Genuine Faith (Daily Devotional)

Shalom and welcome to another episode of Living Supernaturally. We've been going through a series on finding hope in tough times. Today's truth that Peter brings about in his letter to the believers is growing in genuine faith. First Peter chapter 1, verses 6 to 7, ‘in this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.’ Going through a tough time can be painful, it can be very grieving to our hearts, yet through the passage, we have been looking at, we have found many encouraging truths. Peter states that when trials come, it is an occasion for us to reflect on how we can trust God more, in and through it. We see that God refines us to build that genuine, authentic faith, which God values more than anything else that we can give Him. What is important is not the trials that you and I face, but how we face them, how we respond to them? Do we become bitter or do we become better in the midst of these trials? One of the important lessons in life is to realize that God has given us the ability to choose on how to respond in difficult times. We can respond in faith; God uses every trouble or every trial to draw us closer to Him. We can either respond in a way that honors God or that displeases Him. We can respond in a way that is good and pleasing to His perfect will. Notice that the first part of verse seven, he says, that the trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. Peter uses an analogy of gold being refined here, he says gold is tested and purified, he gives an analogy of testing of character and refining of gold. We see that fire causes the impurities in gold to rise to the surface so that it can be easily removed out. Likewise, fiery trials or hardships makes our faith stronger. Peter mentions that if our faith remains strong after being tried by these trials, this brings much praise, much glory, and much honor when Christ is revealed. So, during the tough times, we learn to trust God deeper even when it is difficult, we know that our faith will be one day on display for praise and honor, when Jesus is revealed. So, whatever you may be going through today, encourage your heart that one of the purposes of our trials is to prove that our faith is genuine. We can hold on with genuine faith till one day because one day eventually it will result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus is revealed, Let's pray together, Heavenly Father, through these difficult times that we are going through, may we prove to be faithful to you, may our faith be genuine and authentic and may one day we bring praise and glory and honor to you because we know that who we have placed our faith in, is true and strong and faithful. Thank you for this truth, thank you for this encouragement, may we live with this in mind each and every day, in Jesus’s name we pray, Amen.

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Daily devotions to strengthen your faith each day. Daily Devotional for Spirit filled living. Each daily devotion is about five minutes in duration. These daily devotionals are centered around a weekly theme. So there are seven daily devotions that focus on the theme and bring you insight, understanding and revelation from the Bible. Each week's theme is listed as a series. So you can listen to the current week's devotions or go to any previous theme/series that speaks to your present need (https://apcwo.org/resources/daily-devotions ). Also available free sermons (https://apcwo.org/sermons), and free Christian books (https://apcwo.org/books) to nourish and strengthen your faith.