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'Christ in You...'
by Dale Krebbs
Nothing strikes terror in the mind of a student in school more than the word “test”!
Our lives are, as Christians, sometimes filled with God’s testing. His testing is not to determine whether we “fail’ or “pass“. If we belong to Christ, He sometimes tests us in order to strengthen us, not to cause us to fail in anything.
Often our testing is just to inform us, or to guide us, or set us on a different path in life. Regardless of His reasons, they are for our good. We may never know, until our resurrection, His reasons for the tests.
During these times, God is not working against us, but is working to strengthen us. Often, the ways that He utilizes seem irrelevant to our mindset. An order for an athlete to become proficient, he or she must “work out”. Muscles must be strengthened. This is not only physical, but mental and emotional as well.
But our spiritual muscles, the how, when, and in what manner, we do not know until we must respond to a circumstance that is usually unexpected. At times, they occur in areas of our lives that we are unfamiliar with, or have forgotten, or least expected.
Here is where we begin to realize that we must seek Him for an answer - and then trust Him. Depending on the elements of testing that God is creating, the Holy Spirit will let us know where to turn and how to respond - if we are yielded to Jesus.
Often we respond to all this that God is doing with disdain and weariness and sorrow…even anger at times. We often respond to the Holy Spirit’s activity in molding us in a way that resembles a feeling similar to the story about a child complaining to it’s mother after the child who has just received a spanking. The mother told the child that the father did it because he loved the child so very much…otherwise, he would never care that much. He did it because of love that the child could not understand. But the child would in the years to come.
Through the tears, the child replied: “…but did he need to love me so much”!
A parent may not discipline perfectly. But God does. We receive what is best for us…no less, and no more. Because, unlike a parent who is unable to discern perfectly, God has perfect discernment. He is perfect in compassion because He Is GOD …because He IS Love…perfect Love. Since He is perfect Love, He is perfect in understanding, discerning of our total being. He participates in our pains (no one has suffered as Jesus did), and agonizes along with us.
If you feel that God is testing you, He is doing so because He loves you more than you can understand or comprehend right now. Just take your pain and difficulty to Him in prayer…commit all your sorrow, fear or worry…He has not forsaken you. He never will. He is teaching you to trust Him. He will never abandon or forsake you. Pour out you heart to Him. He will comfort you in some way so you can endure.
He is saying simply: “trust Me!…
“Let your character [your moral essence, your inner nature] be free from the love of money [shun greed—be financially ethical], being content with what you have; for He has said, “I will never [under any circumstances] desert you [nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless], nor will I forsake or let you down or relax My hold on you [assuredly not]!” - Hebrews 13:5
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