May the Lord make us to fully understand and grab a hold of this according to His perfect will

Ephesians 1:15-23

15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:

17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you

the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,

18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened;

that you may know what is the hope of His calling,

what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power

20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,

21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

One more passage...

2 Peter 1:1-11

1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:

2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,

3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,

4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises,

that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

5 But also for this very reason,

giving all diligence,

add to your faith virtue,

to virtue knowledge,

6 to knowledge self-control,

to self-control perseverance,

to perseverance godliness,

7 to godliness brotherly kindness,

and to brotherly kindness love.

8 For if these things are yours and abound,

you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

10 Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure,

for if you do these things you will never stumble;

11 for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Indeed. Excellent food for the soul. Something about being constantly nourished on the words of the faith.

Bro Blaine

(Testimony)

There is so much to be thankful for, especially for Jesus and all He suffered for us in His body and on the cross.

It's been said many times over, a person cannot fully understand what another goes through, unless they have been through the same. Something about trials and testing have stood out differently as of late. The cure to anything that is selfish, self seeking, prideful, emotions, sin...is the Lords chastening through trials / tribulation. If Im to have faith in Christ...genuine faith, that is much more precious than gold....it must be tested by fire. The beauty of this, is that we are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation. No wonder the Lord tells us, he who endures to the end shall be saved. He who endures the testings, trials, tribulation that often come.

Paul the apostle said he "learned to be content". Its amazing to think, we learn to be content through each trial. This produces much fruit, in fact, the fruit of the Spirit cannot be produced without tests and trials. Hebrews 12 covers this so well, but I didn't quite understand this until recently. Paul didn't learn to be content with the first trial....it took many. Also, its through trials that the power of God will rest on us. And joy isn't a carnal emotion that is temporary, Its the Lords strength.

Hebrews 12:11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (the fruit of the Spirit)

We are in training. For a plant to produce healthy fruit, one must severely prune it back first. The plant goes into shock, but after some time passes, healthy growth and much good fruit is the result.

James 1:2-4 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. (patience is a fruit) But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

James 1:12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

Philippians 1:9 For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,

In multiple passages, I keep seeing, "The knowledge of His will"..."The knowledge of God"...."The knowledge of the Truth"....

These are things I thought I understood...going through trials, enduring, fruit of the Spirit, knowledge of God. No, I didn't understand. This is where a testimony comes in, and Im sure that many of you can testify to learning this as well. God is so good. All glory goes to Him.

In the last several months, trial after trial after trial has hit my home. Ive always loved the Lord. This time of testing was different from the rest. It revealed what was truly in my heart. The heart is deceitfully wicked, who can know it? Through these tests, so many emotions came out...anger, hurt, jealousy, pride, fear, doubt etc....I was shocked, even ashamed this came out of my heart. It has been a learning curve I'll never forget. Take heed when you think you stand, lest you fall. Oh, so true.

For quite some time I kept thinking on 2 Timothy 3....how those who have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof...and yet, always learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. After this season of trials, the light came on, and my attitude completely changed. I was so incredibly broken before the Lord, yet so very thankful for the trials. If it weren't for the severity of these tests, I wouldn't "learn" to come to the knowledge of the Truth. Like a pruned plant, I went into shock...but if I didn't yield to the Lord, and allow Him to chasten me, no fruit would come forth. There will be many, many more trials to come, and with each one, "learning to be content" regardless of the situation.

Learning to master emotions so the fruit of self control can grow. We serve an amazing God! Learning to be content. Praise Jesus for these trials! I count it all joy and will boast in cross of Christ.

Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path.

It causes my spirit to rejoice so mightily when I read about another person's testing and trials and how God has used it to deepen their roots in Him far beyond what they knew possible. What's even more precious is when it happens at nearly the same time as when I've gone through a similar season. My dear sister Sherri, you could not have done a better job of describing a recent season in my life too.

Lord only knows how much rejoicing we will be sharing forever in Him, and I believe there are many more people, even just on this forum, who have been through similar testings this past year.

Bless you. Thank you for opening up like this. Truly living waters flowing from your lips of praise, in my opinion. May your testimony and very life in Him continue to quench the thirst of others for His sake!

The Lord gave me so much joy as I read all of your responses. Praise the mighty name Jesus, our precious Lord and Savior! He is strengthening and preparing us for these days. Be encouraged. 2 Corinthians chapters 2-4. Its a little long , but well worth it. The joy of the Lord is our strength. Hallelujah!

2 Corinthians 2

2 But I determined this for my own sake, that I would not come to you in sorrow again. 2 For if I cause you sorrow, who then makes me glad but the one whom I made sorrowful? 3 This is the very thing I wrote you, so that when I came, I would not have sorrow from those who ought to make me rejoice; having confidence in you all that my joy would be the joy of you all. 4 For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears; not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have especially for you.

5 But if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me, but in some degree””in order not to say too much””to all of you. 6 Sufficient for such a one is this punishment which was inflicted by the majority, 7 so that on the contrary you should rather forgive and comfort him, otherwise such a one might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 Wherefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him. 9 For to this end also I wrote, so that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things. 10 But one whom you forgive anything, I forgive also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ, 11 so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

12 Now when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ and when a door was opened for me in the Lord, 13 I had no rest for my spirit, not finding Titus my brother; but taking my leave of them, I went on to Macedonia.

14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. 15 For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; 16 to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? 17 For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.

Chapter 3

3 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, letters of commendation to you or from you? 2 You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 3 being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

4 Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, 6 who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

7 But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. 10 For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.

12 Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech, 13 and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away. 14 But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. 15 But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; 16 but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

Chapter 4

4 Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, 2 but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; 8 we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death works in us, but life in you.

13 But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, "I believed, therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore we also speak, 14 knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you. 15 For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.

16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.