The Trial of Your Faith (Part 7)

 

Eternal Purposes

Trials are not games. They have ETERNAL purposes. That is why we must learn to seek first the kingdom of God – for that is eternal. As long as we limit the purpose of trials to something in our lives now, rather than something eternal, we are going to miss the boat. We will never be on the same page as God.

 

Jesus said, "Seek first the kingdom – seek first God's purpose IN YOU – and everything else will be taken care of, and fall into place, as God's plan for you will allow." This establishes God's priority for us, and until this becomes our priority, we are going to be working at odds with God. Part of the trial of faith is to adjust us over to this purpose.

 

When you die, all that God will take is the REAL person you are – and that will be defined only by your relationship to Him. Thus, faith, which speaks directly to who we are in relationship to God, is an ETERNAL characteristic. Our faith is only a seed of something eternally greater.

 

Trials will all pass away into history. But what we BECOME through those trials will be eternal. These are the stakes involved – eternal stakes. It is therefore terrifying that so few Christian are taught these Truths.

 

God is Faithful

The irony of the trial of faith is that God uses that which seems to contradict Himself to prove that He is faithful. The more our faith is questioned and ridiculed, the stronger it becomes, if we will stand by faith. And the greatest surprise of all is that even before we are delivered from our trial, we have the victory. Nothing of contradiction is able to move us.

 

God will indeed be proven faithful, even before He delivers us. How? He will be proven faithful IN US. God wants to bring us to the place where, despite the fact that circumstances have NOT changed, that WE HAVE CHANGED. There may continue to be nothing to, "prove," to us that God is faithful. But the proof is in us. Our faith is the evidence and substance of the faithfulness of God.

 

There is no victory in Jesus Christ except through the working out in us of His death and resurrection. If you want to live by faith, then you can no longer live by your understanding, your emotions, or by faith in anything but God. These must go the way of the Cross. Then, all will become based in Truth.

 

Excerpted from : THE TRIAL OF YOUR FAITH by David A. DePra at THE GOOD NEWS  © 1998-2005. All rights reserved. (Please include this line to forward the message).