Q4. Refining Faith

[Pastor Ralph]

Q4. (1:6-7) Can you remember any instances in which God used difficult circumstances to refine and purify your faith? What did God accomplish in your life? How, exactly, does genuine, tested faith bring glory to Jesus?

[jenni03]

There are so many times that GOD has put me through the Refiner's Fire. You would think i would be a completely pure gold now, but i'm no where near that! But everytime something has happened in my life, i look back and see another part of me chipped away so that i look a little more like Jesus who's hidden underneath all of my rusty outsides.

Genuine faith shows Jesus who's really in it for the long run... He wants to see who can handle anything life brings their way...He wants to see who, when the waters start rising, runs the other way like crazy, and who looks to HIM to bring them out of the waves. The second type of person really glorifies HIM becasue they are geniune.

[Francine Sykes]

I'm going through circumstances right now that I feel God is using to refine my faith. He is making it clear that He is my source, my provider and not a job. My reaction to things are different now from what they would have been even last year. I think that tested faith brings glory to Jesus when people see you go through something but your reaction is not what they would have expected. More importantly, that they understand that it's only because of Jesus that you are making it through difficulties (and not wallowing in them) and that you have the kind of attitude that would honor God during the process.

[sponsor]

Some thoughts on being refined-something I am quite familiar with:

10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11 For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter. 2Cor.7:10-11

I know about worldly sorrow-once being addicted to self in all it's manifestations ie. self-pity etc.

Yet only because of the Spirit that lives in me I now know about Godly sorrow which leads to freedom.

The Gospel is about freedom- freedom from self. Freedom from fear.....Freedom from bondage!

I have been tested and sifted and will continue to be. I rejoice in that! (although sometimes it don't feel to good!!!

Psalm 139

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;

Try me, and know my anxieties;

24 And see if there is any wicked way in me,

And lead me in the way everlasting.

Be careful what you pray for and expect miracles...........When I am week he is truly strong!!

The thorn is sometimes there to help you!!

[Patsy4Him]

My husband is in construction. A few years ago he was layed off. At the time we had no savings stored up because we weren't expecting this. And at the time we lived paycheck to paycheck. He applied for unemployment and they give you a portion of what you earn. I truly did not know how we would make it. My husband is a very strong man of God, a Promise Keeper and he keeps my faith going at times. We prayed about out circumstances and trusted God to provide for our needs.

He was layed off for 4 months. We lived on 1/2 his salary and all of my salary. Every single month our bills were paid in full and we always had food on the table AND we always paid a full tithe. Ask me how we did it physically and I will tell you I don't know. But I will tell you that our God is Jehovah Raphah, the God who Provides and He provided all of our needs. When I wondered how he would do it, it always happened. God blew me away that winter and He did a real work in building my faith in Him. Today my faith is so strong. I know I could move that mountain if I ever needed to. With GOD ALL things are possible, not SOME, but ALL.

He is Awesome and I give all glory and honor to Jesus.

Patsy

[sherrylynn]

God has repeatedly used difficult circumstances to refine and purify my faith. One in particular stands out which truly caused me to FINALLY give my all to Jesus. My husband and I decided to close our business. We just couldn't make it and needed to move on. This hit my husband extremely hard and he turned to alcohol as a way to ease the disappointment of what he perceived to be failure and in not knowing where to turn next. I turned to scripture and prayer and as my worry and anger over my husband's behavior was turned to comfort and peace, my husband also turned to Jesus. It was a rocky couple of years and when I felt divorce was headed our way, God told me all I had to do was LOVE my husband and sure enough God's love carried us through. We both now love the Lord and study His word together. My husband went through some really tough soul searching, detox, fear and all of what goes with that but as a result he has turned his life over to Jesus and that brings glory to Jesus. My husband and I both had our own tests, but in very different ways and the Lord brought us both to a stronger faith and increased our love and taught us what marriage should be in His eyes. Genuine testing brings glory to Jesus by revealing who He is and what He can do in the lives of those who love Him.

[light]

Q4. Can you remember any instances in which God used difficult circumstances to refine and purify your faith? What did God accomplish in your life? How, exactly, does genuine, tested faith bring glory to Jesus?

Last year God said to me to expect the unexpected. In september my father was murdered. (A few weeks before this happened I had thoughts that something was going to happen. I believe God was preparing me for this tragedy). He was right there when I needed Him. As soon as I heard what had happened I cried out to God for He is my strength. I was at work at the time. Through the loss of my father I have a greater dependency and trust upon Him. I know Him more as my Abba Father. I know He has used this situation in my life to give honour and glory and praise to Him, for without Him I would fall to pieces. I was told by a work friend that my faith in God has helped her to rely on Him more. Jesus was exalted. He is my continuing strength.

[kas]

Can I remember? It's hard to forget! When God whacks you with a 2 x 4, you listen and you don't forget. I'm being refined as I type this. Without going into details, let me say that the trial God has allowed me to suffer, (still am suffering) has brought me soooooooooooo much closer to Him. If it weren't for the trial, I can honestly say I would still be in backsliding mode and headed quickly into a downward spiral. I thank God everyday for all he has done in both trials and blessings because it led me back to Him and for that I am forever grateful. I hope my new life in Christ (even though still a babe) will soon bring glory to Him. God has already used my trial to affect some people within my circle to come to Him. Glory and Praise to the Lord!

[Berachah]

Yes I could recite the tests and trials I have gone through and am presently going through. The valleys of life can be deep and discouraging, but God is with us through it all. His Mercy Love and Grace becomes more meaningful with each test.

I have never understood that these testings are to reveal to God my weaknesses for He is well aware of all of them. But testings come to show me my need of Him. I am the one who needs to know my need to draw close to Him. God wants to mature and develop my Faith to the point that I will trust Him in spite of the circumstances and the consequences. I need to know if I will trust Him in 'midnight hours" of life. If I am weak in Faith then I must crucify my self-sufficiency and learn to trust in Him more. A Faith that cannot be tested cannot be trusted. If you cannot test it, how can you know its genuine or real.

Every trial I have gone through has strengthened and purified my Faith that I might be more like Him. For I cannot make it by myself. I must have Him. I do not know what tomorrow brings, but I know who holds my hand.

[Betty]

Q4. (1:6-7) Can you remember any instances in which God used difficult circumstances to refine and purify your faith? What did God accomplish in your life? How, exactly, does genuine, tested faith bring glory to Jesus?

Yes, there have been many; but one that I remember happened several years ago at, of all places, my church! Now, isn't that unusual? (Just kidding)

There was some controversy among our members because of some young boys who had been attending Boy Scout meetings at our church, and I, as the children's choir director, invited all the boys to sing a special song at church one Sunday.

WELL, HOW DARE I BRING THOSE BOYS TO OUR CHURCH!!! You see, two of the boys were of a different race than our members. Well, one thing led to another, and I finally felt that I had no choice but to resign my positions in the church and leave.

I did so, but I really loved my little church, and even though my husband and I visited other churches in the area, I was so unhappy. After a couple of years and many, many prayers, I felt the Lord leading us back to our church, and I'm so thankful He did! I have received so many blessing from serving Him and fellowshipping with my church family there. (By the way, the "holier than thou Christians" were gone by that time).

This experience taught me a great deal; most of all, obedience to Him. I don't think I could have served him with a genuine spirit had I stayed in the church during all the commotion, and it taught me patience. I really needed that!!

I believe my tested faith brought glory to Jesus because now everyone in our church knows that we are not to judge anyone who comes into our church. And, we have about 5 racially mixed families in our relatively small church, so we have come a long way in appreciating all of God's children!!

As the song goes, "God Can Make This Trial a Blessing!" And, He truly did!!

[AngelOnLine]

"Can you remember any instances in which God used difficult circumstances to refine and purify your faith?"

I can remember times that I felt like maybe God was

[lightbuilder]

In my experience, God's refining process can take what seems like a lifetime... in fact some lessons He's been teaching me about love and forgiveness have been going on for over 20 years now... You see I married my highschool sweetheart at age 18 (despite her parents strong objections), and she left me for another, two children and a dozen years later. At the time, I couldn't see how self centered and unloving 'I' had been, but blamed everything on the other party. The stage was set.

Hurt, angry, and feeling self-righteous, I was unable to see myself in the mirror and landed in another relationship on the rebound. I convinced myself at the time that I was "right with God" in the whole situation, but soon found myself entangled in a relationship with a violent, self-centered substance abuser that made life a living hell (...we'd been living together, which - unknown to me at the time; constituted a "common law" marriage. Confronted by my church fellowship, I did what I thought was the right thing and arranged a wedding ceremony. After the fact, she refused to sign a marriage license or take my name as her own; except to write bad checks for booze when the 'mood' came upon her - a situation God allowed me to "learn some hard lessons" from for almost ten years) - Ouch!

When I reached the end of my rope (self) and confessed my miserable inability to manage my own life, love the unlovable (including myself), or recognize my own sin when it was staring me in the face... God taught me something about forgiveness and faith that I suppose I couldn't have learned any other way (?)

There is no sin which befalls us that is not common to all, but God always provides a way out, if we will place our trust and faith in Him. It's amazing how life can turn inside out and show you what the view looks like from the other side of the mirror.

I know God hates divorce, and I don't have all the answers, but I also know God is a God of second (and so many more...) chances; God has since blessed me with a wonderfull, loving Christian marriage, a ministry in the church that we both share, and blessings I can't begin to count.

In hindsight, I can be thankful to God for the work He has brought about in me through these trials, and the person He continues to mold me into through the trials and triumph's that lay ahead.

[Julie]

Oh, Yes, I have difficult circumstances in which God has refined and purified my faith,

He accomplished bringing me and my family closer to Him.

As we are being tested we are proved geniuine by following Gods' word, by walking in the light, this brings gory to Jesus for others can see Christ in us

[Helen Spaulding]

Instances when God was refining me to remove the dross.

Yes, many. Right now, I am writing a book about my mission experiences, and am in the midst of a very trying period of three months in a refugee camp in Somalia (in 1981). The situation there was very difficult, made even more difficult due to the horrible sanitation that had us sick most of the time--and dictated the short term allowed. As I read my diary of the time, I can see, looking back, that I sure flunked that test. But He did use it to bring me to see my shortcomings and hopefully, remove any thought of "I have arrived!" in my Christian walk. As I am going through these old notes, I can see how God has been taking me (as my husband often says) like a little leaguer, teaching me, bit by bit, by my failures to grow closer to Him and depend entirely on Him to enable me to obey His commands.

[daron]

Q4: How, exactly, does genuine, tested faith bring glory to Jesus?

The Holy Spirit guides Peter to use a great word here in the Greek noun peirasmos, "test/trial." A test does two things:

It proves that the one being tested has sufficiently learned the material, and

It improves the one being tested by requiring that he or she learn new material.

Our tested faith brings glory to Jesus because it proves to us that he is working in us and proves to him that we are working for him; it also improves our Christian character so that we learn to be more like him.

[chandora]

Many times God has refined me and molded me but the most significant point in my life was when my son of 2 months old was crittically ill. He ended up on life support due to some serious lung infections nothing in my life has ever caused me to seek God so seriously. My son was miraculously healed, sent home 2 days after being on life support. which is usually a 3-4 week recovery time.

When I brought him home at that point I knew nothing else mattered in my life but God, not cars, my house, my dreams, my goals. I fully surrendered my life, and now God has brought me into some amazing new days in my life. Through that testing and trial my life changed I was able to meet with God in a way I don't think I ever will again. MY faith strengthen, I saw the power of God move in this situation, I am forever changed. That was 2 years ago.

[dcalbreath]

In the course of two years (early 1980s), I went throught a painful divorce (not of my choosing) and had my job terminated. God used those circumstances in a mighty way to show His faithfulness. When I didn't know what was going to happen the next day, there was still strength and comfort available. I remarried a wonderful Christian lady and had a new position open up (all the way across the country, which removed me from a very bad situation with my ex). The experiences have been valuable in my present ministry to men in our congregation and in the Christian single-again group I led (where I met my current wife). God is good.

Don Calbreath

[Rosemarie Olson]

Yes, I have been through some very hard times. Who hasn't? I caused my own hard time because I thought that God would bless my plan, rather than check the plan out with Him before I took the leap. In spite of this, God removed me from the situation eventually.......after many months going through the courts of this world for the "surgical" removal of the problem. I had people telling me to "name it and claim it" in order to keep the situation intact. However, I decided to give the problem to Him, and ask for His help in doing the right thing. Too bad I didn't do this beforehand. Anyway, there were some very difficult days, yet I found a joy and calm that I didn't know existed before that. Of course, there were many tears too. I found that tears were o.k., they just needed to be controlled so I would set the timer for 10 minutes, and when the timer went off, I'd wipe my eyes, blow my nose and get on with life. I also put a special message on my license plate of the car, and I would be reminded every time that I returned to my car, that God had caused me to be glad. I have had many people talk to me because of that licence plate, and that give me the opportunity to witness to them about the love of God. Another thing that I did was to play Scripture cassettes at night when I went to bed. I would lie there and listen to God's Word as I fell asleep. It was very comforting, and I remembered the Scripture that says, "He sent the Word and it healed them." Some mornings I would wake up singing Scripture choruses. It takes God to help you sing during very dark days.

[Gail B.]

A few years ago there was a trial my family went through for a period of over two years. I was very distraught and even though I knew a bit of God's word my sensing his closeness at that time was gone. Before the trial ended I knew he was telling me to "be still, wait, observe." I couldn't still my heart so I asked for his help. In time, the blinders were lifted from the eyes of a family member to where he/she could see again and start making some quality decisions. At the time that I felt the Lord calling me to a new level of contentment and trust and rest in him even before things were resolved. I am now closer to him and trust that even though things look bad from my perspective at times, if I continue to follow him, he will work it all out. This is true for other times as God always brings glory to his name through our trials if we let him have his way and continue to be obedient. And although I know I passed some of the tests of that trial, the main test of unconditional love for another was not met. But since I grew through that time I realize that my love for the unlovable must replace any feelings I have against their personalities and actions. I believe totally that when we finally surrender our thoughts and feelings to God he can truly do a work in us and in others which will be permanent and will bring glory to him as we become more like him.

[Jude]

My goodness YES! probably most notably, the series of events I touched on in my introduction. I give thanks to God every time that day comes to mind though because that desperation, and my call to Him, landed me in his presence. I can't seem to put into words the love I feel for Jesus for what He gave me that day, and am sure I cant even imagine the depth and richness of His love for us.

Since that day, there have been more rough roads to travel and though those times were in turn so very hard, or sad, or frightening, through those experiences each time I instinctually I turned to Jesus our Lord for comfort or reassurance. I have thanked Him for allowing those hardships because, otherwise, for many years, I neglected to allow God His proper place in my life...when life ran smoothly, I would forget.

I have already read the rest of the posts, and so I know this question has been answered very well...thank you for what you have all shared...I would only say that in my experience too, glory is brought to Jesus Christ through my telling of the stories, so that those who aren't remembering His love, or who have turned their back on Him, are reminded.

[hausmouse]

I ave been overwhelmed by God's loving tenderness in reading the postings of other members. So many of us have been through mind-boggling trials. Let me briefly add my own story:

For about 6 or 7 years my mom has suffered from Alzheimer's, and my Dad has been her caregiver. At Thanksgiving (which is in October in Canada) my Dad finally had Mom put in a nursing home, not by choice, but because he was physically exhausted, having dizzy spells, headaches, and trouble concentrating. We put it down to exhaustion, but long story short, he was diagnosed with a highly aggressive, inoperable brain tumor. I will probably say good-bye to both my parents within the year.

What amazes me is that God was preparing me for this "fire" of testing in our lives. I had actually been teaching our Ladies study on, guess what, 1 Peter. I had started a personal study, which I am teaching on Joseph. And I had been taking another group study on Romans, and we were in chapter 8 at the time of the diagnosis. I had said to my Ladies group, slightly tongue in cheek, that I wondered what God had in store for me, because He always prepares us for the ordeals He then walks us through.

2 weeks later came the news.

I have always loved the picture of the silversmith, refining precious metal which 1 Peter writes. As we are placed in the crucible and heated in the fire, the silversmith watches carefully. He draws out the metal at just the right moment, and skims off the impurities, and only when he can see his reflection clearly does the process stop.

That's how God is glorified -- as we are refined by fire, we become more and more conformed to the image of Christ. I will not be exactly like Him until I see Him face to face, but as I go through trials, I can become little by little more like Him. As a familiar song says, "Refiner's fire, my heart's one desire is to be holy, set apart for You, my Master, ready to do Your will." That's how we glorify God -- by becoming holy and by doing the will of God

One final thought... I always take comfort and find peace in the thought that there's no point in focusing on the circumstances of the trial, since God already has the outcome in the palm of His hand. What I need to concentrate on is HOW am I going through the trial... with Christlikeness and faith, or giving in to fear and doubt.

[June]

YES,ON DIVINE HEALING. TRUSTING GOD TO DO ALL HE SAID HE WOULD. ASKING HIM TO HEAL AFTER AN ACCIDENT AND SEEING THAT PERSON HEALED OVERNIGHT AND NOW THAT PERSON COMES TO HAVE PRAYER FOR OTHER THINGS. GOD MADE A BELIEVER IN HER .. GLORY TO GOD!!!! JUST KNOWING THAT GOD CAN DO FOR YOU WHAT YOU CAN'T DO FOR YOURSELF. HE IS THE GREAT I AM!!!

[Suzzanne]

Yes, I have been "thru' the fire" a number of times and God is right there with me. I know He will never leave me!

[djmclaren]

Q4. (1:6-7) Can you remember any instances in which God used difficult circumstances to refine and purify your faith? What did God accomplish in your life? How, exactly, does genuine, tested faith bring glory to Jesus?

I have had difficult circumstances in my life and, yes, have found them to prove and refine my faith. I found that God is a faithful, loving, patient, kind, pitiful God. I did not understand these qualities of God before, but in the fires, so to speak, He walked with me. For this He won my heart and drew me to Him with cords of loving-kindness. Psalms 119:67

[Joyfmfour]

Circumstances which refine our faith:

A very good friend of mine is fond of the saying, "God has a way of bringing us to our knees." God has brought me to my knees so many times in my life. It took me way too long to realize He was way ahead of me in every instance and had a plan already for me. It is really a miracle that He chose me to be in a relationship with Him. So many people never know that wonderful unconditional love. Praise God for our trials and the strength and insight we gain from them.