{"id":13252,"date":"2023-09-02T09:00:20","date_gmt":"2023-09-02T03:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianmessenger.in\/?p=13252"},"modified":"2023-09-01T13:41:58","modified_gmt":"2023-09-01T08:11:58","slug":"how-to-pass-the-tests-in-your-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianmessenger.in\/how-to-pass-the-tests-in-your-life\/","title":{"rendered":"How to pass the tests in your life"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Joyce Meyer<\/strong><\/p>\n

WHY, God, why?\u201d It\u2019s a common question, and one we often ask in the midst of hard times when we feel that we\u2019ve been forsaken. But I\u2019ve learned through my own trials and painful experiences that no matter what I\u2019m going through, God is with me through it all (Heb. 13:5) and He will redeem it\u2026He\u2019ll make something beautiful out of it. This is true for every single person who puts their trust in God.<\/p>\n

Proverbs 3:5-8 says, \u201cTrust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones\u201d (NIV). Notice that verse seven says \u201cDo not be wise in your own eyes.\u201d In other words, don\u2019t ever think you\u2019re smart enough to figure out how to solve your problems on your own. And verse eight shows us that if we trust in God and follow His ways, it will bring health to our bodies and nourishment to our bones.<\/p>\n

When I look back and think about what I was like years ago before I got serious about growing up spiritually, I can honestly say I am a much different person today. Back then, I believed in Jesus and loved Him as much as I knew how to love Him, but I had every kind of character problem you could possibly have.<\/p>\n

I was not a nice person even though I went to church every week and was on the evangelism team. The problem was I was religious but not Christlike! Thankfully, this daily journey with God that I\u2019ve been taking for more than 45 years now has brought radical transformation to my life in so many ways.<\/p>\n

See, it\u2019s the challenges we face that God uses to reveal the things in us that need to change, because we can\u2019t deal with our weaknesses if we don\u2019t know what they are. Then He works through them to transform us into the character of Christ little by little, one day at a time (2 Cor. 3:18.).<\/p>\n

These situations are tests that God uses to help us become everything He has created us to be. Now, I\u2019m not talking about major disasters or crises like sickness, the loss of a loved one or some other kind of evil trauma. The tests God gives show us ways we need to grow spiritually and prepare us to move forward in His plan for our lives.<\/p>\n

For example, I used to be a very impatient person. I still get impatient sometimes, but I have grown a lot in this area throughout the years. I remember when I would get so frustrated all the time with people who were slow or with situations that created inconveniences for me. After all, I had important things to do and was always in a hurry.<\/p>\n

Well, God used clerks in stores to help me see my bad attitude and work patience into my soul. There was a time when it seemed that whenever I went to the grocery store, I\u2019d get in the slowest line. The person in front of me would have items with no prices on them, so we\u2019d have to wait for someone to look them up, or the customer wouldn\u2019t have enough money to cover their total bill and have to decide what to send back.<\/p>\n

I finally knew for sure that God had my number when I went to a department store one day and tried to buy something, but I couldn\u2019t find a clerk to take my money. I went from slow clerks to no clerks!<\/p>\n

These situations taught me that the best thing I can do is decide to have a good attitude and enjoy waiting. Because in God\u2019s school of life, we don\u2019t fail; we just get to keep taking the same test over and over until we pass it.<\/p>\n

The good news is when we pass our tests, there\u2019s a promotion coming! We\u2019re changing and being prepared to do bigger and better things for Christ, and we\u2019ll have much more peace and joy in our everyday life.<\/p>\n

So, what bugs you? What really grates on your nerves and causes you to get frustrated, stealing your peace and joy? I want to encourage you to remember Proverbs 3:5-8 and use it as a practical guide in these situations. Let the tests you take make you better\u2014more like Christ\u2014and keep moving forward in every good plan God has for your life!<\/p>\n

Joyce Meyer is a New York Times\u2019 bestselling author and founder of Joyce Meyer Ministries Inc.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The good news is when we pass our tests, there\u2019s a promotion coming! We\u2019re changing and being prepared to do bigger and better things for Christ.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1498],"tags":[10465,10466,10468,10464,10460,2556,10463,10461,10456,10457,10467,10458,10459,10462],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianmessenger.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13252"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianmessenger.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianmessenger.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianmessenger.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianmessenger.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13252"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianmessenger.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13254,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianmessenger.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13252\/revisions\/13254"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianmessenger.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christianmessenger.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianmessenger.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christianmessenger.in\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}