In the training that my husband and I are going through, we have online tests every 6 weeks. Now it’s been a while since either of us has taken tests like this. Each week there is also a test that requires our answers. It’s not a hard test, but there is no way to answer the essay questions without understanding the content of the study. The multiple choice questions are a snap, IF you have read and studied your assignment.
We all have many tests in our lives. Although we don’t usually choose the tests we encounter, go through them we must. There are the tests of patience, of faith and of time. In the tests of patience we learn to let God help us have mercy and give us serenity in spite of the frustrations we might feel. In the tests of our faith, we achieve our greatest results when we put all of our trust in Christ who is our Intercessor. In the test of time, it is endurance that we need most so that our character is built up in God and becomes more Christlike.
God speaks to my heart: It’s not about the nature of the test or the circumstances of it. No matter what you are going through there is only one answer and that is to let yourself be molded into the image of Christ. When God is with us we can do all things because He promises us strength. When met with rejection we can plead for mercy on their behalf. When met with humiliation we can ask for God’s dignity to surface in us. When met with frustrating circumstances we can ask Christ to be our peace. Your heart cries out to be better even when your flesh desires you to stay bitter. Your faith wants to let Jesus arise in you, to replace your stony heart even when things are hard to bear.
Oh beloved, whatever you are going through God is with you. He hasn’t left you to face a single test alone. He knows that you have been battling to see the answer in spite of the questions that come to your mind. Regardless of the questions mounting you can rest in God’s Word and seek His face for answers. The why of a situation may not come your way but your response to the pain, the frustration and the depth of the situation is settled in heaven. Every test you face is a reminder that Christ Himself faced tests. You may feel you have no recourse but to be angry, resentful and frustrated. Now is the time to act instead of react. Ask Christ to come in and take over in your heart, your mind and your spirit. Whatever is thrown at you, the devil would like to use to defeat you. But as your test of faith becomes a channel to be redeemed by God to perfect you, the enemy will have to retreat.
God loves you and He’s for you. Because of this He has sent Jesus to redeem you and the Holy Spirit to live in your heart so that you can choose the right answer – straight from God’s Book of Love. It’s an open book test, beloved, and as you acquaint yourself more and more with the subject you will find the Word of God to be your best resource for dealing with hurts and pain and all the things that tend to make you question the Lord. You are an overcomer, more and more, as you become a student of the Word as well as becoming more like the Teacher Himself.
James 1:3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
James 1:12 God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him. NLT
Romans 8:29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.
Colossians 3:16 Let the word [spoken by] Christ (the Messiah) have its home [in your hearts and minds] and dwell in you in [all its] richness, as you teach and admonish and train one another in all insight and intelligence and wisdom [in spiritual things, and as you sing] psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making melody to God with [His] grace in your hearts. Amplified
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