Temptation Vs. Testing

I have had the privilege of hearing Brother Clark preach for the past several nights and many things he spoke changed my life and how I see things. One of the main things that really spoke out to me was temptation vs. testing.

Many times throughout my life, I asked God...Why? Why do I have to go through this trial? Why does this have to happen to me? Why can't life be easy? I seldom looked at situations as an opportunity to prove my character! If I am coming against something in my life now and see it as a test, now I can look at it and say, okay how does God want me to come through this? What does He expect of me?

When God tests me, I know that He is showing me my character. Both my flaws and my strengths. For He knows my heart, better than I do, for He created me. So he uses these testing times to show me, what I am made of, what I am capable of. How much faith I have. So if I know really who I am, I can through prayer and more testing become who God wants me to become.

If we don't know who we are or what we are or are not capable of...how do grow? If I don't know where I am...how do I know where to start? If I don't know where to start...how do I know how far it is to where I need to go? We not only have to know Gods goals for our life, but we need to know where we are starting from too.

God puts problems in our ways, so that He can show us how big He is. This helps our faith grow, when we can look back and see what He has brought us through, we can look forward and know He will bring us through what lies ahead as well. I need to get out of His way when He is working in my life. I need to stop trying to fix the problems at hand, and let God fix them by using me!

So God does not tempt like the devil tempts, God tests to help us grow and show us what is really inside.