Trials are necessary for Believers. For athletes, what good would all the workouts and exercises be without the games. Trials are our opportunities to shine brightly for Jesus. Knowing they are to come, we have choices to make prior to their arrival:
1. Choose your thoughts TOWARDS them.
1 Pt. 4:12-19 “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:”
2. Choose your attitude BEFORE them.
“But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.”
3. Choose your actions DURING them.
“But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.”
4. Choose your response AFTER them.
“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.”
LESSON - Know what you are to do before, during, and after trials so that the glory of God may dwell upon you. Trials are God’s means of purifying our faith by removing all of the impurities so that what remains is of great value for the Lord’s purpose. God may just use the choices you make to bring others to the saving knowledge of Jesus, so SHINE!!
~Mike
Comments