Repost from March: What can trials teach us? The Father’s innovative to prune us.
I was looking through some old entries of mine and wanted to repost this. Some of you may remember it, but read it again! I know I enjoyed reading it again...
What can trials teach us?
Notes taken from Dr. Michael Youseff sermon:
“The Father’s innovative to prune us.”
There are 4 stages that we go as Christians.
1. Stage of Faith: Come to God, read His word, trust in Him
2. You say to God that you will obey Him (after this the third step has to happen)
3. Blessings come. God will bless your obedience.
4. Be careful: The beginning of testing. Blessing always leads to testing.
Faith is tested for three reasons:
1. To prove whether our faith is real
2. To help our faith grow
3. To bring glory to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
With the blessings that God gives you, He is testing you.
Now, are you taking His blessings for granted? Getting busy living by sight? Leaning on these blessings?
Or
Are you living by faith?
Are you going to get busy with the blessings so you forget about the Blesser, or will you still be connected to the Blesser in the midst of your blessing?
What is our responsibility in the process of trial and testing?
James 1:4
But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing
Don’t rebel against your circumstances. Allow the testing process to be completed so that you will receive the maximum benefit of what God is trying to teach you.
If you are rebelling against your circumstances and only thinking about how you can get out of your circumstances you will never be a mature Christian. You will never grow.
God wants you to grow up. He wants to mature you. James isn’t saying to just grin and bare it, or to be helpless waiting for it to pass. You must turn to God’s wisdom, a greatly untapped treasure, for your spiritual growth.
This wisdom will enable us to know what God is trying to do in our lives. When you ask the Lord for wisdom, pray for wisdom, you are opening yourself up to know what God’s overall purpose and plan is for your life. Most people can’t see past their circumstances in order to see how God is trying to shape them, prune them, and mature them for the better.
Wisdom is God’s wide-angle lens that will help you to see what you otherwise would not be able to see.
How do you ask for God’s wisdom?
James 1: 6-8
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Ask in faith, not doubting. Know that God not only can, be WILL give it to you.
When you ask and then immediately turn around and try to handle it with your own knowledge, in your own way…you are doubting, double minded. You are vacillating between trusting and taking things in your own hands. You are hesitant and Godly wisdom will not come to you. Godly wisdom will only come completely with trusting God. Complete surrender.
God is not honored by half-hearted commitment, by part-time allegiance, when you trust Him one time and doubt the next. When you think He can do things sometimes but not always. Only with an undivided heart will He answer your prayer. He will give you wisdom and ability to see things you would have never seen before
James 1:9-11
9 Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, 10 but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. 11 For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.
Here James is telling us that trials and testing are a great leveler. They level the ground between rich and poor. Illness shows no partiality, death does not discriminate. When the poor Christian suffers he clings to the promises of God. He may be lowly in the world but he has a high position in Christ.
In verse 10 he is saying that those in earthy possessions cloud the issues at the time of testing. Earthly possessions interfere with our fellowship with God. When trials come, Earthly possessions make things a little complicated. We worry about losing the things that we have accumulated. When things get rough it is easy to substitute material goals with spiritual goals. James warns us that when tough times hit the wealthy should glory in His humiliation. They should glory in the fact they are able to depend on the loving Heavenly Father. They should be comforted no matter what happens because they have God to lean on. The vital relationship that you can rely on is your relationship with God, which is eternal.
Are you willing to grow with God and stay mature?
James 1:12
12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
James tells us that we can truly rejoice during trials because the victory is already won! Jesus already won the victory. With faith you are claiming the victory. We can have joy if we understand that God can use difficult circumstances to produce growth in our spiritual walk. We can praise Him in the tough times because He is working His purpose out in us.
Look back at your past trials. Can you see where He was there through all of them? Trials can be your teacher because you got the victory to help you grow. Don’t be bitter and angry against God. Don’t waste your life like that, just say Lord teach me so that I may grow.
What can trials teach us?
Notes taken from Dr. Michael Youseff sermon:
“The Father’s innovative to prune us.”
There are 4 stages that we go as Christians.
1. Stage of Faith: Come to God, read His word, trust in Him
2. You say to God that you will obey Him (after this the third step has to happen)
3. Blessings come. God will bless your obedience.
4. Be careful: The beginning of testing. Blessing always leads to testing.
Faith is tested for three reasons:
1. To prove whether our faith is real
2. To help our faith grow
3. To bring glory to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
With the blessings that God gives you, He is testing you.
Now, are you taking His blessings for granted? Getting busy living by sight? Leaning on these blessings?
Or
Are you living by faith?
Are you going to get busy with the blessings so you forget about the Blesser, or will you still be connected to the Blesser in the midst of your blessing?
What is our responsibility in the process of trial and testing?
James 1:4
But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing
Don’t rebel against your circumstances. Allow the testing process to be completed so that you will receive the maximum benefit of what God is trying to teach you.
If you are rebelling against your circumstances and only thinking about how you can get out of your circumstances you will never be a mature Christian. You will never grow.
God wants you to grow up. He wants to mature you. James isn’t saying to just grin and bare it, or to be helpless waiting for it to pass. You must turn to God’s wisdom, a greatly untapped treasure, for your spiritual growth.
This wisdom will enable us to know what God is trying to do in our lives. When you ask the Lord for wisdom, pray for wisdom, you are opening yourself up to know what God’s overall purpose and plan is for your life. Most people can’t see past their circumstances in order to see how God is trying to shape them, prune them, and mature them for the better.
Wisdom is God’s wide-angle lens that will help you to see what you otherwise would not be able to see.
How do you ask for God’s wisdom?
James 1: 6-8
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Ask in faith, not doubting. Know that God not only can, be WILL give it to you.
When you ask and then immediately turn around and try to handle it with your own knowledge, in your own way…you are doubting, double minded. You are vacillating between trusting and taking things in your own hands. You are hesitant and Godly wisdom will not come to you. Godly wisdom will only come completely with trusting God. Complete surrender.
God is not honored by half-hearted commitment, by part-time allegiance, when you trust Him one time and doubt the next. When you think He can do things sometimes but not always. Only with an undivided heart will He answer your prayer. He will give you wisdom and ability to see things you would have never seen before
James 1:9-11
9 Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, 10 but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. 11 For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.
Here James is telling us that trials and testing are a great leveler. They level the ground between rich and poor. Illness shows no partiality, death does not discriminate. When the poor Christian suffers he clings to the promises of God. He may be lowly in the world but he has a high position in Christ.
In verse 10 he is saying that those in earthy possessions cloud the issues at the time of testing. Earthly possessions interfere with our fellowship with God. When trials come, Earthly possessions make things a little complicated. We worry about losing the things that we have accumulated. When things get rough it is easy to substitute material goals with spiritual goals. James warns us that when tough times hit the wealthy should glory in His humiliation. They should glory in the fact they are able to depend on the loving Heavenly Father. They should be comforted no matter what happens because they have God to lean on. The vital relationship that you can rely on is your relationship with God, which is eternal.
Are you willing to grow with God and stay mature?
James 1:12
12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
James tells us that we can truly rejoice during trials because the victory is already won! Jesus already won the victory. With faith you are claiming the victory. We can have joy if we understand that God can use difficult circumstances to produce growth in our spiritual walk. We can praise Him in the tough times because He is working His purpose out in us.
Look back at your past trials. Can you see where He was there through all of them? Trials can be your teacher because you got the victory to help you grow. Don’t be bitter and angry against God. Don’t waste your life like that, just say Lord teach me so that I may grow.