Thank God we are here. We are going to set our hearts, our minds and everything to listen to the Word of the Lord. Amen. Just now we were singing, “Lord, fan the fire, fan the fire in our being.” How many of us want that? How many of us come to the church because we know we have a need, as Paul says, to fan the fire of the gift of God that He has placed in us? How many of us have come for that? And you know, God has a way, well, in fact He has several ways to do that, right? Many ways.

What happens is that sometimes God's ways are not similar to ours and many times His ways are not to our liking or as we imagine. That happens in many things. We live in an era, in the Digital Age, in the Modern Age, in an era where everything is very fast. I call it the Microwave Age, right? Because how long have microwaves been around? Let's say 40, 50, 60 years maybe at most, and now many of us can't live without one..

How do we heat our coffee? How do we heat the food if it was frozen? What did people do 100 years ago without that? How did they do it 200, 300, 400, 500 years ago? They did it as they have always done it. Nowadays you're not going to get home from work tired and cut wood, are you? You’re not going to put it on the fire to prepare it, right? No, we want to press the button and in a minute we have everything ready.

In our lives, we often believe that everything should be like this. And the Church often believes that spiritual things are also like this. That it's just pressing a button. That it's just saying a few words and things happen. But it's not like that because God's plans and God's ways are different, very different from ours.

But it's like life today, we get sick from everything. Everyone gets sick and most of these diseases come from what we consume, from what we eat. Why? Since everything needs to be produced quickly and you might think you're eating chicken, but in reality you’re eating pure hormones. You don’t know how many things they inject into the poor chickens. You think you're eating a piece of meat, but I ask myself: where are all the cows needed to feed the millions upon millions of people in the world? Are there millions upon millions of cows in the world? No, right? So, what exactly are we eating?

So that's where we stop and say, “Wow, why are we so sick?” It is because, since we all want things fast, we do them the wrong way. We have all done it wrong—as humans, as people, and as a society—because we want things quickly. But what is the natural way? Take a farmer for example: he gets the seed—say for tomatoes—but he isn’t going to eat the tomato seed itself, right? He needs the actual tomato. So, he has to prepare the soil, plant the seed, water and fertilize the ground, add various nutrients, and tend to the crop while waiting for it to grow before he can harvest it.

And then there’s the harvesting—that’s a whole other job. It goes through a whole process before it gets to the door of your house. Then you start preparing it and cooking it, and finally you can sit with your family to enjoy a delicious meal—whatever you prepared. But all that takes a lot of work, right? It involves a tremendous amount of work—an enormous process—starting from the moment the seed enters the ground and dies in order to bear fruit. After all, what matters to us? The seed? No, we care about the fruit and what's going to come out of it? The Lord is just like that.

The fruit doesn't appear overnight, and the processes required to produce good fruit are not quick. We see fruit in the supermarkets, right? They display it so beautifully—huge tomatoes, bright red, large—but then you bite into one and it’s completely dry. In other words, it looks impressive on the outside, but it's useless; it lacks vitamins. Why? Because it was forced to grow using unconventional methods.

Many times the Church of God is like this. On the outside it looks robust and healthy, but does it have the flavor expected of it on the inside? Does it have the vitamins it should have? Does it have that juice that the world is waiting for the church of God to taste? Right now when we were just singing, that's what fuels the fire of God! Ah! I'm going to teach you how the Lord does it and one of the ways in which the Lord fuels the fire in our hearts. That is what the Word has been teaching us about discipleship. Right? Why? Because the Lord told us, He gave the task to the church to go and make disciples. Therefore, each of us has to become a disciple first before we can go and make other disciples out there.

The Word teaches us that the disciple, first, has to be disciplined. You have to go through a process to look like your teacher. That's why we've been talking about the army and the militia. Because the army cadets arrive looking like you and me. With their own thoughts and their own ways and believing that it is a good thing. But when they actually get into the army, they become disciplined and they all look like one.

All the soldiers look alike, yes or no? Even in their physique. Before, they looked just like you and me. With their tight pants, some with a lot of hair, some fat, some are alcoholics, or they drink Coke all day, or they are used to doing whatever they want. But after being there, they learn to submit to discipline. No one eats whatever they want, no one talks about other things, no one dresses the way they want. Everyone dresses in accordance to the rules, everyone walks out with the same hair cut, everyone sounds the same, and everyone has the same purpose.

Paul says in the Word of the Lord that anyone who wants to be a good soldier of Christ does not get entangled with the things of the world. He compares us with that, because we also must learn to submit to a discipline, we must learn to submit to a regimen. Then, like everything else in life, in the church, we need to be proven.

Let's turn our Bible to the book of James chapter 1. I'm sure many of you have read this verse. James chapter 1 verse 2. It says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” They already knew that the testing of their faith produces consistency and perseverance and that's what brings the work to a happy end. So that they become perfect and complete without missing anything.

What interesting words that the apostle James uses. If you have a pencil there to underline, and I like to underline the Bible a lot, underline the word joy in verse 2 where it talks about testing. In verse 3 he says that the testing produces perseverance. The test produces because the test has a purpose. Like everything in life it has to be tested. Oh, people say, it's just that when one turns to Christ, the problems come. No one goes from first grade to second if they don't give them an exam. If you don't prove that you learned what you were taught.

Why is this society chaos? Because no one passes the exams. For example, the traffic here. Why is it so chaotic? Because no one passes the driving exam. Nobody knows the traffic rules. So, since nobody passes the test, traffic is chaotic.. Yes or no? So, when there are no rules and when there is no evidence, when there is no proof, everything is crazy. Because people think they park anywhere. But there are rules, you have to pass the exam, but everything in life is like that, everything in life has to be proven.

So we didn't go to the university without first having passed the exam. Recently, last week, there was an entrance exam and no one is going to enter if they don't pass the test. So the Lord is saying here that He has a purpose for the test. Say purpose. God has a purpose for me. God has a purpose for you.

What is a test? It is that through which something is demonstrated. It's an experiment, it's an attempt, it's a demonstration. In short, it's an exam. It’s what is used to show if you know something or not. Right? It's an exam, a test, an exam is a demonstration. Right? If I say I can swim, Ok, well there’s the water. Right? It's easy to understand, isn't it? Because with the mouth we can say many things. I say I can swim, but the truth is no, I can’t swim. I don't like water.

So, you have to pass the test, you have to pass the exam. So, in verse 3, church, it says right there, because you already know that the testing of your faith produces. If you read it in the Reina - Valera, it says there is consistency. And in the Reina - Valera it says that it produces patience. It's the same; patience, consistency, perseverance, firmness. All those are synonyms. What does the test produce? In other words, the test is not just for bothering you. The test has a purpose and it is to produce in us something that produces patience.

So when people say, “Oh Lord, give me patience. Give me patience, Lord.” Ok, right? There are several people here today who know what I’m talking about. I'm not going to get into that, but they understood me there. Patience means, be careful. Because what is being tested is faith. But faith is being tested through trials. The evidence reveals what kind of faith we have. But it isn’t because God doesn't know what kind of faith we have. No, it’s so that you yourself realize what kind of faith you have. And so that the people around you realize what kind of faith you have.

Because faith is not walking with the Bible under your arm and putting choirs in the church house. That's not faith, that's religiosity. Faith is something else. Where does faith come from? How does faith occur? In Romans 10:17 Paul says, “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” That's where faith comes from. But then that faith has to be proven. It has to be tested and it will be tested constantly. And not just once, not twice, not three, not four times, but as many times as necessary, our faith will be tested.

We notice then that faith is proven and that shows that faith is important, as we talked about on Thursday. Faith is very important. And we have to understand what kind of faith we really have? Or, if we really have faith. Only the valuable things, church, are proven. Yes or no? No one gets a plastic ring valued, right? “Let's see, what kind of plastic will it be?” Valuable things are those that are proven. When I went to buy my wife's ring, I didn’t buy mine at the same place. I bought mine in another place. I said, “What a good price. It’s cheap, but it looks genuine. After a few weeks, it turned all black. Because only valuable things are tested and proven.

No one buys gold without verifying that it is real gold. Why? Because you’re not going to pay a lot for junk. You're going to pay what it's worth, and you need to check that it's genuine. 1 Peter 1:7 says, “ These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” If faith and gold are tested as Peter says, He's going to prove his faith because it’s more valuable than gold. And how is gold tested? It’s tested in the fire. We were just singing to the Lord to fan our flame into fire. We need to get into the fire.

What is the fire? It is the presence of God. In that fire, faith is tested. In that fire, faith is demonstrated—if you truly have faith. Peter says that faith is far more valuable than gold. Even gold must be refined by fire, tested and purified. In the same way, our faith is tested and refined through trials. These trials reveal whether our faith is genuine. And what is the result? Peter says that proven faith will bring praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

What, then, is the purpose of these tests? The purpose is approval. Keep that word in mind: approval. Every test has a result. No one takes an exam and doesn’t receive the result. If there is no result, it is as though the test never happened. Think about job applications where they say, “Don’t call us; we’ll call you.” Sometimes you never hear back, and you never learn the result. But Scripture tells us that these tests have a purpose: they reveal whether we are approved by God.

When the Lord returns, He will come for those who have been approved. Think of it this way: to enter a university, you must first pass the entrance exam. No one is admitted without passing. So what is Peter saying? When the Lord comes, He will come for those whose faith has been proven genuine. The question is, are you being approved, church? Am I being approved?

"Faith must be tested. Why? So that it can be shown whether that faith is truly placed in Christ."

Faith must be tested. Why? So that it can be shown whether that faith is truly placed in Christ. If our faith is not rooted in Christ, trials will shake us. They will cause us to drift away. We often say that discouragement can pull us away from the Lord, but genuine faith endures because it is anchored in Christ.

If trials discourage me, then those trials are revealing something. Why do trials discourage me? Because trials are meant to expose what is really inside us. Think of it this way: a trial comes to uncover us. It removes the covering. It pulls back the blanket and reveals what is hidden underneath. Many times, trials strip away our layer of religiosity and expose our true spiritual condition. If a trial discourages me, causes me to give up, or drives me away from God, then what is that trial revealing?

The Bible teaches that trials produce patience and perseverance. Trials themselves do not produce faith. Rather, when trials are received with faith, they produce endurance. But when difficulties are received with unbelief, complaining, and resistance, they produce something else: bitterness.

Let's go back to James 1:2. It says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds." Let's take this slowly. If there is no faith, or if our response is constant complaining, then the trial exposes what is already in our hearts. This hits me deeply because I know it is true. Perhaps someone has told you before, "You seem bitter," or, "You are going through life with bitterness." And immediately, everything inside of us wants to react. We think, "If only you knew the problems I am facing. If only you understood what I am going through."

But the question is this: What are these situations producing? Or perhaps, what are they revealing? If bitterness is coming out, it is because bitterness is already inside. The trial is simply exposing what is there. So, if someone points out bitterness in us, we should thank God. Why? Because now we know what needs to be brought before Him.

How often do we pray, "Lord, what is happening to me? Father, I feel stuck. I don't feel Your presence." Yet the trial is already giving us the answer. It is removing the mask and showing us what is truly in our hearts. Instead of hiding it, we should bring it before the Lord. We sing songs about the joy of the Lord. We sing that the joy Christ gives cannot be taken away by the world. But if I discover that joy is not what fills my heart, and what comes out instead is bitterness, then I must be honest about that before God.

The trial is not creating bitterness. The trial is revealing it. Bitterness, anger, frustration, and resentment are natural to our flesh. That is the reality of our human nature. The flesh responds that way. When I say, "I'm angry," or, "I'm bitter," or, "I'm struggling," I am seeing the condition of the flesh. The flesh is like that. The important question is not whether the trial exists, the important question is, “What is the trial revealing about what is inside me?” Because whatever is in the heart will eventually come out when it is tested.

The same is true for me. The joy of the Lord is in my heart, and only He can truly see it. Sometimes we say, "That's just the way I am." But there will come a day, brothers and sisters, when we will be able to say, as Paul said, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me." The old man will have died. The things of the past will be gone because what is being manifested is the life of the Spirit. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit. As Paul teaches in Galatians 5, the fruit of the Spirit is produced in those who walk with God.

So what do trials produce? When they are connected with faith, they produce patience, perseverance, and spiritual maturity. Lord, fill us with Your Holy Spirit! But for those fruits to be revealed, the test must come. The examination must come. How else will we know whether we are walking according to the flesh or according to the Spirit?

Many times, we face a trial and what comes out is bitterness, anger, rage, jealousy, strife, gossip, and other works of the flesh. Paul lists these very things in Galatians 5. What is happening at that moment? Our true condition is being exposed. But that exposure is not the end of the story. If a trial reveals that you are walking in the flesh, it does not mean you are finished. It does not mean there is no hope. If you failed the first test, it does not mean you will remain there forever.

"If God is still testing you, it means He is still working in you. "

The Lord in His mercy gives us another opportunity. He allows another trial to come so that we can run back to Him, seek His presence, and grow in faith. He continues His work in us because His purpose is to transform us. That is why the apostle says, "Consider it pure joy when you face trials." Why? Because if God is still testing you, it means He is still working in you. It means you are still under His care. It means He has not finished with you yet.

This does not mean we should enjoy suffering itself. We are not called to celebrate hardship for its own sake. We do not say, "How wonderful that I have no money," or, "How wonderful that I am facing difficulties." That is not the point. The joy comes from what the trial produces. The joy comes from knowing that God is using the trial to mature us, refine us, and draw us closer to Him.

Faith is the assurance of what we hope for. Faith means trusting God even when we do not yet see the answer. We remain confident that our help will come—not from human strength, but from the Lord. It is similar to situations we see every day. For example, when someone is stopped by the police after committing a traffic violation, many people become nervous. They begin to panic. Others start reaching into their pockets, trying to figure out how they are going to get out of the situation.

But I have also seen people who remain completely calm. I remember when I was very young. I was riding in a car with a cousin who was actually younger than I was. He was still a minor, yet he was driving. We were stopped by the police. The officers approached, and while I was concerned, my cousin remained completely relaxed. Why? Because he had confidence. His attitude was almost as if to say, "Do you know who my father is?"

His father was not a famous person, but my cousin believed that one phone call would solve everything. He had complete confidence that someone greater than himself would take care of the situation. In the same way, faith gives believers confidence—not in ourselves, but in our heavenly Father. We face trials, difficulties, and uncertainties, yet we remain at peace because we know who our Father is. We know that our help comes from Him, and we trust that He is able to sustain us through every test.

Unfortunately, many people only become confident that they can call on their father when difficulties come. But that is what marks a Christian. It's not that Christians never face problems, rather in times of testing and hardship, they know exactly whom to call. They have direct access to their Father, and that gives them confidence. It enables them to walk through life with assurance.

Think about the olive tree. The olive produces the fruit from which olive oil is made. Olive oil is one of the most valuable products in the world because of its health benefits, vitamins, and many other properties. But there is only one way to get the oil out of the olive. It must be pressed and crushed.

In the same way, the Lord often allows us to be pressed. But here's the question: when we are crushed, what comes out? If bitterness comes out, then we discover that bitterness was already inside us. Trials don't create what is within us—they reveal it.

"When life presses you, what comes out reveals what is truly in your heart."

That is why we are here. Many of us can say, "I've been bitter. I've been angry. I've gossiped. I've lied." But we're here because we know that Jesus Christ can transform us. He can change what is inside our hearts so that when life presses us, what comes out is His love, His peace, and His character instead of our old nature.

I know He can clean me, I know He can get all that bitterness out of my life. I know that He can take out all that resentment in my life. So that when He comes and squeezes me, then I can pass the test and instead of bitterness, joy will come out. Instead of bitterness, I can live happily. And instead of bitterness, as it says there I can be happy and thank God for being part of his family.

The old things have passed away. Our lives should not remain the same year after year, with every test producing the same response. God does not keep allowing trials just for us to keep failing in the same way. Tests are not meant to be repeated forever. It's not like some schools where at the end of the year there's a makeup exam, then a makeup for the makeup, then another and eventually they say, "Just bring anything and we'll pass you."

No church, that's not how it works with God. The Lord is not going to promote us just because we showed up. We have to grow. We have to pass the test. Now let's talk about patience. We've already spoken about perseverance—a steadfast faith that refuses to move. But patience is more than simply putting up with difficult situations.

Sometimes we say, "That person is so patient. Look at her with her two children climbing all over her!" But that's not the kind of patience the Bible is talking about. Biblical patience is not passive; it is active. It is not merely the ability to endure hardship. It is the ability to turn trials into spiritual growth. It is the strength to remain faithful in the middle of the test, and when difficulties come, instead of giving up, to allow God to turn those struggles into victory.

That's why we sang last week, "The Victor lives in me." Why is there victory? Because there was a battle. There is no victory without a fight. As the song says, "Circumstances do not move me." The question is not whether the circumstances shake us. The question is: What comes out of us when we're under pressure? I may still be coming to church every week, but is what comes out of my heart bitterness, hatred, and resentment? Or is it the character of Christ?

To put it simply: it’s about being a Christian—truly being a Christian. What is the purpose of trials? To be a Christian; to let us know whether we truly are one or not. Now, trials may confront us with all sorts of things we’d rather not even imagine, but trials aren’t limited to just the difficult things we go through in life. And let me just make a quick statement here, I can’t go into detail about all of them right now, but we’ll cover them during Thursday's study if the Lord gives us that opportunity.

Some of you would ask me, “Is what I am going through a trial?” And that’s fair enough, because sometimes, you know, we just don’t know if it’s a trial or not. And while it is true that James is speaking here about trials and temptations, there are also times, as we say, we just mess up big time, right? But that’s a whole different category. But, briefly put, there are trails, the trials of pain and disappointment that seek to strip us of our faith.

Pain and disappointment can come from anywhere. It could be someone close to you: your spouse, children, parents, the loss of something valuable, or losing your job. You might have had dreams of moving to Miami and buying a place, but now that’s off the table. There is also the pain of losing someone important. Sometimes it's through death. Other times, the person is still alive but has walked away from your life. Those kinds of losses wound the heart. Many people abandon their faith because they have lost someone important or because a friend abandoned them, or they lost their job, or any number of things.

But the trial came to reveal what was already in the heart. Was our faith truly rooted in Christ? Perhaps not. There will also be trials involving temptations that seek to lure us off the right path. Then there are the trials we see throughout the New Testament in the Bible, that involve danger, sacrifice and unpopularity. Things that often come with following Christ.

From every one of these trials, thoughts begin to arise that tempt us to throw it all away. Thoughts to give up on everything. So Peter says that you need to be put through the fire. A trial does not come merely to test us; it comes to refine us. Much like when you buy something and need to verify its quality.

Now, I want to say something important too. Tests are not only problems, because generally people think that tests are just problems and we tend to box them into that single category. Every problem we face in life is a test, isn’t it? But not all of God’s tests are problems. Let’s look at some examples quickly.

In Genesis 22:1, the Word of the Lord says that after some time had passed, God put him to the test. What did God do with Abraham? He tested him. He said to Abraham, “Here I am.” We all know what comes next. The Lord asks him for his son—the one he had waited so long for. That isn’t a “problem” in the usual sense, is it? No, the Lord is asking for something—but why? To test Abraham.

So, the Lord doesn’t just test us through the problems, He tests the heart. In this instance, He is asking for something—and what is He asking for? The most valuable thing Abraham has. I want us to look at something here. God has already tested Abraham's heart many times. When he first spoke to him, he said, “Leave your land and your relatives, leave your house and your whole family, all your friends, and I will take you to a better place.”

Abraham believed and was tested, because not just anyone would just simply pack up and leave, yet he went. Years passed, and the Bible says that Abraham spoke with God and had an intimate relationship with Him—he was close to God. Abraham was a believer. He listened to worship songs every day, shared the word with his neighbors, and did it all. God had blessed him, prospered him, and made him wealthy, and then the Lord tested him.

He parted ways with Lot, the events of Sodom and Gomorrah took place, and a great many things happened. Abraham made a mistake though, he had a promise regarding his descendants and yet he got involved with another woman and fathered Ishmael. The Lord essentially said, “Oh, you really messed up there— but I'm going to give you another chance.” And he gave him his son, the one of the promise.

I mean, so much had happened. It was undeniable that Abraham had a deep relationship with God, that Abraham loved God. But now, Abraham finally possessed his heart’s greatest desire. He had been blessed in a way in which he thought would never happen. He was already rich, he had everything, and the Lord provided it. But now the Lord was going to ask: “Does he love his son more than Me? Will this man—my friend, who is nearing the end of his life, let the very blessing that I gave him change his heart? Will that person, that job, that money, that husband, that wife, that son, whatever I gave him now cause his heart to shift? Will I no longer be first in his life? Abraham, bring me your son and offer him as a sacrifice.”

So he went, took a donkey, took the boy, and set out. And verse 12 church, shows he was willing. We all know the story. Then the Lord said to him, “Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him.” The angel told him, “Now I know.” After all that Abraham had done, did God not know that he was faithful? Even after he had left his homeland and everything behind. Ah, but there's something else new in his life. And the Lord says, “Now I know that you fear God because you didn’t even refuse to give me your only son.”

Faith has to be constantly tested. Constantly. Everything in our lives, everything that comes into our lives from God will be tested in our hearts to see if we stand firm and remain steadfast. God advanced the people of Israel. He could have taken them to a land where there was no one but He brought them to Canaan, a land already full of people. He told them, “Go there, kill the giants, don't mix with the people who are there, don't let your children marry their daughters, and don't worship the idols they worship.”

And what did the people of Israel do? They obeyed them in everything, right? No, they married the daughters there. What is the Lord doing? He is putting them to the test. He had already delivered them out of slavery, and now He says, “I'm going to test your heart.” Why? Because in church we sing such beautiful songs and we say to God, “My love is yours. I'm yours God.” Then the Lord comes and places something there—anything, just anything. And suddenly, even though we said all that we think, “Well, it wouldn't hurt to give a little love over here, too.”

And it's not that those things are inherently bad, you all understand what I'm saying, right? But when we shift our hearts and give them over to something else, the Lord says, “I'm testing you.” But, my brother, we are tested not only in valuable things but day by day, but in everything our integrity is being constantly tested. When you are alone with your phone, your integrity is being tested, isn’t it? Before the Lord, your faithfulness, your thoughts, your love, and all your integrity are all being tested every day, right?

How many of us pass the test? Day after day we are tested even in small things. Like when the shopkeeper gives you too much change back, you are being tested then aren’t you? You might even go back to that same shop hoping for extra change every time, right? We are being tested in the very smallest of matters and yet we don't realize what the Lord is doing. And so we fail the test regarding love, integrity, faithfulness, and compassion.

How often do we have the opportunity to show compassion to others? And how many of us actually pass that test? We fail that test. How often do we have the opportunity to show love towards a person who does not have Christ? How many of us pass that test or do we fail it? How often do we have the opportunity to show love within our own families? Do we pass or fail that test?

But here is something very important. Nothing that comes our way, and I want you to understand this clearly, no trial or situation comes to destroy us. That's not the purpose of God. But rather the purpose is to strengthen and purify us. It’s not meant to defeat us, but for us to overcome. To trust in the Lord and then have a testimony of victory. So we can tell people that the victorious one lives in me. I went through this trial, but God was with me and he helped me overcome it and now I'm a different person.

Yes, I am a different person now, after 20 years I can finally say that. I hope that day comes for you too. The enemy will want—obviously, his goal is for you to fall during that trial. That is what happened with Job. We know the story of Job. “Have you seen that man?” “Yes,” said the enemy. “But he serves you out of self-interest because you have given him everything. That’s why he serves you. Send him some trouble, and you'll see him curse you.” So the Lord said, “OK! Let's test him.” Then the devil set out to prove he was self-interested, while the other side sought to prove he was faithful. So the trial came and what was proven?

And when the difficulty comes and the Christian falls, when they begin to sin, to doubt, and to let all those things spill out—I imagine the enemy rising up, just as he did with Job, you see? “Look”, he says, “Do you remember how on Sunday, he was singing, ‘My love is yours’ and all that? Look at him now, look at how he’s acting.” He goes around accusing. In fact, the very word "Satan" means “the accuser”. That is what it means. Because he's seeing where we stumble, where we are wrong, where we don't pass the test. He is constantly watching to see where you stumble, where you make a mistake, and where you fail the test.

The Christian, however, remains vigilant. Always watching—thinking, “Ahh, he wants to set a trap, but I won’t fall for it.” Instead of just thinking, “Oh, the Lord is blessing me here—I’ll just snatch it up,” They realize, “No, this is a test. It is a test, and I will not fall.” No one can speak of the greatness of God’s love if they have never been rejected. No one can say how water quenches thirst or how delicious it is if they have never been thirsty. No one can say it. No one can give thanks for the provision, if they have never known need.

That's why it's so important to teach this to our children which can sometimes be a challenge. The children we have now, even though we tell them stories about having nothing to eat, they aren’t growing up that way. They take things for granted, and it is very difficult to teach them to be grateful. They say, “I don’t like that.” Yet, the mom is cooking three or four different dishes. And then they say they don't like it. Why? Because they have never had to face that kind of need of not having something to eat.

There are people here who have told me that when they were children they would take a tortilla, rub it against a stone and lick just it just to get a bit of flavor or something. So now, they are grateful for whatever they have. But for our children, we have to teach these generations to be grateful. And it's very difficult to be grateful when we've had everything. Because when we've never been hungry, we forget to give thanks for the food. When everything is right at our fingertips, we forget to thank heaven.

So that's why the test comes many times. To remind us, where does it come from? It comes from God because He is good and He has been good. He has been here with us and He will test us so that we may grow and improve. Not so we stay the same way. Not for us to continue to be immature and childish, but for us to mature. So that we can grow. So that we can tell the world, “My God has power. My God has the power to deliver me. Just like He did for Daniel.” He allowed them to be cast into the fiery furnace and come out unscathed.

And what did they say? “We will not bow down, because the Lord will save us. And even if He doesn't save us, we will never bow down before another God. We're never going to do it.” The trial came. It came to test their faith. Amidst the trials, many people believe they are suffering because God has abandoned them. Many people believe that they are facing certain situations because God has forsaken them.

But I want to tell you, and the Lord is speaking to His church today, that you are going through these things because I am with you. That's why you are experiencing them. It was inside the furnace that the Lord revealed Himself to them. But it was not on the outside, it was only after these men entered the fire that the Lord appeared to them.

I want to conclude with James 5:7-8, because we need patience in all this. It's a fruit of the Spirit. It says, “Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.” James himself has already told us that the trial produces patience. Do you understand that? So if we don’t have patience that is a problem.

You have to obtain it first, and how do you obtain it? Through trials. Be patient until the coming of the Lord. So, you need patience, you need steadfastness. It's non-negotiable. Why? Because without it, you won't make it to the end. You won’t make it. We won’t finish the race. Look at how the farmer waits. He waits for the earth to yield its precious fruit, and with that patience he awaits the rainy seasons. You must do the same. Stand firm. And wait again with what? With patience for the coming of the Lord.

So what do you need in order to wait for the Lord? Patience. And do you have patience? No, you don’t have patience—you simply don’t. That's why the Lord will help you produce what you need to make it to the end. That's why I mentioned earlier that things don’t always go the way we may wish. I would love to be able to say to everyone, “Come line up here, I’m going to pray for the Lord to keep you steadfast and give you patience—come let me impart patience to you.” But there is no such thing.

"The joy is not in the trial itself, but in what God produces through it."

The trial itself will produce patience. The trial will reveal your perseverance and steadfastness. As long as you remain confident, you will endure just like a soldier moving from one test to the next, and each one harder than the last. There are people who tell me that they barely got out of one trouble before they got into another one. And I think, “Wow, look at where that person must be in the Spirit.” You see, you look at the situation and just see the struggle, but in the Spirit it’s a matter of, “I’m barely out of one trial before I’m in another one.” But oh, how the Lord must love them! Look at how the Lord is preparing them.

And yet, you might say, “I wish the Lord loved me differently.” But look at the nature of God's love. Do you doubt God’s love? Do you doubt it because you think love is just words—like when we say, “My love is yours?” But since we do say that to the Lord, he then allows us to prove it. The other day I heard some people say, “My trust is in you alone.” So the Lord, in His goodness, will allow you to demonstrate that trust through trials. He will give you the opportunity.

Why? Because He Himself did it. The Lord says, “I love you. And how I love you? I sent my son—my only son— to give His life for you, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but have eternal life. He didn’t just say He loved us. He proved it. And Jesus passed the test of love because He laid down His life. As we love God, He allows us to show the world that we love Him. And in the midst of that, the Lord lifts us up. In the midst of that, He doesn’t leave us alone. In the midst of that, He strengthens his people. He makes them great. He makes them victorious.

The Word of the Lord says that the more the church was persecuted, the more it rose up and multiplied. What does the church need today? To understand. To understand in the Spirit that the Lord has a purpose. And that things don't happen the way I want or the way I might wish. But bless God for I am in his hands! Blessed be God, for He has not let me go!

And even though we sometimes sing without fully understanding things—and even though we read, complain and go through all those trials—I can say, “Thank you God. You have helped me this far.” Because all the things that have happened, things meant to cast me down, God has turned for good. The devil thought he would cast me down, but instead, these trials have strengthened me. Instead of casting me down, they have instructed me. Instead of tearing down my faith, they have actually strengthened it.

Because when I had nothing, I could go to the Lord. Whereas when I had everything, I didn't have time to be with the Lord. But now that I have nothing, all my time belongs to the Lord. Better things are coming for my life. When people abandoned me, when they left, when those things happened, the devil thought he would cast me down. But no, the Lord was strengthening my faith. And right now, I wonder if you realize—if you have been going through a trial or difficulty placed by the Lord—whether you have passed the test or failed it?