It seems we are now coming to the time when everyone's faith will be proven. Faith is not proven until it is tested, and the times that we are entering will test the faith of us all. This is our greatest opportunity. In the Lord every test is for the purpose of promotion, to see if we can be entrusted with more authority and power. Are you ready for the tests?

 

As my friend Francis Frangipane likes to say, "You never fail one of God's tests—you just keep taking it until you pass. And, every test is an open book test.

Today I want to talk about the second great test of love, which is endurance. This is what the Lord referred to in His rebuke to the church of Ephesus in Revelation 2:4-5:

In this age the Lord is calling us to His kingdom under His domain—we are not being forced. When He bodily returns to the earth to establish His kingdom, He will rule with a rod of iron. But in this age, He is calling those who prove their worthiness to rule with Him by their willingness to serve Him and walk in His truth, even when both the rewards for obedience, and consequences for disobedience are not immediate. This requires a walk of faith, but true faith is always obedient as we read in Romans 16:25-27:

There are some teachings in the Bible that are hard to understand, and others that are hard to live by. However, the Lord gave us a mandate that does not allow us to pick and choose which teachings we want to accept and which ones we do not. As we read in Matthew 28:18-20:

As we are told in I Timothy 1:5, "But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." We have discussed our need for power to be witnesses of the God who is all-powerful. We must also understand that God is love and we cannot be His witnesses without love. Our primary goals in life should be the fruit of the Spirit and power. The power of God is the demonstration of His love.

 

The Lord did not heal people to reveal His power, but to demonstrate the power of His love for them.

Before the Lord ascended He gave a wonderful promise, as we read in Acts 1:8: "but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."

 

 

The enemy of our souls uses fear to keep people in bondage just as the Lord uses faith to set us free.

One of the great encouragements I have had concerning the potential of the church in our time is meeting the people who attend our conferences. Because they represent many different denominations, and we have had representatives from up to fifty different nations present, we get a pretty good sampling of the body of Christ. I marvel at some of the most mature believers, most of whom have been in Christ for many years, who will humble themselves to be taught by some of our young prophetic people.

I have been privileged to travel widely throughout the body of Christ, and have been exposed to almost every kind of major Christian denomination or movement. Presently, many of these groups are in conflict with each other, and some always seem to drift into serious delusions. However, even in its present state I marvel at the brilliance of the church. She is, without question, the greatest creation on earth. Even so, her true greatness is yet to be realized.

When a child is born, he or she will grow very fast for the first few years of their life. Then they will have plateaus where growth slows. They will also experience "growth spurts," during which time the child's appetite will tend to grow, causing them to shoot up two or three inches in short periods of time. These spurts can be painful, stretching the muscles causing what is known as "growing pains." Even so, as long as they are having them, they are continuing to grow.