Words Of Encouragement To Start The Day (Wednesday 11/17/2010)

You Will Be Tested!

Job 23:9-11 (New International Version)

⁹ When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him. ¹⁰ But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. ¹¹ My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside.

It never fails that when God comes into our lives and He does a work; when He brings about deliverance, healing, salvation, restoration, or anything else, it will be tested. There is no area in our life that concerns God and our walk with Him that will go untouched in the area of tests. Sunday God did such a work in our Sunday service. The Holy Spirit was moving and bringing about deliverance. My sister was one of those individuals that God had touched deeply and did a work in. He had given her deliverance. Fast forward to Monday, all hell begins to break lose with her deadlines for school. She is a writer and is in a program where they write a book and it goes through it processes to be defended and placed in the market for publishing. The deadline that she was informed by her mentor teacher that was the end of the month now became this week, and on a six hundred page novel, became what seemed to be an impossible task. It looked to my sister in that moment as overwhelming and unachievable. We sat this morning and reviewed her options, we talked about her place of deliverance and what God had done for her and that on the heels of great victory we are ALWAYS tested. We prayed for God’s wisdom and His guidance and she made a few telephone calls and what once seemed like an impossible situation with no options turned around and lined up to the will of the Father. Why because she sought God, placed Him in the forefront and refused to let anyone or anything steal her deliverance or her focus.

We often forget that when class is in session ultimately a test is coming as a result. We forget that when God moves in our life and does something to bless our life or take us from a place of despair to encouragement that surely as we live and breathe a test will come. My Grandmother use to say, “When God starts blessing the devil starts messing.” Simply stated the enemy comes in or we are placed in a situation of testing to see if we will hold fast and true to confession of faith, our beliefs, our deliverance, our salvation or our healing. How will we ever know if something is true and if it is deeply embedded if it never gets tested? Tests will often come to strength us, and make us dig deeper in the Word of God and push further into God. I remember these past few weeks as I was going through some things, thinking, God I know this is a test, and I refuse to fail it. I remember feeling my mind becoming overwhelmed and my body feeling tired and sick, but every day I threw myself before God and prayed. I forced myself to sit and not just read the word but study it and allow it to get down in me. I remember asking God to stay right with me, not to allow me to falter or to fail, but allow my focus to be unchanged and my quest for Him to be unhampered. You see at the time I did not realize that God was testing my focus and my declaration to intercede and to press into pray. To speak His word into my circumstance and to keep my priorities in line with His will.

The Bible says in I Peter 4:12-13, it says, “Beloved, do not be amazed and bewildered at the fiery ordeal which is taking place to test your quality, as though something strange (unusual and alien to you and your position) were befalling you. ¹³But insofar as you are sharing Christ's sufferings, rejoice, so that when His glory [full of radiance and splendor] is revealed, you may also rejoice with triumph [exultantly].” All that we go through is to see if we have learned the lesson, got the information or if we can retain and maintain what God has given us, as a worthy steward. That we will guard what God has entrusted or blessed us with. Realize in this life test are going to come, whether we pass the test is solely up to us. It is up to how we prepare and what methods by which we take the test. If we are focused and have our mind made up to pass, we will, because focusing on what God has, done, is doing and is going to do reminds us that He has not failed us, and nor should we fail Him! This helps us to remember that we have the ability through Him to master any test and to conquer any obstacle.