{"id":7730,"date":"2012-10-31T05:42:54","date_gmt":"2012-10-31T13:42:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wordpress\/?p=7730"},"modified":"2012-11-01T10:54:57","modified_gmt":"2012-11-01T18:54:57","slug":"the-trial-of-faith-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=7730","title":{"rendered":"The Trial of Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>If you have faith as a mustard seed . . . nothing will be impossible for you \u2014<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?version=31&amp;search=Matthew+17%3A20\" target=\"_blank\">Matthew 17:20<\/a><\/h1>\n<p><!-- .entry-meta --><!-- .entry-header --><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QeLCuB8rU2Y\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"620\" height=\"315\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<section>We have the idea that God rewards us for our faith, and it may be so in the initial stages. But we do not earn anything through faith\u2014 faith brings us into the right relationship with God and gives Him His opportunity to work. Yet God frequently has to knock the bottom out of your experience as His saint to get you in direct contact with Himself. God wants you to understand that it is a life of <em>faith<\/em>, not a life of emotional enjoyment of His blessings. The beginning of your life of faith was very narrow and intense, centered around a small amount of experience that had as much emotion as faith in it, and it was full of light and sweetness. Then God withdrew His conscious blessings to teach you to \u201cwalk by faith\u201d (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=2+Corinthians+5:7\">2 Corinthians 5:7<\/a>). And you are worth much more to Him now than you were in your days of conscious delight with your thrilling testimony.<\/section>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Faith by its very nature must be tested and tried. And the real trial of faith is not that we find it difficult to trust God, but that God\u2019s character must be proven as trustworthy in our own minds. Faith being worked out into reality must experience times of unbroken isolation. Never confuse the trial of faith with the ordinary discipline of life, because a great deal of what we call the trial of faith is the inevitable result of being alive. Faith, as the Bible teaches it, is faith in God coming against everything that contradicts Him\u2014 a faith that says, \u201cI will remain true to God\u2019s character whatever He may do.\u201d The highest and the greatest expression of faith in the whole Bible is\u2014 \u201cThough He slay me, yet will I trust Him\u201d (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Job+13:15\">Job 13:15<\/a>)._<\/p>\n<p>________________________________________________________<\/p>\n<p>October 31, 2011<\/p>\n<p>Journal for Today-JDV<\/p>\n<p>Lord, it is so easy to talk about faith and hope when they are not the glue of our days and nights. It is easy to stand back in the distance and study faith and hope and love. It is when I am required to live in intense faith and hope that I am drawn even closer to You though. And even as I am<br \/>\ndrawn closer and closer to You through pain and sorrow it seems clear that my faith and hope become renewed.<\/p>\n<p>And God<em> says\u2026\u201dDo not try to get out of your trials too easily or quickly, let them have their<br \/>\nperfect desired outcomes, namely bringing you closer to Me. Praise Me in your trials and notice how their meaning and power shifts. Seek first the Kingdom of heaven, which is Jesus, and all the things you want or need will be added to your life. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Acknowledge the Lord in all of your life, even the trials, and<br \/>\nnotice how your capacity for love, faith and hope is increased.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you have faith as a mustard seed . . . nothing will be impossible for you \u2014Matthew 17:20 We have the idea that God rewards us for our faith, and it may be so in the initial stages. But we do not earn anything through faith\u2014 faith brings us into the right relationship with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7730"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7730"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7744,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7730\/revisions\/7744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}