What
    Happens
When You're
     Tested!

You have different tests that come in your life.  So it’s important that you have the right approach to them.  If you do, then good things can come out of the tests.  Hear about the different tests you may receive and from where tests come.  Then see how God enables you to pass them with victory.
I.    In Hardship.
II.   Been Left Behind.
III.  Position Challenged. 
IV.  Facing an Emergency. 
V.   While Waiting.  ​

 Show Who
 You Really
      Are!

   In times of hardship, your character or your quality will be tested.  You will show who you really are.  Hardship can grow you or it can pull you down into disappointment and dissatisfaction.

   When the trials come, show who you are.  Get past that test by acting as someone who has the power and presence of God in you.  You can flourish in the difficult times.

   You need to be a Fireweed.  What is a Fireweed?  It’s just a plant.  A flower.  But its characteristics match how we must be also.  You can’t tell by its physical appearance how tough it is.  It’s a beautiful pinkish purple bloom.  It grows somewhere between 4 to 6 feet tall.  The stems are narrow and the leaves are smooth.  It can even be eaten on top of salads or by itself, or used to make jelly or tea.

   But here’s where it grows best.  In hardship.  It grows in areas that have experienced a major fire or an avalanche or disturbance of some kind.  When the area is devastated and nothing can grow, keep watching.  In a short while, Fireweed will begin to start to grow and then it grows up tall.

   It’s amazing to see pictures of an area that has been wiped out by fire and then all of a sudden you come upon this large patch of beautiful flowers covering the whole area.  It’s as if you’re seeing a touch of God’s hand in the midst of what Satan has done.

   It can spring up after the eruption of a volcano or in abandoned bomb sites from a war.  It can grow near a roadside and other places that most flowers cannot survive.

   So when the test comes and it seems impossible for anything to grow there, Fireweed will be found growing and thriving.  It can make it in spite of hardship.  It’s as you are.  It has quality and character.  They call it a pioneer.  Meaning it will be the first plant that shows up and makes it in the hard areas.  When something is disturbed, the Fireweed can bring delight.

   God sees you that way.  When hardship comes, when something unpleasant or devastating has happened, you begin to grow.  Your quality and character—what He has put in you because you belong to Him—will shoot up.  It will grow and be seen by all as something delightful in the midst of devastation.  Something beautiful right in the midst of something terrible.

   He has put that inside you so you can survive and come out in a good way in hardship.  So in spite of how weak you may feel, or how tender, or unequipped, you can do it.  You have the right kind of character.  You have quality in you.  You can make it past that test and come out looking good!  Don’t feel that it will overtake you.

   There are some men in the Bible who grew right in the midst of the fire.  They definitely were Fireweeds.  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  We’ve heard the story many times of these Jewish men.  But their story isn’t just a cute kids’ story.  It’s our very life.  As a believer who comes under the fire of our enemy, the devil, we are in the same position they were.  And we can have the same response they did.

   Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had been captured by the King of Babylon, a mighty power in that time.  The king, Nebuchadnezzar, had a huge gold image made and required that everyone bow down and worship it as soon as the music began to play.  Anyone who didn’t would be pitched into a roaring furnace.

   So everyone gathered on the day when the image was revealed.  The music began and everyone got to their knees and worshiped the image.  Everyone except the Fireweeds—the Jews.

   When it was noticed by certain men that they didn’t bow, they brought accusation against the Jews to the king.

   So the King ordered the furnace to be increased by seven times, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the fire.  But when the king went to the furnace to see their destroyed bodies, he saw four people standing up in the fire unbound.  The fourth one appear to be divine.

   So the men were taken out unharmed by the fire, and the king made a decree that no one could speak a word against the God of these men.  Then they were promoted so that they prospered in a great way.

  When you pass the test in hardship, God will promote you in different ways.  The reward of passing the test is great in spite of what the enemy tried to do in your life.  Rely on God and know that He can help you make it through the hardship and triumph.

A Spiritual Powerline to say out loud:
“I’M TRIUMPHANT IN THE HARDSHIP!”

Thank You, Father, nothing can bring me down.  I’m going to grow no matter what I face.  I won’t just survive but I’ll flourish.  You have great things planned for me.  Thank You for Your strength and grace in this time until I see my victory.  In the name of Jesus.  Amen.

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