2007-07-06
Good Morning Dear Ones,
As God's treasured believers, it would be wonderful to think that we are protected from temptation. But we must remember that we are still on earth battling the conflict between the flesh and the Spirit that Paul wrote about in RO 7: 14-24. Each of us has his own set of temptations unique to him. One might ask, if God is our Protector, why does He allow this battle? From the Scriptures, the answer is pretty clear. Our faith is to be tested to see if it survives the "Refiner's fire" [PR 27: 17, 21, for example]. PS 66: 10-12 allows us to see God's method. "You have put us to the test, God; as silver is purified by fire, so You have tested us. You let us fall into a trap and placed heavy burdens on our back. You let our enemies trample us; we went through fire and flood, but now You have brought us to safety." The same can be said of 1 PET 1: 6-7, "Be glad about this [God's power for the salvation which is ready to be revealed at the end of time], even though it may be necessary for you to be sad for a while because of the many kinds of trials you suffer. Their purpose is to prove that your faith is genuine. Even gold, which can be destroyed, is tested by fire; and so your faith, which is much more precious than gold, must also be tested, so that it may endure. Then you will receive praise and glory and honor on the Day when Jesus Christ is revealed."
We can't conceive of eternity any more than we can comprehend infinity. All we can say is that it is time without end. But God knows what kind of faith it takes to remain in His will for eternity. That is my idea of why such tests of our faith are necessary; He needs to know that our faith has that kind of staying power. We already know that "what the sinful self desires, what people see and want, and everything in this world that people are so proud of-none of this comes from the Father; it all comes from the world" [1 JN 2: 16]. We also know we "had the Holy Spirit poured out on us by Christ, and so all of us know the truth" [1 JN 2: 20]. And, we know that "whoever rejects the Son rejects also the Father; whoever accepts the Son has the Father also" [1 JN 2: 23]. Each of us has to go through the Refiner's fire, so that God will know our faith is strong enough to endure for eternity.
From a practical point of view, we need to be able to keep our eyes focused on the Lord Jesus. If we do, He will share His perspective and His peace with us. 2 COR 4: 18, "So we do not look at the trouble we can see right now; rather we look forward to what we have not yet seen. For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever." As for God's peace shared with us, look at IS 26: 3, "You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, whose thoughts are fixed on You. Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the Eternal Rock." My own experience with major surgery last year bears out the truth of this verse. At a time when I would have normally been paralyzed with fear after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer and told I needed major surgery, instead, I was at peace through the entire experience. This is what PHIL 4: 7 calls "the peace that goes far beyond human understanding," and God is the only Source of it. This is nothing I can boast about, because the glory for it belongs entirely to God [PS 115: 1]. God protected me from that fear and from cancer! No ordinary person, not even my loving husband, could have done that. Does this mean that I always am at perfect peace? Of course not. I'm still a work in progress and a sinner just like everyone else. It's just that God saved His peace for me when the big stuff was coming down. If my faith were perfect, I wouldn't be sweating some of the small stuff that I do.
One example of the power of real faith to survive the Refiner's fire from the Bible comes in HE 11: 24-27. "It was faith that made Moses ...refuse to be called Pharaoh's grandson...He reckoned that to suffer scorn for the Messiah was worth more than Egypt's treasures, for he kept his eyes on future reward..." At a time when we are sorely tempted with the things we like best that we shouldn't have or do, the big questions are: How many of us have enough faith and trust in God to look at and value our rewards in heaven? Are we willing to look past the things that tempt us and endure the cost of eschewing them for the sake of what God offers us? Our Lord Jesus Christ set the example for us. The night before His arrest, He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. LK 22: 42, "'Father,' He said, 'if You will, take this cup of suffering away from Me. Not My will, however, but Your will be done.'" The moment that Christ placed the Father's will in front of us own, God sent an angel from heaven who "appeared to Him and strengthened Him" (43). No matter how tempted we might feel at any time, our trials are "duck soup" compared to what our Lord Jesus faced. He won the victory with His death on the cross, and opened the way for us to have the choice to overcome our temptation to sin and do the same. Praise be to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Who loves us enough to have given us this opportunity!
PRAYER: O Lord, in the course of meditating upon the citations above, You give us a clear path to take when we are tempted to sin. You love us enough that You instructed Christ to say these words in JN 15: 13-16. "The greatest love a person can have for his friends is to give his life for them. And you are My friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because a servant does not know what His master is doing. Instead, I call you friends, because I have told you everything I heard from My Father. You did not choose Me; I chose you and appointed you to go and bear much fruit, the kind of fruit that endures. And so the Father will give you whatever you ask for Him in My name." The knowledge that You chose us when we were Your enemies, gave Your Son's physical life for us on the cross, and gave us the Holy Spirit to guide us in the Refiner's fire is nothing short of amazing. How can we not believe that all goodness comes from You, when we are told point blank in JN 6: 39-40 that the Lord Jesus' main purpose is the redemption of our souls-so that we can have eternal life with You? This is not a life, carrying the burden of servitude as with a human master, but a life as His friends, and thus, Yours. You need to know that the strength of our faith is good enough to endure for eternity. That is why we are subjected to Your Refiner's fire on earth. And yet, in Your loving compassion, You will never test us to the point of breaking our spirits. 1 COR 10: 13, "Every test that you have experience is the kind that normally comes to people. But God keeps His promise, and He will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm; at the time you are put to the test, He will give you the strength to endure it, and so provide you with a way out." That strength comes to us through faith in Jesus Christ. All around us are people without faith in Him, which is why You, Dearest Abba, call each of us to witness to the truth of His power, the salvation and peace that belief in Him provides. In doing so, we must never forget that our testimonies of our trails should not be focused on ourselves but, instead, on Him. We dedicate ourselves to the task of keeping our eyes on Him in the face of temptation and offer You thanks and praise, that such power and strength are available to us. You are our God, and we are Your people, who pray to You in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Holy Spirit has instructed me to write next week about what it means to be "citizens of heaven" in the context of temptation. In the meanwhile, we need to look at a mechanism that God uses to help people facing temptation. It was mentioned in LK 22: 43 that God sent an angel to strengthen the Lord Jesus. God will also strengthen each of us when we face temptation. All we have to do is seek Him and ask for His help with a sincere heart. IS 40: 29, "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak." IS 58, 11, " I will always guide and satisfy you with good things. I will keep you strong and well. You will be like a garden that has plenty of water, like a spring of water that never goes dry." God never promises that He will allow our lives on earth to be easy. We will have to endure through many trials and temptations. However, with our eyes focused on the Lord, we can have the perspective that God wants us to have. I know a number of people who spend their lives complaining about their ailments, particularly as they grow older. It's hard to be around these people, because their complaints are hard to hear. And yet, God has put us with them to demonstrate through our example that even with ailments and pain, He gives us something more important to draw our attention-Him. We must never forget PS 91: 11, "God will put His angels in charge of you, to protect you wherever you go." God wants us to serve Him, and He particularly wants us to be His friends. Praise and thanks to Him that He gives us the strength to win the victory over our fleshly temptations!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn