Topic: Forged Through Fiery Trials [David Wilkerson Devotional 8 May 2021]
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Forged Through Fiery Trials
Carter ConlonMay 8, 2021
Everyone wants a promise to be fulfilled quickly, especially if it’s from God and we know it will be very good.
When we are tempted to become impatient with the Lord, when God seems like he’s moving slowly, we must understand that he often cannot fulfill the promise he has given us until his character and nature are more fully formed in us. There can be great danger when any measure of truth and revelation about God that we have been given is not yet fully formed in us.
For example, Moses asked to know God, and he was given an incredible revelation. “The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin…” (Exodus 34:6-7, ESV).
It was not long afterward, however, that Moses struck a rock out of frustration and called the people he was leading a bunch of rebels. He misrepresented God, and because of it, he was not allowed to enter the Promised Land. God knows that there is a deep work he must do in us in order that we might truly represent him, so he allows us to experience the fires of trial and the heat of suffering.
In such times of intense testing, the prayers we find ourselves making are often not the sort we’d like to share with other believers later. Could it be because we still have our own vision of how the kingdom of God should operate and so little awareness of God’s procedure for leading the man or woman he is going to use?
Unfortunately, many people who rise to prominence in Christian circles have never been through God’s training and testing. They stand before others, even with good intentions, but they misrepresent God because the human spirit is still very much in control in their lives. In reality, they are still angry, fault-finding, intolerant and full of other things that originate from the human heart and have nothing at all to do with God. They are not complete in their understanding of Christ because they constantly did everything in their power to circumvent God’s dealings with them, and if we are not careful, we will do the same.
The pain of waiting on the Lord is vital to our spiritual health. Let’s not allow fear to cause us to miss a revelation about our Savior and Father!