The Joy Set Before You

We know the purpose of taking tests and exams but we still don't like them.  We still wish there was another way to pass besides actually taking the test. We know they are necessary if we are going to receive promotions, graduations, diplomas and degrees. But most people could do without them if it were possible.

It's the same way with the seasons of testing we have to endure in our walk with God. We know they are coming. We even know when we are being prepared for them. But when they start, we really want them to stop immediately. But just as we have to submit to the process of testing in order to get whatever certification we want in the natural, we have to submit to God’s way of preparing us, certifying, perfecting us, for the purposes we have to fulfill in our lives and ministries.

We are all called and appointed to do something and like it or not, there are seasons of testing in which we prove what we have been shouting about, what we have told others that God said to us.

Nobody wants to repeat a grade or class.  As uncomfortable as it is, we really would rather just do what we have to do, and learn what we need to learn so we can move on to the greater.  Let’s do the same thing with the seasons of testing that we have to endure as Christians. Even Christ had to have endurance. He despised the cross but He focused on the joy that was set before Him, on the other side of the cross. There is joy on the other side of the cross you are bearing right now.  Hold on. Submit to the process. Joy is coming!