It’s hard to believe we are already two months into the new year. Personally, it hasn’t been like I hoped it would because I hoped this is my time for a breakthrough. I’m still having trouble focusing and getting motivated to write thanks to the devil’s schemes. Ideas to write about are even rarer in my head.
I had hoped to start the new year off by being more productive and having a sense of direction. So, I decided to Prayerfully seek God’s will for my life and direction for the new year. I don’t want to waste the time or the talents God has given me doing what I want.
And that’s when I heard the truth, God reminded me that I am too much of a planner and I need to learn to let go and trust Him more. I remembered Jesus’ teaching about living one day at a time (Matthew 6:25-34.) God wants us to love Him completely and that means we must trust Him 100% with our lives.
faith means trusting even when we don’t see it working out. A faith that cannot be tested, cannot be trusted, our faith only grows when we are tested in the trials of this broken life.
Don’t waste your life in your comfort zone being safe. We’ve all heard the saying that a love that can’t be tested can’t be trusted. We understand that love grows stronger in the hard times of relationships, not in the feel-good comfortable seasons of love. Newlyweds, call this the honeymoon phase, although it feels good it is weak.
However, it is in the day-to-day battles of life where the love of spouses is strengthened and grows when somebody loves you. Real love doesn’t always feel good; it is in the times of testing when our love is proven. Remember it is pressue that turns coal into diamonds.
Our faith responds and reacts in the same manner. Our God’s love for us is unshakkable, despite how we feel when facing hardships or a Broken heart; sometimes our love for Him wavers in our actions, because we are depraved beings.
Love and faith must both be tested and refined in the fires of life. We don’t get to spend our lives in the baby faith or honeymoon phase (Hebrews 6:1, 1 Peter 2:2-3.)
It is in the fires of life that God reminds us He is faithful, the battle belongs to God. Our Jewish stepfathers use the analogy of a refiner’s fire (Isaiah 48:10, Zachariah 13:9, Malachi 3:3.) The fires of life strengthen our faith in God.
This is why God’s people are called to love God with everything that have. We won’t put our hope and faith into things of this world or ourselves. We give God 100% of our love; it will be tried and true.
When we study the Old Testament, we see the history between the truth and the lies of this mad world. It shows us false prophets, false teachers, and downright evil and ungodly fakes who claim to be of God, but will only let you down.
We also SEE the times when God tested His people to help them grow in their faith. This is why the Apostle Paul encouraged the early church to test every teaching to see if it is truly of God (1 Thessalonians 5:19-22, 2 Timothy 2:15.)
Unfortunately, many believers forget that Satan also knows Scripture and twists it to deceive God’s people (Genesis 3:1-3.) God’s word is true and a guiding light, Satan’s words are a lie and he has no love for you.
God will test our faith to help us grow in it and love Him more. satan will tempt us with temporary blessings to lure us away from what is true. Even the Apostle Peter went through a sifting to test his faith (Luke 22:24-38.)
Jesus knew the testing of Peter’s faith would strengthen him and be good for the church. Jesus knows who truly belongs to Him and who doesn’t (John 10:14-17, 2 Timothy 2:19.) The closer we grow to God and the deeper our love for Jesus, the clearer His voice becomes because our faith is tried and true!
