Chapter 3

TEST'S

Sometimes you will think that God is not there and you will wonder why he

is letting certain things happen to you. Just remember that God often tests his

people to find out how strong their faith is and whether or not they are honest and

sincere. (Duet. 8:20)

If you hired a cashier or a servant of some kind and wanted to know beyond

a shadow of a doubt that they were honest, or perhaps you simply wanted to test a

friends integrity, you could simply lay a 20 dollar bill somewhere around the house

or purposely drop it on the floor to see if they would pick it up and give it back to

you, or if they would keep it. Or perhaps you would assign them a very difficult job

and kick back to see if they could handle it, and to see if they handled everything

in a proper manner.

In that same way, God needs to test us for certain qualities. He may test us

to see if we are honest, or to see if we would make great leaders, for here on earth

or in heaven. After all if he can't trust us on earth, why would he want us in

Heaven? In Luke 16:10-12 our Lord, Jesus Christ, said "he that is faithful in

that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that unjust in the least is

unjust also in much. If therefore you have not been faithful in the wealth of

the unrighteous, who then would trust you with true riches? And if you

have been unfaithful in that which is another man's, who would give you

that which is your own?"

So, basically what this is saying is that if you are honest in small matters, then

you will be honest in large matters, but if you are dishonest and if you cheat in

small matters then you wont be honest with larger responsibilities. And if you are

untrustworthy with worldly wealth, who would trust you with the great riches in

heaven? and if you are not faithful with other peoples money or possessions then

why do you think God would trust you and give you things of your own?

Remember that how we finish these tests (or trials) determine our future,

not just here on earth, but for eternity. Our rewards for passing these tests will be

great in heaven, not to mention it will pay off here on earth as well. Remember to

read the "REWARDS" Chapter in this book as well as the "PURPOSE" Chapter.

God tested most of the great men of the Bible. He tested Abraham by

asking him to kill his very own son, Isaac, which was his only son at that.

Abraham took his son to a mountain top, tied him to an alter, and raised his knife

in the air, preparing to thrust it into his son's chest, but the Lord stopped him

before he did it. Why would Abraham do such a thing? The answer is faith.

Abraham had faith in God, and he knew that he was being tested, and even if he

had killed his son he knew that God had the Power to resurrect him.

What if God let him go through with it and didn't resurrect his son?

Well it really would not have mattered to Abraham. You must realize that sooner

or later we are all going to die, and if we love and obey God we will go to heaven.

So if God did not resurrect his son Isaac, so what! his son would have been in

heaven with his maker, a place so beautiful that no man can imagine it. A place

where there is no war, disease, famine, hatred, ect...

You must also realize that his sons faith must have been just as great,

because his son Isaac was a strong young man and his father, Abraham, was well

over one hundred years old and weak, never once does it mention in the Bible that

Isaac tried to fight his father. So Isaac not only had great faith in his father but in

God as well, because he just laid there and let his father tie him up as a sacrifice,

so there are actually two hero's in this story, and they both passed the test and

were rewarded handsomely (Gen 22)

Another great man of the Bible whom was tested again and again was one of

Isaac's sons, Jacob. Jacob fell in love with a young female named Rachel and he

asked her father for her hand in marriage. The father demanded seven years hard

labor of him before they could marry. Then after those seven years, the father

tricked him and gave him the older daughter instead.

A man was entitled to a dowry for a daughter, Jacob worked for (Laban) the father

because he had no wealth to pay for Rachel. He was told it was not custom to

give the younger daughter in marriage first so Jacob was deceived once again

into working another seven years. During this long test of faith, Jacob still looked

towards God for strength and kept his faith. This test was 14 years long but he

still believed in the Lord for he knew it was all in Gods timing not his own. God

stepped in and finally gave Jacob his reward, his true love Rachel. (Gen.

31:40-42)

After 14 years of hard labor, Jacob told Rachel's father that he was taking that

which was his and was going his separate way. This time the old man refused to

give him the cattle and other things which he felt were owed to him. Again Jacob

had been deceived, but he kept faith in God and after passing test after test, God

stepped in and gave Jacob his reward, almost everything that Laban owned, and

Jacob became exceedingly rich and prosperous.

Jacob was later tested again when he actually wrestled with a mysterious

man . Alone and afraid Jacob encounters this man. The man is a manifestation of

God, who said he would always be with Jacob. He appears in Jacob's darkest

hour. They wrestle even with his hip-bone dislocated, Jacob would not give in till

the Lord blessed him, which came to pass because he received a new name and

renews the covenant he made with Abraham and Isaac.

Perhaps the one tested most of all in the Bible was Job.

Job was a blessed man, he was blameless and upright in his ways. In fact he was

so fearful of God and conscientious, that he actually sacrificed burnt offerings to

the Lord thinking "perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their

hearts." (Job 1:5) Job planned ahead and asked for forgiveness of sins that

hadn't even took place yet. And he did this on a regular basis.

One day Satan came to the lord and asked for permission to test Job's faith and

he said that "you have blessed Job and all that he has and does, but stretch

out your hand and strike everything he has and he will surely curse you to

your face." (Job 1:11)

God replies "Very well then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the

man himself do not lay a finger." (Job 1:12)

Then one day when Job's sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine

at the oldest brothers house, a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were

plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, and the Sabeans attacked and

carried them off. They killed the servants and I am the only one who lived to tell

you!"

While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "The

Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and

carried them off. They killed the servants and I am the only one who lived to tell

you!"

While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, "Your sons and

daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brothers house, when

suddenly a mighty wind swept over them, the house collapsed on them and they

are dead!"

So, from one disaster to another , back to back, and then on top of that losing his

sons and daughters (which were many), what would you have said or done by

now?

I know what I would have said not too long ago, but now I have a different

understanding of life. However,... what do you think that Job did or said? do you

think that Satan was right and he cursed God?

This was Job's reply:

At this Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the

ground and said; "Naked I came from my mothers womb, and naked I will

depart. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away; May the name of the

Lord be praised." In all of this, Job did not sin, by charging God with wrong

doing. (Job 1:20-22)

All of these men passed their tests and were rewarded handsomely. If you

haven't read these stories in the Bible, I suggest you do as soon as possible.

The trials Job went through do not stop here. Satan returns to the Lord, and says

"Skin for skin!" Satan replied. "A man will give all that he has for his own

life. But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will

surely curse you to your face!"

God replied "very well then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his

life." So Satan covers Job's flesh from head to toe, in boils blisters and sores.

Imagine, we complain about a cut or fever blister, or a sun burn. This man was

completely covered in pain. His own family wanted nothing to do with him. His

own wife said curse "God so you will die and the misery will be over" yet he stood

in his faith and believed God. Job had the victory, because he held on to his

relationship with God.

So what have we learned from all of this? First of all we learned that our

relationship with God is the most important thing in the world and nothing should

take that away from us, for he made the heavens and earth and all that is in them.

We learned that death is nothing to fear as long as we are true Christians, it's

simply a permanent vacation to paradise. So we should be happy for our loved

ones who pass away, we should rejoice for them, because they are in heaven, a

place so beautiful that no man can imagine it, where the streets are made of gold

and each gate from one solid pearl (Rev. 21:18-21).

We also learned that Satan must get permission from God before he can touch a

Christian, or even test them. so if you are not a Christian and everything seems to

be going wrong in your life, then you need to make a change in your life and

accept God. Of course most people are not put through a test like that of Job's,

we are fortunate in todays society.

We also learned that Satan has the power to cause tornadoes (great winds), and

other earthly disasters that destroy and kill.

I recall one disaster that I read about in the Guidepost magazine, where a

tornado hit a local church while it was in service, and several people died,

including one which was the pastors daughter. The people of the church, as well

as the pastor, mourned the loss, of course, but rather than curse God or question

him about why it happened, they thanked him for bringing those whom died home

to a paradise so beautiful that no man can imagine, and they built a new church.

So why this disaster? Well perhaps God wanted to test their faith.

Perhaps Satan came to God and said "I bet those people in your little church

down there are not as faithful as you claim," Maybe God gave Satan permission to

test them, just as he gave him permission to test Job.

Consider this.......

We are fortunate, because most of us go through little tests of faith, but in the

years before and after Christ people were beaten, whipped, stoned to death,

beheaded and numerous other things to unbearable to mention, yet these people

like Paul, John the Baptist, Abraham, Jacob, And Job passed the tests and were

rewarded handsomely.

So with all this in mind, what kind of tests do we go through? And what

should we do? Well, one of the most common tests that we go through and fail

every single day is getting along with others.

Sure, you may think that's a small thing, fighting and arguing aren't that big of a

sin! right?

WRONG! The Bible says "He whom has committed the least sin has

committed them all," and "the wages of sin is death." (Romans 6:23)

Remember that it is natural to be angry when someone attacks you

physically or verbally but even though anger is natural, we must learn to control it.

In the New testament , Ephesians 4:26 the Bible reads "Be angry and Sin not."

Let's not forget that God sometimes puts anger in another person to test both that

person and the person the anger is directed at. (Gen. 50:20) It is how you handle

that anger, that test, which determines what God has in store for you. Will you

make a good leader? A good servant?

Also keep in mind that people expect you to react with anger to their anger,

after all, evil begets evil. When people spit on Jesus, and hit him, he could have

hit and spit back at them, or he could have cursed them, or argued with them, but

he did not. Jesus had the power and authority to squash them like bugs, but he

said and did nothing.Remember that evil stirs up evil, so by walking away Jesus

showed us an example of how we should react to evil. By Jesus doing nothing evil

in return, Satan loses and it is also in hopes that the one doing the evil will feel

bad, conviction if you will. In Proverbs 25:21-22 the Bible says "If your enemy is

hungry give him food to eat, if he is thirsty give him water to drink, in doing

this you will heap hot coals on his head (make him feel guilty) and the Lord

will reward you for your kindness.

Paul once wrote a letter to one of the churches telling them not to argue amongst

themselves, in fact he talked about this in almost every letter he wrote. We, as

Christians, should not fight and argue, or argue about what the bible says, but

should work things out in a proper manner.

Also remember that you may sometimes think that the person whom irritates you

or convicts you is a "goody two shoe's," so to speak. You may say "who does he

think he is", or "he thinks he's better than everyone else." When in fact that

person is no better or worse than anyone else, and they probably don't think they

were, they might have simply been pointing out the things they see that will better

you and make you stronger.

We all have faults, they just lie in different areas, so where one brother can

make you stronger in an area that he has more strength in, you also can make him

stronger in an area that you are strong in.

You may say "for a Christian, he sure is overreacting," to a certain thing,

but is he? Remember that in order to get to the yolk you must first break the egg,

gently. So perhaps that brother is only trying to help you, not in vengeance, but in

good will.

Listen to those with wisdom, and your elders, because odds are they have been

there and know what you are going through and how they resolved it, and perhaps

they are even being led by the Holy Spirit. In Proverbs 3:11-12 "My son, despise

not the chastening of The Lord; neither be weary of his correction. The

Lord corrects those that he loves, even as a father or mother on earth

would correct their children".

In the book of Revelation 3:19 the lord says "As many as I love, I rebuke and

chasten"

In Hebrews 12:5-13 the bible says "My son, do not be angry when the Lord

punishes you. Do not be discouraged when he shows you where you are

wrong. For when he punishes you it merely shows that he loves you.

When he whips you, it proves that you really are his child. Let God train

you, for he is doing what any loving father does to his children. Whoever

heard of a son that was never corrected? If God doesn't punish you when

you need it, as other fathers punish their sons, then it means that you aren't

really God's son at all--that you do not really belong in his family.

Since we respect our fathers here on earth, though they punish us, should

we not all the more cheerfully submit to God's training us so that we can

begin to really live?

Our earthly fathers trained us for a few brief years, doing the best for us

that they know how, but God's correction is always right and for our own

good, so that we may share in his holiness.

Being punished isn't enjoyable while it is happening, it hurts! But

afterwards we can see the result, a quiet growth in grace and character.

So take a new grip with your tired hands, stand firm on your shaky legs, and

mark out a straight, smooth path for your feet so that those who follow you,

though weak and lame, will not fall and hurt themselves, but become

strong."

In the Old Testament, Job 5:17 reads; "Blessed is the man whom God

corrects: so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty" If you read earlier

on in the chapter, for instance, verse 13, you might see more then you might think.

It reads; "He catches the wise in their craftiness and the schemes of the wily

are swept away."

So God knows how to take care of the wicked, and the crafty. The bible says in

Job 4:8 "Those who plow evil reap it as well" and in Job 5:2 the bible says

"the crafty and wicked achieve no success"

We all know that what we reap is what we will sow. Be glad when others mock

you, rejoice when they curse you, or laugh at you, for yours is the Kingdom of

Heaven. When Satan attacks you through other people this just means you must

be doing something right. When others attack you, they do so under Satans

curse and we now know that Satan had to get permission from God.

So our God must have faith in you, otherwise he would have told Satan not to

waste his time on you. Again I say Be glad, rejoice when bad things happen to

you, for that is a sign unto you that Satan is losing his grip on you, he is after your

soul. Keep on praying and he won't succeed.

Satan after all is out to "steal, kill, and destroy "John 10:10 , Satan knows your

weakness and he will use it against you, and you won't even know it.

We all must endure trials and pain and suffering but after a while the Lord

your God will step in and put a stop to it. He will only let Satan test you so far, until

then we must have the faith and be the conquerors. "In all things we are more

then conquerors through him who loved us." Romans 8:37

Have you ever had a dog or a little puppy that you fell in love with run away and

perhaps sometime later you found that puppy with a different master, and when

you called his name he refused to come back to you? it hurt to let that puppy go,

but you let him go with the master he chose, right?

Well the same can be said of our Lord God Almighty, he made Adam and Eve

and gave them a paradise to live in. God would even come down to the garden of

Eden and walk with Adam and talk to him, just as you would talk to a friend, but

God warned them not to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil

(Gen. 3:6), but they listened to Satan and therefore chose their master, just as that

little runaway puppy did.

So Adam and Eve brought sin into this perfect life that God had planned for us,

and now the choice is ours to make and our Lord God is calling out our name, are

we going to come back to him or remain living in sin with Satan?

Always remember that the ways of the Bible and New Testament are perfect,

and if we all lived by those words we could live in perfect harmony. We Christians

are suppose to be disciples for Jesus, and tell the world that through him we could

still live in the paradise that Adam and Eve threw away. Jesus told over

seventy-two disciples this...

"The Harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the

harvest, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you

out like sheep amongst wolves." Luke 10:1-3

"Sheep amongst wolves", so that is telling us that being Christians will not be

easy, but he promised everlasting life to all whom endure to the end.

Yes, we are disciples of this generation, but we must live by the word and

be a good example before we go out into the world, or surely the wolves will

prevail. To those who mock you, detest you, or treat you like an outsider, be not

weary, for that just means that your rank of eternity is growing. "He who is least

on Earth, will be great in Heaven." (Matthew 23:11-12)

So if others treat you like a misfit and push you away, be glad to be the least

among men, because you'll surely be greater then them in heaven.

Remember also that "many are called but few are chosen"(Matthew 20:16)

see the SIN chapter in this book.

You know that man is destined to die, so don't worry about your flesh, worry

about your soul. we are fighting demons, the devil, principalities, but we are sure

to abound if we trust in our Lord. Read your Bible, it has all that you need to win

the bloody battle raging in our lives.

God wants us to know who we are fighting and why, even how to fight them, as

well as what to wear. That's right, What we need to be wearing is the full armor of

God (Ephesians 6:11-18). We need God like a plant needs water (Job-8:11).

When a demon leaves your body and comes back to find it clean and swept, he

will go out in the desert to find seven more demons even more dirty then himself.

(Luke 11:24), so be prepared to fight those demons, after all, it is us that makes

the final decision, so do not give in to temptation.

When you are fighting and arguing with a brother, it is not that poor guy you are

fighting with, it is Satan, because he wants your soul at any price. Continue to

fight Satan, he is that little voice in your mind that says negative things to you all

of the time. The more you listen to the voice of God, the more the devil will try to

convince you to do the wrong things.

We are fighting a war, and if we get relaxed, we become a casualty of that war.

"Fight the good fight of faith" (1Timothy 6:12) and "be kind to strangers,

because you never know when you might be talking to an angel". (Hebrews

13:2).

If you are having problems in life and you refuse to confess our Lord as your

personal saviour then I urge you to reconsider. It says in Deuteronomy 28:13 that

"God will destroy those who hate him" , so if you are working hard and berely

getting by, or if your are constantly sick, or if life just seems to be less than what

you expect of it then you need to get god in your life, the Bible says "first seek ye

the kingdom of heaven and all of its righteousness and then all else will be

added unto you" (Matthew 6:33)

Be ready for the many different types of tests that you will go through. It may be

as simple as a non-christian trying your patience, perhaps in their own way they

are testing you to see if you are really such a good Christian after all.

When people poke at you, so to speak, they are testing you, though they may

not know it, God does. How will you react to it? When you poke a log in the

fireplace ashes fly off of it and it burns brighter, that is what we should do, burn

brighter, not get angry, but be calm, let our light shine!

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