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Why do people experience so many
TRIALS & TRIBULATIONS?
Every Christian has many tests to face throughout his
lifetime. The first one is the OLD SIN NATURE TEST, which we must
learn to pass every single day by using our own volition or free
will. Only when we learn to pass this test can we become an
achiever and glorify our Lord Jesus Christ.
Our sinful nature is Satan's inside agent, and he uses
it to make the believer produce human good works and tries to keep
him from fulfilling God's purpose for his life. Peter warned us
about this when he said, "Be sober, be vigilant, because your
enemy, the devil, is constantly prowling about like a roaring
lion, looking for someone to devour." (1 Peter 5:8) |
Man's sin nature is located in the cell
structure of his body, and it need not have control over his soul.
Positive volition toward learning and metabolizing God's Word will
guard our soul and help us apply what we've learned to the situatioI1-
and keep us from giving in to nasty sins like judging, gossiping,
having a negative mental attitude about life in general, or letting
our emotions rule how we think and end up with a guilt complex.
We must never allow our freedom in Christ to give us an
excuse t6 live immorally as they did in the days of Jeremiah when they
said, "We will live the way we want to live!" In Galatians 5:13; Paul
warned us not to use our liberty for an opportunity to please
ourselves.
When the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ walks in the
Spirit- he will not carry out the desires of his sin nature.
(Galatians 5:16) The sin nature fights against the, human spirit of
the believer, but when he has personal love for the Lord, he
wil1leamhow to resist temptation In order to do that, we must first
learn to keep short accounts with the Lord by naming our known sins to
God the Father as soon as we are aware of them. (1 Jom1:9)
In 1 Corinthians 9:24, Paul said that all believers are
running a race, but not all will receive the prize. The believer must
make his body a slave in order to pass the Old Sin Nature Test, and he
can only do that when he applies the Bible' Doctrine he has learned
and metabolized to every situation he encounters in life.
Never judge or try to punish a wrongdoer. God will take
care of him. Instead, we must learn to execute the pre-designed plan
of God for our own life, because if we don't, we will find ourselves
on a muddy road, frantically searching for happiness without God, and
our frustration and misery will become even greater than before.
Psalm 7:12 tells what the believer does to himself when
he fails to follow the narrow road that leads to an abundant life.
First there will be a series of reactions and distractions, followed
by a frantic search for happiness. Next, emotional revolt of the soul.
Then the believer will find himself living in a lie and not wanting to
learn Bible Doctrine. Last of all, the negative believer will find
himself involved in reverse process reversionism which only Rebound
and Recovery can heal.
Here are some principles to consider:
1) the believer may have
a kind of illness or disease, because he will reap what he sows when
he is out of fellowship with the Lord.
2) an undisciplined life
will result in total frustration and discipline from the Lord.
3) the believer will seek
pleasure apart from the Word of God and become miserable.
4) God will use the thing
with which the believer is obsessed to discipline him.
5) the believer must
learn to have a capacity for happiness by hearing and believing God's
Word as it is taught by a pastor-teacher who knows the original
languages of scripture and can give accurate teaching that will edify
him so that he can apply Bible Doctrine to his experience.
6) we are all products of
our own decisions.
7) Jezebel chose idolatry
and fornication and brought chaos upon herself. She was apparently
seeking for pleasure, but found self-induced misery instead.
8) illicit relationships
may offer a moment of pleasure, but they will result in a lifetime of
misery and unhappiness.
9) God designed sex as an
expression of love between one man and one woman, and He will not
permit the distortion of it without serious consequences to those
involved.
10) God invented
happiness, which can only exist when the believer stays within the
predesigned plan of God for his life. God has a monopoly on happiness,
and He commands every believer to be happy in every circumstance of
life. (1 Thessalonians 5:16)
Our emotions should submit to and be dominated by the
right lobe of the soul, which is where we do our thinking. Emotion is
the female part of the soul, and it responds to the right lobe;
therefore, we should never make a decision based upon how we feel.
Normally, emotion without thought inevitably ends in arrogance. "Koilia"
and "Nephros" are two Greek words for emotions, and both refer to
something that is empty or hollow ... having no thought ... no common
sense ... no ability to reason properly. Emotions are the appreciator
of the soul. By function, emotions are like an empty bag that is lined
with sensitivity. In Jeremiah 12:10 we read "I, the Lord, search the
heart. I test the mind to give each man according to his ways."
When emotions function without thought, the believer
will be out of control, and there will be no spiritual involvement.
Emotions are never related to Divine power. They were never designed
to improve the intellect. Emotions have no doctrinal content
whatsoever. Philippians 3:18,19 tell us that when our emotions are in
control, we are enemies of Christ, because we concentrate on earthly
matters rather than on God's Word.
Positive volition demands Bible teaching! Every
believer must have it by whatever means are available to him, and that
does not necessarily involve face-to-face teaching. There are a number
of men in our nation to whom the Lord has given the gift of
Pastor-Teacher and who have learned the original languages of
scripture so that they can teach believers the correct interpretation
of the infallible Word of God. Their books, tapes and videos are
available at no charge, so the believer has no excuse whatever for not
receiving Bible Doctrine on a daily basis if he desires to have it.
PERCEPTION IS THE ISSUE!PEOPLE TESTING is another test we all must
learn to pass successfully. Reaction to this test involves the
application of Bible Doctrine and the use of our free will When people
trouble us, we first need to step back and look at the person and then
apply the doctrine we have metabolized to the situation instead of
reacting. If we fail to apply known doctrine, people can and will
become a major distraction to our spiritual growth. We will become
bitter and disillusioned ... even our personality can change
overnight. Satan, as well as any individual you may consider to be
your enemy, hates to be ignored, because they are arrogant, so we must
apply God's solution to the situation by using His problem solving
devices. They are: Rebound, which results in the filling of the Holy
Spirit; using the Faith-Rest technique; being oriented to the
principle of grace; applying the doctrine to which we have become
oriented; being aware of our own personal sense of destiny; having
impersonal love for all mankind; having personal love for God; sharing
the happiness of God; and being occupied with Christ by knowing how He
thinks, because the Bible is the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2: 16)
THOUGHT TESTING involves preoccupation with self. When we become
occupied with our own problems, we will become negative toward the
intake of Bible Doctrine. Satan loves to cause us to think negatively
by using his fiery darts. The weapons of our warfare that can be used
against those darts are called 'the whole armor of God' as found in
Ephesians 6: 1 0-17.
SYSTEM TESTING involves negative reaction to God's standards of
authority ... that is, to our employer (1 Peter 2:18); to governmental
authority (Romans 13:1,2) and Ephesians 6:5); authority in general as
stated in 1 Peter 2:13-15; the woman toward her husband (1 Corinthians
11:3)
HISTORICAL or DISASTER TESTING may cause us as believers to suffer
because of association with our nation, but we must learn not to panic
nor forsake our first love! Our Lord has a perfect solution to every
problem we will ever face in this life, so we must learn to leave
those problems in His capable hands.
In Matthew 24:6, Jesus told His disciples, "You shall
hear of wars and rumors of wars, but don't be troubled." Then in John
16:33, He said, "I have spoken these things to you so that in Me you
may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but take
courage . . . I have overcome the world!"
Regardless of trials and tribulations in life, we must always remember
this:
JESUS CHRIST CONTROLS HISTORY!
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