Tested not Tempted

I thank God that He is who sets my day, His body's day in place.  I thank Him for those that come to speak strength, encouragement into our lives even though they do not know who will be receiving what is written.  Today, as for me, that person was Os Hillman.  God knows what I have been facing for many years, just as He knows what you have been facing.  He also knew what would be hitting you square in the face attempting to break you.  Thank God He is testing us not tempting us.  Personally I give all this into the wonderful, loving, generous, kind hands of Christ my prince of peace, the lover of my soul.  I thank God that He chose to give me mercy and grace, extend peace so that I might recieve that which surpasses all understanding of my simple mind.  In Him I have all things.  In Him I can do all things.  In Him that which I do for His glory is victorious always.  In Him I am a transformed creature that cannot be held down, held back, broken or taken from.  I thank God that, that which Satan comes to steal, kill or destroy is promised to be paid back to the point that I can do nothing but give praise as I honor the one and only I AM.

So how can I do anything but sing praise?  How can my contenance be down cast even for a moment? It can not unless I choose something lesser, a power lesser.....and that will never be. Amen.

 I pray that whatever you are facing to day, that you see the giant is God and He is for you not against you.  All else WILL flee from your presence.  You my dear brothers and sisters remain in faith and STAND!!

With love,

Candace



Tested for Abundance

TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman

"We went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance." Psalm 66:12b

It is nice to hear that God desires to bring us into abundance. In fact, many a preacher has promoted the goodness of the Lord and His ability to prosper His children. Alas, my experience is that this gospel of material abundance has little to do with the gospel of the Kingdom as our Lord works in the realm of the sanctified soul. The passage above tells us that God does in fact bring us into places of abundance. However, upon further study of the entire passage, we learn the route to this abundance.



For you, O God, tested us; You refined us like silver. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but You brought us to a place of abundance (Psalm 66:10-12). God's economy of abundance often has little to do with material blessing. In God's economy, abundance is often measured in wisdom and knowledge of Himself. It is then that we are truly blessed. Wisdom cannot be gained through intellectual pursuits. Wisdom comes only through experience. Real wisdom comes from the kinds of experiences that come only through the deepest tests. Lessons of refinement, including prison accompanied by burdens, lead us through the fire and water. This is the territory that must be traveled to reach that place of abundance. It would seem strange that a loving God would use such means with His children. What we often fail to realize is that God's measuring stick is the character and likeness of Jesus Christ Himself in each of us. This cannot be gained through a life of ease and pleasure. Ease and pleasure fail to refine.

Is God using your workplace to refine you today? Has He placed you in a prison or laid burdens on your back? Take heart if this is the place you find yourself, and realize that if you are faithful through the tests, you will enter a place of abundance that few will ever attain. The darkest hour is just before daybreak.