Testing

Testing

“Beloved, do not trust every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they belong to God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” ~ 1John  4:1

  There are times when we may feel that we are being tested. That God is giving us a test to see what we will do. Will we turn from Him or stay with Him? Will we give up our faith? Will we hold on or let go? During this time we may feel that He is against us and as calvin says “Somebody’s out to get me”. God does not tempt us, but someone else does. I have avoid speaking of the devil or Satan because he does not need “more press”, but he is also a reality of this world.  He is the “biggest” false prophet there is out there today. 

      We do face trials as we follow God and it is not a pass or fail as a test but a gaining of strength, faith, grace, and understanding. Each trial we face may test us but it us who puts that feeling of passing or failing into action. During the trials we face we will hear those false prophets and the true prophets. We have to test and listen very closely to what each is saying. Then we need to discern what we are hearing. God will not lead us astray but satan will. Satan will give those quick and easy answers. It is like that saying “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”. Satan uses those times of weakness to “attack” and try to lead us away. 

     We need to be on our “A” game when it comes to false prophets. They speak a good game and speak with a golden tongue. They will promise you everything and give nothing but take all from you. You will feel like someone really is out to get you and it is not from God. You can tell if it is from God. “ Every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the flesh belongs to God” 1John 4: 2 In the same respect you can tell if it is from Satan, “ and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus does not belong to God” 1John 4:3 

      It is easy to not believe or want to believe that there is a force in the world that seeks the ruins of souls. It would make it easier if it was not the case. Satan will tempt us with our weaknesses. He will use money, power, sex, and prestige to turn our focus from God to them. It is in the sin where satan tries to grab a foothold into our lives. The more we sin the more we have turned from God and the happier satan becomes. When we ignore satan in the world he wins. I am not saying that when we ignore his traps and snares that he wins but we say he does not exist is when he wins. It would be great if it was like the old westerns where the good guys wore white and the bad guys wore black. We would be able to make clearer choices if that was the case with false prophets. 

       The false prophets and false spirits will use every trick there is and will use any person to get us to follow. There is no rules they follow. God does have a set of rules He follows for us. He will never tempt us to do wrong, nor take our free will from us to make the choice. God will always face us, His back is never turned from us. 

        We are going to be tempted and tested in this life. This life will be this way not because of God but because of satan. Satan will use whatever he can to pull us and turn us from God. We make that choice to turn or not. We choose to be tempted or not. Now I must say not every temptation is from satan but can be our own desires and wants. We ultimately are the ones who chooses who to listen to. We do need to take responsibility and not blame satan for our own sins. Yes, he may have tempted us at times but it is us who let it happen. 

      To be a follower of Jesus opens us up to temptation of satan. We still need to forge ahead and hold our heads high in this life. When we are tempted be strong in the Lord, pray without ceasing, ask for strength and take it head on. Remember all the times when you got past the trials, the tests and the temptations. The three “T’s” of the life, trials, tests and temptations. Do not get caught up in these that you do not enjoy the good times. We do not have to live a life of constantly looking over our shoulder for satan but just beware he is out there. Keep looking forward and fix your sights on God. 

Until tomorrow, God Bless, and remember God is stronger then any temptation.