"CRUSHED TO PRODUCE"
PART I
Romans 8:18
"For the suffering of his present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."
When God finished His creation, it was a good creation (Gen. 1:31), but today it is a groaning creation. There is suffering and death, and there is pain, all of which is the result of Adam's sin. It is not the fault of creation, but this groaning, im not a useless thing. Paul compares it to a woman giving birth. There is pain but the pain will end, when the child is delivered. We as Kingdom believer must learn to not focus on, what feels like a hopeless situation, when the floor beneath you opens up and swallows you into a fall. And you find yourself submerged in a flood of emotions, thoughts and questions. This is where you wonder if you will ever be on your feet again and if you do get on your feet, how will you get enough strength to move on. But people of God, this is the place where your FAITH is tested.
James 1:3-4
"Knowing this, that the trying of your FAITH worketh patience.
but let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."
FAITH IS ALWAYS TESTED
When God called Abraham to live by faith He tested him in order to increase his faith. God always tests us to bring out the best in us. Just like the olive, it is crushed to produce oil, which is used to bring light (Ex. 27:20).
"And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bing thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always."
The devil temps us to bring out the worst, but testing our faith proves that we are truly born again believers.
TESTING WORKS FOR US NOT AGAINST US
It's important to know hat the word "trying" here in verse 3, can be translated "approval'. Peter helps us understand this better, I Peter 1:7:
"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ."
A gold prospector brings his ore sample into the assayer's office to be tested. The sample itself my not be worth more then a few dollars, but the approval, the official statement about the ore is worth millions. It assures the prospector that he has a gold mine. God's approval of our faith is precious because it assures us that our faith is genuine. Trials work for the Kingdom believer not against him. Paul said his, (Rom. 8:28)
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."
Also (II Cor. 4:17-18)
"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding an eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."
How can we look the things that are invisible Bishop? By FAITH! when you read and believe the Word of God. We have never seen God or heaven, but we know they are real, because the Word of God tells us so.
Heb. 11:1
"Now Faith is the substance of thing hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
God is so good that He gives us signs to remind us of the PROCESS as we strive to grow into our PURPOSE. Look at the growth of a human being, from birth to full maturity. The seed of a male fertilize and fuses with the egg of the female. The fertilized egg develops into an embryo and then a fetus and over a nine month period at the end of the fetal stage, a baby is born into the world. Then over years the infant grows into a toddler and then advances into childhood, adolescence and finally adulthood. None of us are large fertilized eggs roaming the neighborhood. Each of us became something GREATER. We grew into the full maturity of our potential. God never destined us to remain in seed form. He didn't design us like that because nothing eternal exist temporarily. God's desire has always been to reconnect us back to Himself. And take us from finite to infinite. One of the things I love most about God's Word is how God addresses every season of life beginning, middle, and end. If Jesus is God's only begotten Son, which He is, how could we not assign the same timeless and eternal nature to Him that we view in God? In fcat this truth is the foundation from which John begins hi gospel account of the life of Jesus Christ, (John 1:1-5,14).
Stay tuned for the next lesson
"I'M MORE THAN A SEED"
Love
Bishop T. W. Jackson I, ThM
