Word for the Week Aug. 11-18
By: Evang. Cascille Hammack
"But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will
come forth as gold." Job 23:10
Dr. Miles Munroe said it best in his sermon this past Sunday at his church in the
Bahamas, "A test is not sent to destroy you, but to prove you." A friend of ours was there and brought us
the Word back. Praise God for His faithful servants. God is faithful.
A test proves your faith. If your faith was never tested, it could not manifest.
Dr. Munroe said, "If you have faith, only tests prove it exists." If you are alive and you have faith, you
will be tested. Be careful when someone else is going through a severe test and you judge them, because your test is
just around the corner! Keep living and your faith will be tested. That is why someone who has come through severe
testing and relied on God and survived in victory is not quick to judge. Instead, the compassion of Christ rises up
in them and they reach out to those in the trial, now able to tell them from experience, victory is coming if they hold onto
their faith.
Sometimes
God strips everything away so that only what faith you have may be revealed. It is all that matters. It is easy
to talk and speak words, but faith is truly shown when you are in the fire. How do you go through it? God gets
all the glory when you stand on your faith that Jesus has bled and died for you and the victory is already won! You
can walk through confidently, knowing He is more than able to deliver you and if He does not, you will continue to give Him
glory. But He is faithful. He will get glory if you stand on your faith. When all is stripped away in your
life, what remains?
The
only way to avoid testing is to quit. But Jesus said in Luke 9:62, "No one who puts his hand
to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." You will suffer now and forever if you quit. Those
who are bold and confident have faith. They know the outcome is that they win. The fearful do not have
faith. Hebrews 10:35-39 says, "So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need
to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive the promise. For in just a little while, "He
who is coming will come and not delay. But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will
not be pleased with him." But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and
are saved.
Going through
trials does not prove you are failing, it proves you are in faith. If you are in the faith, it will be tested.
The test proves you are faithful. Some people want to judge when they see you going through, but put your seat-belt
on, God will reveal what faith they have in due time, if it is faith at all, by the test he sends them. Then you
will be standing firmly, having successfully gone through your test to stand by them in compassion and tell them to hold on
firmly that God is faithful and He will make a way for them. Joseph thrown in the pit, lied on, then put in prison,
the three Hebrew boys in the fiery furnace, David defeating Goliath, in each of these, the test came before the promotion
and purposes of God manifested in their lives. They passed their tests and God received all of the glory and they
are still encouraging us to hold onto our faith today! God is faithful and He will do it! Can God trust you to
do the same today? Have you passed your test? Will you say like Paul said, in 2 Ti 4:7, "I have
fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." Will the Lord say to you when you stand
before Him, "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in
charge of many things. Come and share your Master's happiness." Mt. 25:23
