Testing! Testing!!

How do you know that a brand of tea is really good? You dip the teabag in hot water. How can you be sure that your faith is growing? You've got to be tried and tested. Tried by the fire of adversity, lack, delay, failure, etc. When you write an examination in a particular class, it's an opportunity to move to the next class. Your promotion however depends on your passing or failing the exams.

Troubles are exams that we must write in life. Life is full of the bad as much as it is full of good. Everyone has the shoe pinching them in one way or the other. One common thing is the "pinch". The variability exists in what area of life the pinch exists. Each one of us have our customized crosses that we must carry daily. Many people want testimonies without being tested, well, that's the wrong order. The tests must come first before you can have a testimony. You cannot say that you have passed when you have not even written an exam.

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.
So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. (James 1:2-4)

We can be compared to gold. Gold goes through the refiner's fire to remove impurities. The gold becomes more and more beautiful as time passes in the furnace. Our strength is increased in the furnace of trials. Many people fail/fall at the point of adversity because they have not gathered strength prior that time. They chicken out because their hearts have not been circumsized. They have not been proofed by trials. They have been shielded and 'breastfed' all their lives. They have not practised cracking bones, all they eat and can digest is milk. They run away from every hard nut. Always looking for the easy way out. Always running away from tough challenges. Anyone with that kind of attitude will not grow.

We must face out challenges head-on. Or have you ever wondered why there is no armour securing our backs? I perceive it's because we are not permitted to turn our backs on the battles of life. Our motto must be: No retreat; No surrender. We endure the rigours that come with trials. We march forward into battle with the Lord going before us. Our faith in God gets more and more grounded. We get promoted from one 'class' to the next. And the cycle continues as we move on. We are being prepared for the phases yet to come.

I have heard of people testify of how calm they were in the face of serious troubles. They had that deep-sitted faith in God to settle their cases. Their hands must have been trained to battle. They had grown in faith as their endurance threshold increased.

You can get to that level too, and beyond. Hold on tightly to the promise of God never to leave nor forsake you. Endure you test period, it'll soon be over. Examinations don't go on forever. There's always a duration. Be prepared by feasting on the Word of God. Acquire strength from God's Word, for the journey is far. Build up your faith through prayers. It's the way to perfection.

Testing. . . It's a continuous process.  

We shall overcome in Jesus' name.

~OMOSEBI Mary Omolola