In The Heat Of Our Trials

The heat is on, the temperature is rising, life in these end times has become like a furnace. What does God want from His people, ordained to be alive and with feet on planet earth for such a time as this?

The echo in my mind are the words of Jesus in John 15:16, "You did not choose Me but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. Then will the Father give you whatever you ask in My name. This is My command: Love one another."

We are all facing trials of various kinds. No one is exempt. So long as we have a breath in our body, we are undergoing trials. How we face and endure those trials become the issue, not how to avoid them, for trials are inevitable.

As the Spirit calls me this morning, I am emerging from a battle for marriage and family so fierce that the hours and days seem to have no beginning and no end. The sense of time has been lost, and it has been one long, dark night in my life and in the life of my family.

The Holy One reminds me that He has never left my side. He will never leave me nor forsake me, yet the preoccupation with the incoming firey arrows has made it hard to concentrate on His voice.

Today there is a peace. I pray the dark night is over, but in the peace I need to understand what I am to glean, what I am to learn in and from this trial.

The words of my Savior brought to my mind by His Spirit, tell me to look closely at the fruit I have been bearing during this trial. Jesus is The "Fruit Inspector" over all who are called by His name.

It is the Spirit within who will bring us into the conforming image of Christ Jesus, our Savior, so long as we co-operate and yield to His rule in our hearts and lives. And it is the Spirit within who must manifest His fruit, (His nature) in, to and through us as we face all the challenges this life has to offer.

So what purpose in our lives do trials fulfill? "Search me, oh God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts...see if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting." When I look closely at what the trial has revealed, I see that the conflict has exposed some pretty rotten "fruit". God already knows what lies buried deep within my heart but it's through the trials that I begin to see what the Lord already knows is there.

When things are moving smoothly in my life, I can control my reactions, but when the battle rages and the heat gets turned up, I react spontaneously and I confess, I am shocked by how I react and what comes bubbling up to the surface.

The old nature is truly still alive and well. Gone is the self-exalted pride in my personal righteousness. I am humbled by the reality of my responses and broken by how far I still am from the mark. The Holy One brings me to awareness and repentance in our time together this morning.

He asks me to consider what fruit has been challenged in the trial and what rottenness has been revealed. That becomes the point and lesson I must focus on.

The fruit of the Spirit...(I.E. His nature) IS love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control. His Presence brings all these character qualities to life in me. What has been challenged? Where do I need the work in surrender?

Today there is clarity and I praise Him for it. The heat of the trial is having it's perfect result in me because it brings me back to Him, the only source for the fruit I am to bear.

What trials are you facing today and what "fruit" is being challenged?

The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?