Every believer’s faith will be tested. Yes, your faith will be tested; I don’t know when or how God is going to test your faith. However, you can be assured that He will test or allow you to experience various testing seasons in your lifetime, and I cannot think of a single person who enjoys the testing and challenges of their faith. For most believers, these seasons of testing seem to last forever, and our perspective and attitude during the testing season can sometimes be negative and overwhelming to the point that it leads us to question the need for the test.
The Apostle James gives us a unique perspective on the testing and challenges we are going to experience during our journey as believers. He writes the following in the Epistle, which bears his name. This is what he says in James chapter 1 verses 2-4:
“Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.” (MSG)
If you are currently experiencing some dark, difficult and trying season, you would think that the Apostle has lost his mind. What does he mean when he says that I should consider this most difficult experience as a gift? Or as other translations put it “consider it joy” when there is nothing joyful about what I am currently experiencing. If you stop at that point, you will miss the value or principle of what the Apostle is trying to teach us about the testing of our faith.
The important lesson is this: the testing of your faith reveals your real Christian character, or as the text says, it shows your true colors. If you allow the testing to run its course, it will mature and develop you into a seasoned believer whose faith is not easily shaken. A believer who does not turn back to the places or behaviors God delivered them from, like dogs returning to their vomit.
I know what I am saying is difficult, but if you allow the process to run its course, you will come out stronger in the end. I understand that it is a painful process, but I also understand that if God is behind the season, then I have all I need to endure. God never allows any situation to enter your life without giving you the power to endure and see it through (1 Corinthians 10:13 MSG). When you face the season, you will come out better on the other side.
Allow the Word of God in these three verses to guide you; focus on God, and not on the season. The Word will give you grace and change your perspective on testing and challenges. These verses will also empower you for any future testing and challenges you will experience.
Let the testing do its work in your life!
Be Blessed,
Bishop Jemmott