Tested Faith

First have a read of Luke 22:31-32

"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to test all of you as a farmer sifts his wheat. I have prayed that you will not lose your faith! Help your brothers be stronger when you come back to me."

Okay this is during the Passover meal when he's talking of when Peter will deny Jesus 3x. There's one word that strikes me in this, "asked". Satan had already asked for Peter, Jesus and Satan had previously already talked before about this. Satan has to ask, he can't pick and choose who he wants to torment on this earth. He has to ask. Do you know what this means? He has to ask God and therefore God gives his permission to torment people on this earth. 

Not sure if your face looked like this, but mine did!

But then again, if we look at Job, again same scenario. 

Job 2:3-6

³ Then the Lord said to Satan, "Have you noticed my servant Job? No one else on earth is like him. He is an honest and innocent man, honoring God and staying away from evil. You caused me to ruin him for no good reason, but he continues to be without blame."
 ⁴ "One skin for another!" Satan answered. "A man will give all he has to save his own life.⁵ But reach out your hand and destroy his flesh and bones, and he will curse you to your face."
 ⁶ The Lord said to Satan, "All right, then. Job is in your power, but you may not take his life."


Satan asks God for permission to torment Job, and God gives it to him!

But why?

Surprisingly enough, this isn't because God doesn't love us, and he doesn't care about us. This isn't because we've sinned, the only way that was resolved was through the cross. Job was blameless yet it still happened to us. It's nothing like that!

God still loves us!

Look back at Luke 22 above, he wants to put Peter's faith to the test. Faith? Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it. Hebrews 11:1. Our faith, our belief in JC, and his word and God, being sure of the things we hope for in the bible, and it gives us confidence in what we can't see like the holy spirit. 

When faith is being tested, its our belief, our confidence, our hope, assurance and declaration in God are all being tested too! It's not testing whether we can hold onto our earthly things but if we can hold onto our firm belief in God. Through whatever trial we go through, can we stay close to God?

But even in verse 32 of the Luke passage, Jesus reassures him saying that he will pray for him. (Baffling kind of why JESUS would pray? Maybe some sorta line of his baptism.) He knew Peter would be okay, he prays his faith will not fail him. And maybe he still prays for us now when we go through our trials and stuff. 

There's a bit from a video I want to copy here, totally related;

"There's no one who can condemn you, I don't and if I don't no one can. Who will even bring a charge against you, you're mine. What court could they charge you in, everythings mine!"

Romans 8:34 Who can say God's people are guilty? No one, because Christ Jesus died, but he was also raised from the dead, and now he is on God's right side, appealing to God for us.

Okay, so when we go through trials, we will come out the other end okay. But we also have a testimony and this is used to help others. I've found the worst times I've had, mean I can help others, and show them JC, which although at the time, it was awful, it had it's "silver lining". 

 Nothing happens without God's permission. This shows his CONTROL. This also shows that he will say our limitations, we won't get pushed further than we can possibly handle.   1 Corinthians 10:13  The only temptation that has come to you is that which everyone has. But you can trust God, who will not permit you to be tempted more than you can stand. But when you are tempted, he will also give you a way to escape so that you will be able to stand it. God won't ever leave us, and least of all during trials.
Also, i don't remember who, but I always tell them we learn best through bad times, we grow the most. Although you'd like to think that you grow more when you're going through a good time, it's the low times when you rely and depend on God and you learn and grow in him. Praising him in the storm is hard, but it's possible. Everything is possible with God. And finally:

Looking at the ♥

The leader in church everyone loves, he's funny, he's cute and we'll name him Andrew. He's got great people skills, and an amazing singing voice. He shops in Hollister and he likes to flirt a little bit - in short, he's everyone's favourite guy. But his heart? Jesus sees that his heart isn't for him, his heart wants approval from other people and not from Jesus. He cares more about material goods than earthly treasures. Away from church he swears and drinks. In short, he's not really a Christian.

The poor guy on the street sits outside church. Everyone ignores him, too righteous to be talking to a tramp. He's got holes in his clothes and he hasn't had a shower to a place to sleep in weeks. He barely manages to find enough money for the day's food and often has to go to bed hungry. In short, he's everyone's worst nightmare. But his heart? Jesus sees his heart is for him, he prays all the time and trusts God that he will get him through the day. If he has any leftover money, he'll give it to charity although he's the one who needs it. He fully trusts and loves Jesus with all his heart. In short, he's the real Christian. 

 

James 2: 1-6 

1 My dear brothers and sisters, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, never think some people are more important than others.² Suppose someone comes into your church meeting wearing nice clothes and a gold ring. At the same time a poor person comes in wearing old, dirty clothes.³ You show special attention to the one wearing nice clothes and say, "Please, sit here in this good seat." But you say to the poor person, "Stand over there," or, "Sit on the floor by my feet."⁴ What are you doing? You are making some people more important than others, and with evil thoughts you are deciding that one person is better.

 ⁵ Listen, my dear brothers and sisters! God chose the poor in the world to be rich with faith and to receive the kingdom God promised to those who love him.⁶ But you show no respect to the poor. The rich are always trying to control your lives. They are the ones who take you to court.

Would you guess the church leader wasn't really a Christian? No, what you saw of him would be that he was one. Would you guess the tramp was a Christian? No, you'd look at his outward appearance. Luckily God doesn't do this, he looks at our ♥ to see our real spiritual state. 

I don't really know where I'm going with this.

Okay, so in short, don't judge people, because you will be judged too. Treat people with the same respect and remember:

Outward appearance ≠ Inward appearance

Feeling Inadequate

We have a purpose

"In the same way, my brothers and sisters, your old selves died, and you became free from the law through the body of Christ. This happened so that you might belong to someone else—the One who was raised from the dead—and so that we might be used in service to God." Romans 7:4

Feeling inadequate isn't a rare feeling, it can be an every day thing. Feeling like you are going to fail that exam, that you are not a good enough friend, not a good enough Christian and etc. But here, Jesus is like No. You have a new life, with me, and you have a new purpose. You have a purpose because I was raised from the dead, for you. You belong to me, not in a slave-owner way but in my family. I wanted you in my family so much, that I died for you. You are free from the law now, because of me. Your purpose now is to serve God, in whatever capacity you can. Some may be serving God by preaching on a sunday, some may serve God by praying, some serve God by listening. Everyone has gifts to serve God and to fufil their purpose. 


We have a right purpose

"In the past, we were ruled by our sinful selves. The law made us want to do sinful things that controlled our bodies, so the things we did were bringing us death" Romans 7:5

In the past, we used to rule ourselves, and we had no purpose. The things we used to do were sinful. The things we still do now are sinful though, being born again doesn't prevent sin. But before, the things we did were sending us to hell. This tells us that our own inadequate works without God will result sin and eventually death. We need to stop relying on ourselves, and start relying on God and fufiling his purpose.


Our purpose is to serve God

"In the past, the law held us like prisoners, but our old selves died, and we were made free from the law. So now we serve God in a new way with the Spirit, and not in the old way with written rules." Romans 7:6

Most feeling of being inadequate are based on us trying to live up to rules that we were not called to fulfill by ourselves. If you have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ there is no reason to feel inadequate. Romans advises us that we are delivered from all of our inadequacies, imperfections, and our sin through Christ. 

If you ever feel inadequate, remember you are not perfect, and you are not meant to be. But Jesus wants YOU, and he wanted you before you were born. Remember you have a purpose!

Perseverance

Hebrews 12:1-3 just amazes me, have a read.

 We are surrounded by a great cloud of people whose lives tell us what faith means. So let us run the race that is before us and never give up. We should remove from our lives anything that would get in the way and the sin that so easily holds us back. Let us look only to Jesus, the One who began our faith and who makes it perfect. He suffered death on the cross. But he accepted the shame as if it were nothing because of the joy that God put before him. And now he is sitting at the right side of God's throne. Think about Jesus' example. He held on while wicked people were doing evil things to him. So do not get tired and stop trying.

The first bit, lives tell us what faith means. Literally just made me think of what a bad witness I've been. At school, yeah people know I'm a Christian, but do i act it? Yeah, i listen to people, yeah i'm willing to help out, but the swearing and backstabbing and drinking? Where's God in all that? More recently I've been trying so much harder to be a better witness, and OH MY GOODNESS, it's so hard. I'm struggling, holding and looking to God for strength during it. So, those people whose lives show us faith,think how hard it is for them. They are being amazing witnesses, showing God through their lives for people. And of course, it's not just about their lives, it's about their hearts and how they are towards God as well. Those people deserve appreciation from God (which they will get in eternity) and from us, because in short; they are amazing. I aspire to be more like them, we all should. 

The running the race bit, is a common theme throughout the bible, there's like 4 mentions of running a race. But what stands out for me is never give up. How many times have I gone, I can't do it, being a Christian is hard, I'll never be free from this sin, i'm not a good enough Christian, i'm not a real Christian? Whoever wrote Hebrews tells us to not give up. Stop with all the excuses, and never give up. We need to persevere because at the end of the race is Jesus, and there's nothing more amazing than seeing him, is there?


The next bit is about getting rid of sin, anything from holds us back from Jesus, from running the race. Yeah yeah I hear you, easier said than done. I'm pretty sure given the choice we'd all like to get rid of sins, like addiction, habit, and temptation straight away. WE DO HAVE A CHOICE! You choose whether to have this sin or not, and you're the one who stops and controls it. God loves you, he wants to help you get rid of the sin in your life. Pray, ask him to help you. And when your trying to battle sin, never give up.


This tells us to look to JESUS. Not to your friends, not to family, not to TV, not to Satan, not to anything else in this temporary assignment that is life, but to Jesus. In any situation look to Jesus. Think what he would do, and what you think he would want you to do. I've spoken about this before, but what if his people prayed, what if the people turned to Jesus, stopped asking Oprah what to do? Make Jesus number one, and look to him.


He suffered death on the cross. Jesus. Perfect. Went through agonizing pain forYOU. And yet we constantly sin, go against Jesus, even deny his existence, act like we do not love him,  and so many people in the world do not believe he even existed. Times like these, it really breaks my heart, like it must do for him. If I told you tommorow that to pay for your sins you had to be crucified, you would hate it, you'd cry, you'd spent last minutes with your families, not wanting the moment to come. BUT JESUS DID IT FOR YOU 2000 YEARS AGO! He loved you so much he took the wrap for you. That alone makes me wanna sing and dance and praise God. But he took it all in his stride, cause God gave him joy. JOY. you bring Jesus joy!!!!!!


And now he's in heaven with God. How amazing. Hebrews tells us to think about Jesus example. He held on while horrible people were doing horrible things to him. The people who said he was drunk and mocking, and he wasn't the son of God, regardless of opposition, he carried on, he never gave up. And it's the same for us, when we face opposition, we need to never give up,  because Jesus did. No, you are not Jesus, but you can try your best to be. 


So, unless you hadn't guessed, you should never give up. God is there, he will heal you, he will continue loving you, do not ever give up. He won't let you go, stay faithful, stay true, keep confessing, you're his, and he loves you, more than you can ever imagine. I'm a guilty sinner, and I cannot do anything right, but God is perfect and can do everything right.