Hi everyone, welcome to Living Supernaturally. Thank you so much once again for this wonderful opportunity to just minister to you through God’s word. Today, we are going to be talking about being tested. James chapter 1, verses 12 through 15, ‘Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.’ Each one of us, in our lives would have gone through various forms of temptations. There are times we may have overcome and there are other times, we may have succumbed to these temptations. But the bible teaches us that the Holy Spirit empowers us to overcome every temptation and this involves discipline. In both the Old and the New Testament, the word ‘test’ means to prove by trial. Therefore, when God tests His children, His purpose is to prove that our faith is real. Not that God needs to prove to Himself since He knows all things but He is proving to us that our faith is real and we are truly His children and that no trial will overcome our faith. The testing and trials that we undergo come in various forms. Becoming a Christian will often require us to move from our comfort zones into the unknown. Perseverance in testing results in spiritual maturity and completeness. Whatever the source of attack or whatever the source of testing is, whether it is from satan or whether it is our own circumstances, God enables us and He empowers us to overcome those challenges. Anyone who has tried to give up a bad habit knows how hard it is to resist its enticements. Just a few days ago, we may have said that we are quitting but a few days later, we are ready to take up that habit again. The feeble attempt of trying to quit is doomed to failure. There is nothing more difficult than denying ourself. As James puts it, each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desires and enticed. This is because our sinful desires still cling on to ourself and we are powerless to fight it with our own strength. We need God’s help always. There are many examples of the positive results of being tested. The psalmist likens our testing to being like refined silver. Peter speaks of our faith of greater worth than gold and that is why we suffer grief and all kinds of trials. In testing our faith, God causes us to grow into strong disciples who will truly live by faith and not by sight. There is great joy in God’s gift of wisdom to discern an unhealthy desire and to work on that by disciplining ourselves and to conform our mind to Christ. I want to leave us with this verse, it says in Zechariah chapter 4, verse 6, ‘it is not by might, nor by the power, but it is by the Holy Spirit, says the Lord.’ Let us pray, Father, we thank you for the testing that you have taken us through, each one of us, may have gone through different seasons, we may be even going through season of testing right now. I pray that you will minister to each open of them who is going through that season, even as they hear this, may your Holy Spirit bring encouragement, bring faith and hope into their hearts. I pray even as we go through these testing seasons, we know that we will come our victorious as refined silver because you are with us and you will empower us and teach us. We thank you for your promise, in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

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