won't qualify to go through higher levels of tests. Joseph had to go through a series of tests for 13 years before the Lord found him fit to become the Prime Minister of Egypt. Abraham had to go through a series of tests to qualify to be the "Friend of God". So, dear friend, go through the tests and trials the Lord sends your way joyfully. Trust in the Lord to give you victory and a few new learning experiences about Him and His ways. Through it all, He is preparing you to take new responsibilities. If the tests are from the Lord, there is always a divine purpose behind it to be fulfilled in your life. So let us consider it a great joy when our faith is tested today. Let us pray for endurance so that we will not falter in the trials and will come out knowing the Lord a little better than before the test, and that the Lord will take glory out of this experience of ours.
Isaiah 48:10 - See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
Thought for Today
God's tests are administered by the loving hands of a compassionate Father who keeps us as the apple of His eyes.
Verse for Today
James 1:2 & 3 - Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
It is very difficult to find people who enjoy tests, trials and evaluations. Man would always like to think that he is OK and that all's well with him. He knows very well that his true nature, motives and attitudes will be found out in any test that he is made to go through. So the general tendency is to avoid tests. It is seen that people need to be coerced to go through tests. We rarely meet people who seek and enjoy opportunity to going through tests. This is because these tests will give them an opportunity to show their real self, capabilities and inner worth through tests. Tests also reveal their weaknesses and areas which desperately need improvement. The examiners of these people also usually make tests a trial and make it as difficult as possible. This is the major difference between man and God. When God tests a person, He would make it an opportunity to find out the best in man. It is not to make man feel troubled in the process. The secret of tests is to give man an opportunity to prove themselves so that God will be able to give them greater responsibilities. It will give people a way to know where their faith stands and see what can be done to strengthen their faith. How to learn this truth well is a great challenge before a child of God. It is important to know that God's intention in giving them trials and tests is not to harm them, but to strengthen them further and to teach them more lessons in "God's School of Christlikeness". When a person goes through tests, it gives that person maturity and patience which prepare them to go through greater tests and trials. There is no need to fear tests because it is given by a loving Father to His beloved child to give them a chance to measure their faith to themselves and to God. There is always a reward awaiting those who go through tests and come out victorious.
Dear friend, are you going through some trials and tests at the moment? Is the test hard and the process painful? Do you feel like quitting because the test is too hard for you to handle? Remember, you are still in the hands of the loving Father who is only trying to test the strength of your faith. When you experience a victory in your Christian life, there will soon be another test to see how far you have grown. Christian life is a series of tests, one after the other. Even if you fail in a test, the Lord will not disqualify you, but will help you through His Spirit to see to it that you learn some new lessons from it and that its ill-effects will not negatively affect you. It will thus be a learning experience for you to do better the next time. Even as you take the test, the Lord is with you and He is watching over you. When Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David and Paul went through tests, the Lord was with them and looked after them well so that they went through each test and came out with some new learning experiences about the Lord and His faithfulness. Any one whom the Lord wants to use mightily will go through tests to see how they can be taught big lessons to face more severe tests in the near future. If you don't go through the lower levels of tests, you won't qualify to go through higher levels of tests. Joseph had to go through a series of tests for 13 years before the Lord found him fit to become the Prime Minister of Egypt. Abraham had to go through a series of tests to qualify to be the "Friend of God". So, dear friend, go through the tests and trials the Lord sends your way joyfully. Trust in the Lord to give you victory and a few new learning experiences about Him and His ways. Through it all, He is preparing you to take new responsibilities. If the tests are from the Lord, there is always a divine purpose behind it to be fulfilled in your life. So let us consider it a great joy when our faith is tested today. Let us pray for endurance so that we will not falter in the trials and will come out knowing the Lord a little better than before the test, and that the Lord will take glory out of this experience of ours.
Isaiah 48:10 - See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
Thought for Today
God's tests are administered by the loving hands of a compassionate Father who keeps us as the apple of His eyes.
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