6 Reasons Why God Tests Us – October 17, 2010
1 - God Tests Our Character & Integrity
GOD TESTS US to see if we Truly Love Him with all of our Heart & Soul. He Tests Our Character.
If you and I say that we love Jesus, and we say that we are a Followers of Jesus, and we call ourselves Christians, guess what? Our love for Him will be Tested, and many of these Tests are a Test of our Integrity.
(2Co 2:9) For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.
God Tested Judas, the Disciple who betrayed Jesus. Judas, just so happen to be put in Charge of the Finances of the Ministry of Jesus. Judas did NOT pass his small daily Integrity Tests. We know this because it says that He OFTEN STOLE FOR HIMSELF. Judas was proven by the TESTINGS OF GOD to be a THIEF. Judas did not Obey God's Word out of a Love for God— He did not truly Love Jesus. (John 14:15, John 14:21)
(Joh 14:15) If ye love me, keep my commandments.
(Joh 14:21) He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
Joh 12:4-6 Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, (5) Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? (6) This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.
God Tested Joseph's Character by allowing him to be Tempted to Lust & Sin against God, through allowing Joseph to be Tempted by the Evil Wife of the Captain of the Palace Guard. Day after Day she would constantly come up to Joseph, and pressure him to sleep with her, but he refused her every time (Gen 39:9-10). Joseph feared the Lord, and because he feared the Lord, Joseph passed his Integrity Test. He was later promoted to be Second in Command next to Pharaoh himself, in Egypt.
Gen 39:7-10
(7) And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me.
(8) But he refused, and said unto his master's wife, Behold, my master wotteth not what is with me in the house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand;
(9) There is none greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?
(10) And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her.
2 - To Reveal What is Presently in our Hearts, whether Good or Bad
He Tests us by appearing to Withdraw from us. One Example of a Test like that was when God WITHDREW from Hezekiah, as a TEST, to reveal to Hezekiah what was really in his Heart.
2Ch 32:26-31
(26) Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the LORD came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah.
(27) And Hezekiah had exceeding much riches and honour: and he made himself treasuries for silver, and for gold, and for precious stones, and for spices, and for shields, and for all manner of pleasant jewels;
(28) Storehouses also for the increase of corn, and wine, and oil; and stalls for all manner of beasts, and cotes for flocks.
(29) Moreover he provided him cities, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance: for God had given him substance very much.
(30) This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works.
(31) Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.
Of course the Lord knows what is in all our Heart's, he knows our Motives, and the reasons WHY we do WHAT we do, even before we do it. The Trials & the Testings of this life for a True Believer, is from God, and the end result is for our Good.
(Rom 8:28) And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
But we must examine our Heart and make sure that if God appears to be distancing Himself from you, that it isn't because of a result of Sin in your Life. (2 Cor 13:5)
(2Co 13:5) Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
3 - To Find Out If You Will Do Things For God's Glory, or For The Praise of Man
(Pro 27:21) As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; so is a man to his praise.
(Fining pot: a crucible, melting-pot)
(1Co 10:31) Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
(Joh 3:30) He must increase, but I must decrease.
4 - To Produce Fruits of Patience, Leading To— Sanctification & Conformity to Christ
It reveals what is presently inside us, which in turn gives us a Need for Him, and it is developing Godly Character in us by Teaching us Patience & Endurance through Trusting more and more in God's Word through the various Storms of Life. It leads us to produce more Fruit for Jesus. The end Result is that we might be conformed to Image of Jesus Christ.
Jas 1:2-4
(2) My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
(3) Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
(4) But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
Gal 5:22-23
(22) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
(23) Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
(Joh 15:8) Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
2Co 3:16-18
(16) Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
(17) Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
(18) But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
(Mat 5:48) Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
5 - To Reveal & Show His Faithfulness, Mercies, Love, and Comfort To His Holy People
(Eph 2:7) That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
Leading us to Trust God the Father More & More, and in turn want to be like Christ to one another. We are to show the same Comfort, Grace, & Mercy to Others, as Christ has done for us.
(Heb 2:18) For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.(Succour – to help or relieve)
2Co 1:1-12
(1) Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia:
(2) Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
(3) Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
(4) Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
(5) For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
(6) And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
(7) And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.
(8) For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:
(9) But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:
(10) Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;
(11) Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.
(12) For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.
6 - Make us Worthy of His Kingdom— To Reward Overcomers With the Crown of Life
He Rewards those who Suffered (gave up their Sin (1 Peter 4:1), endured harsh treatment (Matt 10:22), Sacrificed, and Endured with Great Patience the Great Time of Testing that is upon this World.
(1Pe 4:1) Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;
(Mat 10:22) And ye shall be hated of allmenfor my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
2Th 1:4-5
(4) So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:
(5) Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:
(Jas 1:12) Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
Overcomer Scriptures— Rev 2:7, Rev 2:11, Rev 2:17, Rev 2:26, Rev 3:5, Rev 3:12, Rev 3:21, Rev 21:7, 1 John 5:4-5, John 16:33
(Rev 2:7) He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
(Rev 2:11) He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.
(Rev 2:17) He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receivethit.
(Rev 2:26) And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
(Rev 3:5) He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
(Rev 3:12) Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God,which isnew Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: andI will write upon himmy new name.
(Rev 3:21) To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
(Rev 21:7) He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
1Jn 5:4-5
(4) For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
(5) Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
(Joh 16:33) These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.