Tests

God doesn't test us in anticipation of our failure. His tests are designed to convince us that we need to be totally dependent on Him in order to live a victorious Christian life. Dependence is difficult for us to embrace in a society that idolizes independence and self-sufficiency. Yet, we must embrace our reliance on Him--on the power of the Spirit who resides within us--a gift from Him. "Without Me you can do nothing" are not idle words. He exhorts us to keep on growi...ng in grace and the knowledge of Him. Through His loving testing--yes, loving--He teaches us the need for His sufficient grace. The more we rely on our own human strength to live the spiritual life, the less we have of His omnipotent strength to do His will. And He often tests us in those areas that we believe are our strengths. He has empowered us in certain areas, and we begin to think it's us and not Him doing the living, the ministering to others that He has called us to do. The testing reveals to us our spiritual pride. And the knowledge we are to daily acquire is experiential knowledge, not head knowledge. Oh, He has implanted the knowledge in our heads, but the testing engraves it on our hearts. We no longer "just believe" the truths in our theology, we have experienced the power of the truth to transform us by the testing that made it undeniably effective in our daily walk. Testing--God's proof of His love for us as His beloved child--transforms us into the image of His Dear Son--makes us more like Jesus as unimaginable as that can be. Pray for His love tests in your life. Embrace the grace you need to live for Him.