I’m trying to get this message out wherever I can right now, because the Lord gave me this encouragement, so be blessed.
Learning to Walk in Trials
Jas 1:2-4 Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you
from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. (The Message)
Rom 5:3-5 ...Even in times of trouble we have a joyful confidence, knowing that our pressures will develop in us patient endurance. And patient endurance will refine our character, and proven character leads us back to hope. And this hope is not a disappointing fantasy, because we can now experience the endless love of God cascading into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who lives in us! (TPT)
Rom 5:3-5 ...We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit! (The Message)
Troubles develop us in God’s ways as we listen to His wisdom in the trial and do what He says:
Jas 1:5-8 If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You'll get his help, and won't be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who "worry their prayers" are like wind-whipped waves. Don't think you're going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open. (The Message)
But you can’t ask boldly, believingly if you’re always waiting for the other shoe to drop. That tactic of the enemy makes us have less strength when trials hit, because we haven’t been fully able to enjoy the good times, and have been worrying instead of trusting.
As I come to a trial, I have to listen, even if the trial is like one I’ve had before, because God may not want to approach it the same way this time. He may want to teach me something different.
“When I learned something new from God, my biggest temptation was to think, “I’ve got it!”. But no, it just meant I had it for that time. Whenever I assumed that was the new way to always do things in a similar situation, God allowed me to fall flat on my face. Every trial has new things to learn from God, and that is why I must constantly ask, keep on seeking Him, and continue knocking. He says if I do that the door will be opened.
“For years (in trials with my kids especially) I felt I was doing things wrong because what I did seemed to contradict God’s word. But no, by His Holy Spirit God was expanding what I knew of His truth.”
“Ask, and the gift is yours. Seek, and you’ll discover. Knock, and the door will be opened for you. For every persistent one will get what he asks for. Every persistent seeker will discover what he longs for. And everyone who knocks persistently will one day find an open door. Matt 7:7-8 PT.
The enemy tries to come at me with panic when a trial begins, but if I can settle down I will hear God, and as Gal 2:20 says He will give me His faith to walk through the trial victoriously.
There are times when my walking something out will not be agreed on by those around me. Sometimes I need to love them by doing what makes them more comfortable, and sometimes I need to walk it out anyway. I need to pray for discernment to know the difference.
“I had to learn to receive peace when there was little to be peaceful about—God’s good about things like that. Learning to live with uncertainty peacefully trusting the Lord is a work of the Spirit. I’m still learning.”
