When Your Faith is Tested by the Fire

Pain will often bring things to the surface. If we deal with them instead of stuffing them back down, God will heal us so we can go higher in Christ.

1 Peter 1:5-7(NLT)
“5 And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”

We live in a world where satan blinds the minds of people, and they cannot see the good news about Jesus Christ. Because of the enemy’s tricks, plots, and attacks, we are not going to like everything that happens around us or even to us. Sometimes, things get ugly. They can be both disappointing and devastating, and when these are coupled with worries about our jobs, relationships and our futures, we feel hopeless. Sometimes we question why we should even try. Well, God tells us in His Word that nothing happens by happenstance. For everything, there is a reason. We may not always understand the reasons why things happen, but we can be sure that God wants us to trust Him and keep the faith, no matter what we’re facing or going through. 

If you find yourself in a dark and dismal place, where you’re asking, “What am I living for?” The answer to this question can be found in the Words that our God spoke to Moses in Exodus 9:16(NLT). He said, “But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” Our lives do not belong to us, they belong to God. He purchased them with the highest price that could be paid in all of eternity, and that price was the life and sacrifice of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. We are alive because God loves us, and He wants to reveal this love to, by, and through us. He thought about us long before we ever entered our mother’s womb, because Ephesians 1:11 tells us, “Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.”

It’s never God’s intention for us to live beneath our privilege or to experience lack, loneliness, and problems, but sometimes we encounter painful situations in life. When we go through difficulty, Jesus Christ wants us to lean on him and trust God with all our hearts. He has all power in His hands, and because of His great love for us, He will use his power to help us through any situation we face.

Romans 8:28(NLT) says, “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” Heavenly Father tells us that HE causes ALL things to work together for our good. We must continually feast on these words as we face tribulations and trouble. These challenges are sent our way by the devil, and they are to test our faith and to draw our attention away from our relationship with God. We must not allow this to happen. 


Yes, sometimes our faith is tried by the fire, but 1Peter 1:5 tells us that God is protecting us by His mighty power. Trouble doesn’t last, and God has promised that wonderful joy lies ahead if we endure. And we endure by renewing our minds, by constantly capturing those negative thoughts and replacing them with the truth of God’s Word. This is how we hold tightly to God’s hand as He walks us through the healing process. So, we must never give up, no matter what the devil throws our way. We can be strong because our God is strong. Leaning on Him in faith means that we are using our lives to bring Him glory, and we are acknowledging that He is an Awesome God who makes life worth living.■
  
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“When Your Faith is Tested by the Fire”, written by Kim for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2020. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.