In this age we face various trials and tests of faith. How we respond to trying situations can make a difference in growing up to spiritual maturity with overcoming faith. The information provided in this article is designed to help you mature through trials, rather than becoming overwhelmed by them. It is easy to say we already have all we need in Christ, and that there is no process of growing into sonship, which is true in spirit. But such teachings do not help the children of God face the contradiction of their faith in this age in this flesh.
Contrary to some wayward opinions, trials and tribulations are not something only those lacking faith will face. We like to focus on the promises of blessings in Scripture, but do we overlook the blessing of facing trial and tribulation and overcoming by faith?
Jas 1:1-4 GNB
(1) From James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ: Greetings to all God’s people scattered over the whole world.
(2) My friends, consider yourselves fortunate when all kinds of trials come your way,
(3) for you know that when your faith succeeds in facing such trials, the result is the ability to endure.
(4) Make sure that your endurance carries you all the way without failing, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
As children of God, facing the trials of this age is not something that might happen to us, it is a promise that it will happen. In fact, we’ve been given the revelation that it is through such trials that we enter the Kingdom.
Rev 1:9 GNB
(9) I am John, your brother, and as a follower of Jesus I am your partner in patiently enduring the suffering that comes to those who belong to his Kingdom. I was put on the island of Patmos because I had proclaimed God’s word and the truth that Jesus revealed.
Act 14:22 ESV
(22) strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.
Some may think this is a defeated gospel, resigning ourselves to sufferings. That is not the case! Paul was the one speaking in Acts 14:22, a great Apostle of the faith, not some wimpy doubtful Christian! John was given intense revelation of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom and said, “I am your partner in patiently enduring the suffering that comes to those who belong to his Kingdom.” In other words, to Paul and John, great Apostles and men of faith growing in sonship through the revelation of Jesus Christ, it was a normal and expected thing for Christians to face trials and tribulations in this age.
James instructs disciples of Christ to consider themselves fortunate when all kinds of trials come their way. Peter says that facing such trials that come our way has a refining purpose and the value of such is worth more than pure gold!
1Pe 1:7 GW
(7) The purpose of these troubles is to test your faith as fire tests how genuine gold is. Your faith is more precious than gold, and by passing the test, it gives praise, glory, and honor to God. This will happen when Jesus Christ appears again
The chief founding Apostles (Peter, John, and Paul) along with the head Pastor of the original church (James) all agree on this subject, as inspired by the Holy Spirit. They all had this revelation, and it is a revelation that proves true in every disciples life as they move into maturity as sons of God born of the Spirit.
Knowing that trials and tribulations come, and that they are allowed by God as adversity we face in order to test and thereby purify and strengthen our faith, we may be prepared to respond in a beneficial manner. When we resist the testing of our faith and retreat, our faith is not purified or strengthened, but rather weakened.
Consider the type and shadow of Israel being brought out of Egypt by the mighty hand of God only to shrink back from going into the land of promise because they feared the giants in the land. As they retreated back into the wilderness journey, refusing to face the trying of their faith, refusing to go forward to overcome every obstacle in their way, their faith suffered loss, and the camp was overcome by fear, doubt, and unbelief.
This caused God to look upon them from a viewpoint of disfavor, as it is written, because God takes no pleasure in those who shrink back.
Heb 10:37-39 ESV
(37) For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay;
(38) but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
(39) But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
But wait! I though that we are saved by grace, unconditionally, and God loves us no matter what! Yes, that is true. These are not contradictory revelations except in the mind without understanding of the revelations given by the Spirit of Wisdom.
The reason there are some who focus only on what is finished in spirit and refuse to acknowledge the process of things, and another camp that goes to another extreme, is because neither are seeing that both are true in different aspects of our existence.
The man born of the Spirit is now of perfect and divine essence in spirit, and cannot do anything to have earned such or to gain in spiritual holiness. He is seated already at the right hand of God in Christ, is already an heir of God, and can do nothing to cease being a child of God. Neither can any outside force take him out of the love of God. Plus, the one born of the Spirit cannot sin. There is no sin or death abiding in your spirit if you are in Christ!
However, your soul and body were not born of the Spirit. Your soulish life in the Earth is the same old you that needs to be overtaken and ruled by the new creation spirit. As the new creation child of God grows in spiritual maturity, he begins to more and more dominate the Earth he has been given to rule over, starting with is own body. Picture it like a seed planted in a pot of rich potting soil. That seed will grow and mature until the plant is filling up the entire pot, and even eventually will outgrow it.
This is why immature Christians still tend to be carnally minded and act accordingly. It is not that their salvation received was not effective or real. It is that the newly conceived and born spirit is like a little infant without much use of its faculties, but needing carried about by the Parent and caregivers, and fully taken care of for he cannot yet take care of himself. But, by nourishment this baby grows and learns how to use its faculties; thinking, communicating, and moving about.
In such a way, trials that make the child of God uncomfortable in this age act like the Eagle’s nest. Eagles will make the nest uncomfortable for the little eagles now ready to learn to fly, so they will leave the nest in order to fly. At one time they needed food brought to them and they could not leave the nest, which at that time was comfortable. But like eagles, God has a way of pushing us to the next level through trials that make us uncomfortable, with the purpose being that we will use such opportunity to exercise our abilities and soar.
Instead of grumbling and complaining when faced with a trial or tribulation, like the Israelites who died in the wilderness, we should be like Joshua and Caleb seeing it as an opportunity to see godly and mighty ability exercised in the Earth through faith to conquer everything that would stand in our way of possessing our land of promise! We don’t shrink back and give up! We move forward in faith and “fight the good fight of faith,” as Paul taught Timothy!
Of course the works of the cross of Christ are finished! Of course we are seated with Christ far above everything! But that doesn’t mean we become passive in this age and just overlook the fights we are to be engaging our faith in. Though it is accomplished in spirit, in heaven, it has not yet come fully into earth. Our mission is, “Father, your will be done in earth as it is in heaven.” In fact, it is the belief in it being accomplished already in heaven that gives us the faith to believe in bringing such victory into our earth. The finished works of Christ and our perfection in spirit is exactly what fuels our ability to be overcomers in the Earth, and take our dominion over our territory, growing in our exercised authority, which is a process.
Jas 1:2 ESV
(2) Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
Count it all joy! When you face the testing of your faith, rejoice! The joy of the Lord is your strength!
Neh 8:10 ESV
(10) Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”
When you feast and drink at the Lord’s table, imbibing his sweet wine of spiritual intoxication, you will find that the trials are not so bad anymore. Though they may even increase in the Earth, you go through them like a hot knife through butter, seemingly with little effort. That powerful boomba juice of heaven really helps us through the trials and tribulations, keeping us full of the joy of the Lord so we are mighty in battle! The joy is not just so we can be Christian versions of tree hugging hippies going around being lovey dovey all of the time, though agape with our brethren is wonderful! The joy is also the fuel we are given to make us super-conquerors in battle as we fight the fight of faith! So drink up you lovers of Christ!! Go and be victorious and let your growing in dominion with Christ in the Earth be supercharged through every trial, testing, and tribulation you endure joyfully!!!
