This blog is designed to make you "think". Also to encourage,exhort,edify and "Warn" the saints of God as we see the day of The Lord on the horrizon.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

The Trial Of Your Faith

Make no mistake about Satan’s goal for your life Child of God, it is plain and it is simple, Satan wants to rob you of your faith in Jesus Christ, by any means at his disposal. That means he will use anyone or anything to come against you.

Satan knew Job, and saint he knows you, howbeit he may well underestimate the power of Christ that works within you.

From the moment of salvation the Christian is tried, tested, persecuted, proved, refined and purified.

As a Christian if you’re not being tried and tested and persecuted, there is something wrong, because that means Satan does not see you as a threat to his kingdom.

To the devil a new Christian is as fresh meat to a starving lion. A more established Christian is like the challenge of a slow but steady relentless hunt for the same desired result. The true born again Spirit filled Christian is a threat to Satan’s domain.

As stated earlier, Satan’s goal is to rob you of your faith by any means possible, and in case you haven’t noticed he plays dirty. He wants the Christian to feel, fearful, worthless, useless, worried, alone, depressed and defeated, and unloved by God, that’s his job. Make no mistake it is your Faith in Jesus Christ that he wants to destroy.

I believe a grave disservice has been done to the new Christian and the old alike, when they have not been taught, that they have an adversary who will stalk them relentlessly.
Now you may say “Well that’s not a very positive attitude. Why don’t you know, that you just have to rebuke the devil and he will flee from you?”

What I do know is that in any trial, I have to first submit myself, my all, to Jesus Christ.
That I have to resist what ever temptation or what ever arrow the enemy is using to come against me. I have to recognize that this is an all out attack to steal my faith and destroy me.

Now I realize this is not easy as I have often times failed miserably to recognize the enemy’s mode of attack. However with each new attack I have endured and witnessed coming against other children of God, my discernment has become keener, Praise God!!

Satan uses people, he uses governments, he uses our families, those closest to us.
He also attacks our minds, as Paul said the messenger of Satan was sent to buffet him...a constant attack against his mind...but God's grace sustained him, and it can sustain you....we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus...Amen

We have to remember at all times, and in all places that the bottom line is, Satan is out to destroy our faith, our trust in God We must remember also that nothing and no one is to come between us and God. We are expected, and must be willing to forsake all.... family, loved ones, friends, possessions, position, everything if necessary, for the cause of Jesus Christ and our faith in Him.

We have all been birthed into our circumstances on this earth, and that in itself is a test of our faith. It is up to us whether we will complain about our lives (something i have been guilty of in the past) , become absorbed with our problems, and become bitter and resentful against God.
Or whether we will understand that God allowed our lives to be as they are, that we may be tried, tested, and proved, as the children of Israel were tried, and proven, in the wilderness those 40 years, and that we may come forth as gold.

We need not become so tied up in the circumstances that surround us, if we put our Trust in God, but we can look to the eternal, and think on the things to come, that we may be given the strength to stand through what we currently are enduring.

To those who are caught up in circumstance that they feel are beyond their control, remember dear Saint, that your situation is not beyond God’s control, Satan just desires that you believe the God has given up on your situation. God is for you saint of God, and if God is for the child of God, who can then be against you!…Amen

1 Peter 1:3-9
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
5Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
7That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
8Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
9Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 4:12-13
Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
13But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy

2 Timothy 3:12
12Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

Colossians 3:1-4
1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.

Children of God this life is not about the here and now, it’s all about the eternal. This life will pass but the life to come, for the Christian, is eternal.
Children of God it will be worth it all when we are in the presence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Let us not dwell on the things of this earth but of Heaven above…
Amen, and God Bless You all.

7 comments:

Bonny said...

"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ"
Can you believe this was the Scripture the Lord spoke to me this morning. Amen to that.

Marcel said...

Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
------------
I was reading yesterday about our adversary in chains for 1,000 years and how God would free him again to lead those whose hearts had rebelled against Him to their destruction.
There is rest to God's children as it is the Lord who fights our battles if we surrender to Him.
If not we are beat down and run over by the toothless lion who goes about seeking whom to devour.
As the book of job teaches us,
He can do nothing unless he gets permission from God.
I only fear God now and ignore the serpent as much as possible.
give the devil no place !

Anonymous said...

Tried and tested-if need be. He sits as a Refiner of gold and silver. I want to shine, but not go through the process!!

Our Father speaks of His us, His children as being precious stones, gems, and jewels. He has said that we are gems in His signet ring. Our Father does not wear fake or cheap jewlery!

We must go through the process. He is there all of the way; whether we feel so or not. That is what faith, and knowing His word is all about.

Thank you so much for the words of encouragement, Helen.

jrpeacher mtzion@huges.net

Susanna said...

Mum [Bonny] printed this and showed me yesterday morning. It was probably one of the best reads I've read for awhile.
Just the encouragement I needed with the hard hitting action of truth.
Thanks Helen!

A Seed Sower said...

Praise God Susanna, God is so good, He knows what each one of us needs, when we need it the most, and how to make His comfort and encouragement available to us..God bless you dear I am glad you were encouraged by what He gave to me.
Helen
PS.. Preacher John.. I am blessed that you also were encouraged by this post.

Anonymous said...

SONG FOR THIS SABBATH - as we face days of trouble ahead:

"Great is Thy faithfullness,
Oh God our Father,
There is no shadow of turning with Thee,
Thou changest not,
Thy compasions they fail not,
Great is Thy faithfulness,
LORD unto me."

Anonymous said...

What a blessed priviledge to be found worthy to suffer for His sake! To be counted worthy to be associated with HIM. The firey trials produce pure gold in our spirits that will be worthy of our great King.

Like Israel, we are a peculiar people, seperated and select to show forth His glory on this earth. We must not, like some of the Children of Israel, desire to be like the nations. Let us strive to attain to be like the faithful Jeremiah, Isaiah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob of old; our forefathers in the faith.

Warts and all, we are accepted in the Beloved. We are His, He has not, and will not lose one that the Father has given Him. Rest assured, we are well on the way to an eternity with Him! It is sooner than any of us think.

Set your mind on things above, where He is.

Thank you Helen for your encouragement regarding our trials, or faith and His faithfulness.

mtzion@hughes.net jrpeacher