Trials Help Us to Ascend Higher In Christ

(Daniel 3:30) “Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.”

There are Seasons

You have been going through a season of trials from every direction.  Trouble in your family, your emotions, your job, and your finances; it seems as if you have had Satan’s complete attention!   There is a season for everything, even the trials that we go through, and trials do have a purpose!

Trials teach us, develop our gifts, increase our strength and faith, and trials are what God will also use to speak to us.

(Ecclesiastes 3:1) “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” 

Trials Grow Us

We will go through trials, especially when growing in Christ.  Why would God want you to ascend to a new level when you cannot handle what you have now? Trials give us experience, and we learn our way through them.

You may have wondered in the beginning about all the trials that were coming your way, but if this message is speaking to you, then by now, I am sure, as you have learned with each passing trial that the Lord has made you aware of what was being pruned in you. 

(John 15:1-2) “I am the vine, and My Father is the gardener.  He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” 

The trials are also to teach you and to mold you more into His likeness and His character.

 (Colossians 3:10) “And have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”  

  Through the trials you have been through, God has taught you who you are in Him, His child in whom even the very hairs on your head are numbered.  He has taught you to be confident in your identity in Him, no matter what Satan tries to throw your way to make you doubt.  He has taught you that His Kingdom is within you, and for encouragement, all you have to do is look within; that is where the Holy Spirit resides.

 (Luke 17:21) “Neither shall they say, see here! Or, see there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”

  He has taught you that when the thoughts of anger, depression, and self-pity come into your mind, all you have to do is cast them out!  Replace them with His truth!  They will come, but the battle is truly won or lost in your mind.  What you dwell on will sink into your heart and either bless it or destroy it.

  (II Corinthians 10:3-5) “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.  The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

 God Speaks Through the Trials

The trials are God's way of communicating to you to let you know if there is still unconfessed sin in your heart, or roots of depression, fear, worry, anger, pride, etc., that need to be cut out and past heartache that needs to be healed.   

(Matthew 15:13) “Every plant that My heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots.” 

Trials Develop Our Gifts

They are also to develop the gifts that He has planted in you for a purpose He has created before you were born.

 (Ephesians 2:10) ‘For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Trials Develop Strength & Faith

 He has taught you to stand up in your spirit, for you are not going to take Satan’s attacks any longer.  He has taught you to stand firm and to trust Him who is faithful.

 (I Peter 5:3-11) “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this, you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time.  Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.  Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.  And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast.  To Him be the power forever and ever. Amen. “

Just as He went through the fire with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, He will do the same with you. Now that He has been with you to mold you and to teach you and to prepare you for service, rejoice!  Now you are ready to be promoted to the calling He has for you!  But be on your guard, as you have learned with each new step, each new level brings new devils! But also, be encouraged in your growth, a new level!

 (I Corinthians 16:13) “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.”