In the last two teachings, I have focused on the believer. In teaching #15, I wanted to provoke the believers to rise to do the works of a believer. In teaching #16, we learned that the preached word makes you a believer and that there are differences in how you believe and what to believe for, depending on your growth. We know the believer is Jesus Christ, but it’s also you made new. It’s you as a new creation in Jesus Christ. Being new in Christ doesn’t always mean you’re perfect or have all the answers yet, but you are new, and you can now access parts of heaven through Jesus Christ, the true believer. It takes time to grow up in spiritual things, so don’t get in a hurry. I counsel you to be steady and trust God the best you can because the journey is not always what you might expect. That’s the focus of this teaching. To be a mature believer, you will have to go through many tests to learn how to believe the right way. This teaching will be significant in getting you there.
I thought serving God would be different.
The allusion to life becoming a fairytale after you accept Jesus is not true. The popular church of the world has set everyone up to think that serving God will get us His blessings and prosperity in our life, but that’s not always true either. Life is not always easy, and sometimes prosperity is nowhere to be found. Godliness does not equate to prosperity in the flesh, nor does it make you more entitled to receive special perks from God in your physical life. The apostle Paul is an excellent example of that. He built his life on glorying in the Lord Jesus who lived in him, not how much wealth he possessed in his earthly life. Nor did he think that God was only with him if things were going easy in his life. He knew God was with him in easy times and hard times, and both would be a part of his life until the day he died. His life in the flesh was not the measuring stick of his success in God like some would have us believe in modern day religion. His earthly life was beyond challenging, but he testified that his life before Jesus didn’t compare to the life he now lived by faith in the Spirit after Jesus entered his life.
Paul had Jesus in his heart and soul, not in his flesh, which made the difference in his life.
The truth of your expectation is that Jesus is your savior, and you need Him to continue to deliver you from this present world. Your enemy is out to remove your light from heaven and trample on you in the earth. (Daniel 8:10) It’s an understatement to say that sometimes your life with God won’t be easy for you. I’m not sure when this fairytale gospel became a popular idea in Christianity, but it has ruined people’s lives. Because of it, people have expected things from God that He didn’t say or promise. Men and women made up those ideas for their gain. All the prosperity preachers are wealthy because they build their ministries on the lie that righteousness leads to physical blessings, which means lots of money in their pockets. I wouldn’t trust any of them to guide me to eternal life. It’s hard for the rich to enter into the Spirit and to know the sacrifice it takes to keep them walking in the truth.
Everyone that walks in the Spirit of truth with great revelation will suffer at the existence of evil. You must be ready for it. You will need to have the right expectation as you journey through a dark world. I’m not saying you will be exactly as Paul in every way, or even some of the other apostles, but if you keep the commandments and hold the testimony of Jesus, the devil will be after you continually. (Revelation 12:17) Some of you may prosper in the flesh, but if you do, don’t forget that “all who live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12), and there is plenty to say about that.
The believers are ready.
The question now begs to ask; Is serving God all about suffering? No, the best way to deal with hard times is to believe in the gospel preached to you. You need a believer in your heart that is ready to believe God, continue in the truth, press toward the prize, and endure to the end. I’m talking about a believer who will not give up when living for Jesus in the world gets tough. It’s time for the saints of God to get tough and stop being so frail and defeated when testing comes your way. (Are you listening to the preacher?)
As a believer, you will be tested and tempted, persecuted, and forsaken by the world, but you will overcome all of that. The first part of overcoming is to accept the truth of our world. The world is not your home; it’s not supposed to like you; it doesn’t care about Jesus and does not want to hear you talk about Him. It hates the truth and wants to control you and keep you in line with its plan. You must be strong in the truth and always remember; the world cannot and must not be your friend. The world is corrupt, and it has its sights set on you to destroy your love for Jesus Christ. The devil finds his strength and has permission to overcome you when you are friends with the world.
Let’s face the reality that living for God is not always a walk in the park, and you shouldn’t expect it to be. If you’re the real deal and love the Lord with all your heart, the world will hate you. (THE WORLD SHOULD HATE YOU BECAUSE THEY HATED JESUS!) The world is full of every wicked imagination trying to steal, kill, and destroy your eternal life. If you get this straight in your mind, your journey will be about faith, not sorrow. You will be ready as a believer to be tested and tempted and will find your strength in knowing that God will guide you through the valley of the shadow of death. (Psalms 23) You will overcome it!
The trial of your faith.
Peter talks about the trial of your faith; he calls it a fiery trial. (I encourage you to read 1 Peter 1:3-12; and 4:12-19). You should not be surprised when the fiery trial comes because it will be the thing that makes you true sons and daughters of God. The apostles prayed that they would have the chance to glory in Christ’s sufferings and partake of His resurrection. If you’ve ever wondered how it is that you will suffer with Christ, this is your answer. To have your faith tested by fire is suffering with Christ. It may be a fiery trial, but the fire will bring you to a revelation of His glory, filled with great joy. This testing will come to you if you have faith. Your faith must be tested and purged by fire so that it stands on the day of wrath when Jesus reigns down His fire on the wicked. If your faith is tested by fire, it will stand on the Lord’s day. (Praise God!!!). The Lord’s day is a big subject, and I will have to address it in more detail in another teaching.
In the last teaching, “The Young Believer” (teaching #16), I taught that the preached word creates faith in you, and creates God’s son. If you want to be heirs of the kingdom of God with Jesus, your faith must be purged and made clean. If it’s not, it will create the wrong son of God, the son of perdition (destruction). Your faith must reach its end; the salvation of your souls. Faith that is not tested will not reach its end. Salvation will not be finished. The preached word is sent to you to give you faith. When your faith can stand on its own, you will never be moved by the powers of heaven or earth. Spirits or people will never take your faith from you.
In the story of God, you will go through times where it feels like the heaviness is too much. You will most likely think it shouldn’t be there and that it’s there because you have sinned against God. But Peter taught us that sometimes we need to experience heaviness through temptations. Instead of quitting or blaming God, rejoice that you are suffering with Christ because you will soon be raised up with Him. Judgment must begin in God’s house; you are God’s house.
If there is evil mixed with your faith, it must go through the fire so that only faith remains when the fire has done its work.
Imagine having thoughts of pure faith rather than mixed thoughts that create your up and down life. A sound mind is there because the fire has removed fear. The truth remains because lies have been purged by fire. Being tested by God is a great opportunity to learn who you are and what you have from God.
Do you remember your school days? Everyone always seems to hate when the teacher gives you a test. We would spend hours doing cram sessions on the subjects we would be testing. It was so annoying to study for a test when you wanted to be doing other things. The tests were always used to grade us on how well we understood the subject. How valuable would that be to you today when serving God. Tests are not just about passing or failing. Sure, that matters ultimately, but tests are used to show me what parts I understand and what parts I don’t. If I fail a test, it just taught me that I’m not ready. I don’t understand the subject I’m learning. The good news is that if I continue, I will be tested again after I’ve learned the parts that I’ve previously failed. With this perception, testing becomes a joy because it helps discern where you are at all times in your walk with God.
Let’s do this.
Believers are very different than doubters and unbelievers. Believers are also other than casual, non-aggressive people. Believers stand out of the crowd because they stand up for something. They live for something. They are always pursuing something. In our case, that something is Jesus Christ and the kingdom of God. You can’t convince a believer of Jesus to change from believing the truth. Believers embrace their trials and testing with the confidence of their purpose. It will strengthen you in God and convince you of mighty spiritual truths.
Here are four words of God that I mentioned earlier in this teaching. They will help you while continually being tested.
Believe in Jesus Christ and what He is teaching you. (Romans 10:9)
Continue in His words daily to not forget what He says to you. (John 8:31-32)
Press towards the mark that Jesus has set; it’s your destination. (Philippians 3:14)
Endure to the end until all your enemies are conquered, and don’t quit until it’s finished. (Matthew 24:13)
Now let God test you.
We always encourage people to walk in the power of Christ. There are no limits to believing God when all things are possible to him who believes. The only question left to answer is how much are you ready to believe? The best way to find out is to be tested in your faith and let your faith determine what you can do and not do for God. An actual test will reveal the age of your believer. Is he a child? Is he a young man? Is he a father? It’s essential that you know yourself and what you can do for the Lord. Don’t be afraid of the test; it will bring you to perfection.
Revelation 3:10 Because you have kept the word of my patience, I also will keep you from the hour of temptation (testing), which will come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.