The 2 Reasons Why You Are Going Thru

I don’t know about you, but I really do not like to “go thru”.   Going through tough times, situations, circumstances is HARD.  It isn’t fun.  Who likes struggling?  Who likes having to smile on the outside but on the inside you are crying?  No one.

Yet, in the midst of going through a hard situation, life continues to move forward.  The world does not stop just because we are going through.  As a matter of fact, sometimes the pace of our lives speeds up the moment we hit a trial or a rough patch.

For me, sometimes right in the midst of emotional turmoil or feeling bad on the inside is when it appears that all eyes are on me and I must perform. I must keep it moving. I must show up fully even when I am struggling.  Just because I go through doesn’t mean I can hide out or make excuses as to why I can’t.  I must go through my “go thru” and so do you!

Over the years of enduring a variety of assaults, tests, temptations, struggles against my mind, emotions, children, finances, relationships I have discovered two primary reasons why God allows us to “go thru” —- Our Growth and His Glory.  Every trial, temptation, test and struggle if fully allowed to do its work inside of us, will automatically do two things:  Grow us up and Give God the Glory.  Whether or not our “go thru” situations are initiated by Satan, poor choices, or God allowing — our Growth and His Glory are the only two main things that God cares about.

Our Growth

And He told them this parable: A certain man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it, but did not find [any].  So he said to the vinedresser, See here! For these three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and I find none.  Cut it down! Why should it continue also to use up the ground [to deplete the soil, intercept the sun, and take up room]?  But he replied to him, Leave it alone, sir, [just] this one more year, till I dig around it and put manure…Luke 13: 6-8 (AMP)

Just like this fig tree, we are supposed to grow and produce fruit in our lives.  We are not here to deplete the soil, intercept the sun and take up room on this planet yet fail to live fruitful, God-honoring and effective lives for God.  We were created for His Glory.  He doesn’t get glory when we fail to grow to our full potential. As human beings, as long as we have the basic necessities of life, i.e., food, clothing and shelter, we will grow physically into adulthood.  As we grow physically, we will inevitably grow mentally to the extent we need to navigate this world.  However, higher levels of thinking, emotional and spiritual growth are intentional choices.  We must deliberately and intentionally choose to change and do better.  This is no easy feat.

Often times, the only way we can grow is to be put in situations of pressure and change (manure) that it literally forces us to dig deep and in order to survive. It is only under the pressure cooker of the stress (manure) that we can truly expand our capacity.  We only produce lasting fruit when we are stretched outside of our standard comfort zone.  But, once you have experienced growth in a certain area, once you have stretched your capacity, once you see that you can do it, you will never be the same!  This is what the trial, the test, the tribulation does for us.  Once we come to the other side of the test, we realize that we are not the same person who went into the test.  Once we have lived through the “manure” we realize that we can handle way much more than what we thought.  We come through stronger, more resilient and with a greater capacity to receive and retain greater revelations and blessings from God because we can be trusted to handle it.  Why can we be trusted?  Because we passed the Test and we learned the Lesson of the Test!

The biggest key to making the most out of a “go thru” experience is to make sure that you truly learn the lesson.  Gain all the wisdom you can while you are in it.  This means getting quiet and reflecting on it.  I have learned that when I navigate struggles correctly I receive a greater amount of wisdom. Why pay a high price for a lesson (manure) and still refuse to learn?  And when I think back on my life — how much lost money, time, emotional energy did I spend, but still didn’t learn because I didn’t take the time to reflect on it. We lose a boatload of wisdom that we could’ve gained simply from not reflecting and thinking about what we went thru! There is a way to suffer (endure manure) according to the will of God, there is also a way to suffer that is not accordingly to the will of God.  Suffering will change you, but not always for the best —- you have to make an intentional choice to grow and learn the lesson of the test!

His Glory

Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit: so shall ye be my disciples John 15.8 (KJV)

There are those who claim that positive messages and prosperity teaching is way off base.  I beg to differ.  God is not glorified when we are living in lack, failing to produce fruit, in want and in need due to our own failure to think better and do better. Here is how He is glorified as indicated in the verse above: when we BEAR MUCH FRUIT.  Note the word MUCH.  It is not a little bit.  Much Fruit.  It is spiritual fruit first that then manifests in the natural.  Fruit of the Spirit and with that we should see a tangible outward manifestation of our fruit that not only enables us to live and enjoy our lives naturally but to also impact and bless others in a meaningful way.  Our God is big, great and very powerful.  He created a very big, wonderful and prosperous earth.  His original intent and design was that we be fruitful and multiply on this earth since He gave us dominion over it in the first place.  He gets the most Glory when we are prosperous in our souls, bodies and spirit.  He gets the most Glory when we walk in health.  He gets the most Glory when our lives are so blessed that we can help others become fruitful and multiply in their lives.  This is called bearing fruit.

As long as we keep in mind that at the end of the day, ALL of the Glory belongs to God and not us, we will be in alignment.  The moment that we allow our flesh and pride take first seat, is the moment we set ourselves up for a fall.  It is the moment where we must take one more trip around the manure mountain so that we can re-learn the lesson one more time.   In all things, He gets the glory. As a matter of fact, we were created for His glory, not our own glory.

I heard someone say, “We use our coat rack to hang our coats on.  God created man to hang His glory on.”  Catch that!  God wants to hang His glory on us!  For that to happen we must be in alignment by making the choice to go thru, grow up and bear fruit.  We must learn the lesson of every test and struggle so that we do not repeat it.  We must be willing to be stretched so that we can handle the mantle of the blessing and glory that He has in store for us!

Beloved, don’t lose heart or become discouraged in your season of “go thru”.  Go thru knowing that all things are ultimately working together for Your Growth and His Glory.

Until Next Time,

T.

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Are You Passing The Test? Our Reliability Must Be Tested Before God Puts Us Into Widespread Use

Job 23:10 But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold

I Cor 3:13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work.

I Peter 1:7 These have come so that your faith–of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire–may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

James 1:2  Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds,  3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance

All of the products that that we use and enjoy in our daily lives from  our computers, our microwaves, our flat irons, our vehicles — everything had to undergo multiple, strenuous tests for quality, reliability, safety and performance before it could even be put onto the market for us to purchase and use.

We all know that it is standard procedure to be tested throughout our educational process in order to move to the next level or graduate.  We are given some type of examination to establish whether or not we know the subject, the depth of our knowledge of the subject and how well we can demonstrate proficiency in a testing environment without any notes or outside assistance.

Doctors who perform brain and heart surgeries undergo a very strenuous educational process with many, many tests and residency experience in order to establish their expertise, knowledge and ability to work on humans.  We would not want it any other way when it comes to our bodies.

Public infrastructures such as bridges, streets, and dams undergo civil engineering tests to establish the soundness of design, construction, safety and workability.  The reliability of these structures are very important to the backbone of society and the daily lives of millions of people.

A test can be defined is a procedure intended to establish the quality, performance, or reliability of something, especially before it is taken into widespread use.  It can also be defined as an event or situation that reveals the strength or quality of someone or something by putting them under strain.

As believers, we can expect to be tested multiple times on our faith and our ability to persevere under difficult circumstances.  We are called to imitate Christ.  We are called to be the Light in a very dark world.  We are called to look and act different from everyone else when we are going through things.  We should shine in the midst of troubled times when everyone else is falling apart.  We cannot effectively do this if we look and act like the world when we are going through.

For those of us with gifts and callings that have the potential to influence many lives for Christ, we will surely be put to the test.  God cannot afford to have us on display to the world without us being tested and re-tested first.  Otherwise, we will malfunction, cause damage others and bring shame to the Name of Christ.  Our reliability as Christians must be tested before He puts us into widespread use in his Kingdom.  Our strength must be tested and the only way to do that is to put us under strain.  Then God can see (and we can see) what our weaknesses are, what we need to work on and also where we are strong.  Undergoing testing is the only way to know this.

Faith is not real faith unless it is actually used in real life, hard situations.   It is easy to say you have faith when all is well. It is easy to say that God will supply all my needs according to His riches in Glory in Christ Jesus when your bills are paid and you have some money in your savings account (Philippians 4:19).  It is easy to say that God has not given to me spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind, when all is well in your life and relationships (2 Timothy 1:7).

The real test of your quality, consistency and authenticity as a true Christian is when something happens contrary to what you expect or believe and you still maintain that positive confession.  Under stress and duress when it appears that God is not helping you, you still manage to do what is right when you feel very wrong.  While undergoing the test, you still keep a smile on your face and treat people right when all hell is breaking out in your own life.  You still manage to get up, take care of your family, go to work, serve in church, all the while hurting on the inside. Yet, you still are able to genuinely praise God.  This is what passing the test looks like.

Sadly, many of us who claim to know Christ Jesus, fail our tests miserably and wonder why God does not use our gifts in service in a mighty way.  How can we be fit for service if we keep failing the basic tests over and over again?  Can we be trusted in hard circumstances to act like Christ?  Can we be relied upon to the do the right thing when no one is looking?  Will we actually obey the word as given to us in Philippians to be anxious for nothing when circumstances get very uncomfortable (Philippians 4:6)?

We are tested not only to be used more effectively in the Kingdom of God, but for our very own benefit as well.  Repeated testing increases our endurance — our staying power in the midst of trouble.  Testing improves and strengthens our ability to wait patiently for deliverance without tripping  up and sinning.  Being tested grows us up.  It makes us more mature and seasoned believers.  After we have undergone tests, we note in hindsight that the same things that messed us up before in a particular situation no longer faze us anymore.  We then realized that we actually passed that particular test.  Sometimes after testing, we quickly see where we fall short and it is very humbling.  Tests force us to dig deeper and seek God all the more.  We would not do so if everything was wonderful all the time.

We must face the fact that we are living in the end times.  The love of many will wax cold.  Evil will become more rampant.  Natural disasters and many unforeseen and unimaginable things are on the horizon for this world.  As Christians, we are called upon now more than ever before to start passing the tests we face right now, because there is more coming down the pipeline.   We cannot afford to let our emotions take over, make bad decisions in the heat of the moment, and letting our guard down by giving place to the Enemy.  Too much is at stake.

Passing these tests are critical for the future development and growth of the Kingdom of God.  For those of us who are called to be Kingdom entrepreneurs, writers, ministers, teachers and other diverse callings, we should have already passed some major tests. Even now, as we well into the first month of the New Year, no doubt we have already been tested on what we planned to achieve for 2014.  We may as well get used to being tested.  At every level, there will some sort of test.  The key to passing is to remember why we are being tested, who is watching us when we are tested and to have faith and hold on for the ultimate testimony on the other side of the test.  The world is watching us every time we test.  What will they see when you test?