We have been on a journey together exploring the promises of God and how to live a life filled and grounded in those promises—how to see them answered day by day. This topic remains vital; it changes everything. Years ago, God called me to teach faith, as He has called many others, and that is what I will be doing here. Let me explore with you the concept of believing in our heart versus believing in our head.
Trials Reveal What We Truly Believe
As it is written in Deuteronomy 8:2 (NKJV): “And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.” I have been in ministry nearly forty years now. One of the questions that keeps coming up is why something did not happen. Why did somebody not get healed? Why did prayers not get answered? I am learning to navigate unanswered prayer, to know how to respond when promises do not seem answered. This marks maturity, and I would love to help you on that journey.
When somebody comes to me and says they were sick and prayed but did not get healed, without a specific word and revelation from God, I do not always know the answer. There can be many answers. In one of the best books ever written on healing, Christ the Healer by F. F. Bosworth, the last chapter gives twenty or forty reasons why people do not receive healing. It is worth going through those and praying through them. Quite often we can go to the Lord. James says when we are in a trial and do not know what is going on, the purpose of the trial is not to confuse you. It is to make you mature, complete, and that you would lack nothing. The purpose of going through a trial is not that you would stay in a trial. The purpose is that you would learn as you went through the trial and come out a stronger, richer, more mature person.
The Lord said in Deuteronomy 8 that He led them into the desert for three reasons: to humble you, to test you, to prove you, and to reveal what was in your heart. Does God want to humble us? I would say no, but God wants us to embrace humility. The Bible says in the imperative form of the verb: humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. Then in due season God will raise you up. Does God want you humbled? I think God wants you raised up. What He does not want is you to raise yourself up. The Bible says God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. When we humble ourselves, in due season God raises us up. When we exalt ourselves, the Lord will usually cause us to be brought low—not that He wishes us to be brought low, but He wants our starting point to be: Lord, I cannot do this. You are God, and I am not. I come before you in humility.
He said He led you through the test to put you to the test. Then to reveal what was in your heart. God knew what was in the hearts of the people of Israel before they ever went into the desert. The problem is the people of Israel did not know what was in their heart before they went into the desert. So often God knows the state of my heart at all times. Yet when my faith is tested, I can see the state of my heart. What often happens is we think we believe because we have heard teaching, been to a conference, read a really great book. We think we believe when we have knowledge and have given mental assent, mental consent, mental and intellectual acquiescence to a certain truth. It is like we have classified it in the computer of our brain and say: yes, I believe that doctrine. I believe this. I believe God is the healer. Then we actually find out what we truly believe in our heart when we are tested. It is really important to realize that.
Key One: Trials Are Diagnostic Tools
As it is written in Matthew 3:17 (NKJV): “And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’” Trials are diagnostic tools. They are not punishment. God never punishes in a very weird way. This sounds weird and counterintuitive, and I do not have time to develop that theme right now. When you are in sin, sometimes it is God’s goodness that brings us to repentance. There are times when we are far from God that God will come and break us with kindness. It is kindness that brings us to repentance. Sometimes when God is really happy with you, He will put you through a trial.
Let me show you that in the Bible. Of the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, what is the one moment in biblical history where God was more pleased with a person than any other time? I can mention it without question. Luke 3, Matthew 4. The Father literally says with an audible voice: this is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Was God happy with Jesus right then? Absolutely. What happened five minutes later or one verse later? Go to the desert. Trial, test. Jesus’ identity was put to the test. The Father said: you are My son. Forty days later, Satan is coming: if you are the Son of God, if you are the Son of God, if you are the Son of God. Jesus went through a trial. It says in Luke He went into the desert full of the Spirit, but He came out of the desert in the power of the Spirit. We are going to go through trials. Trials are diagnostic experiences where you figure out what is truly going on.
Key Two: Trials Show Presumption Versus Faith
As it is written in Proverbs 4:23 (NKJV): “Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.” Trials will show us whether we are in presumption or whether we are actually in faith. When we are in presumption, we assume, we presume, we think we have faith. We actually find out there is something about a trial that does not touch your head and your beliefs and your presuppositional intellectual things you have classified in the computer of your brain. A trial touches your heart.
If you stamp on my toe, I am not going to recite some poetry I have learned in my head. From the abundance of my heart, I am going to cry: oh, get off. What are you doing? Trials come to reveal the heart in a way. They show whether we are in presumption or faith.
Key Three: Trials Are a Place of Access to God’s Grace
As it is written in James 4:6 (NKJV): “But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: ‘God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.’” Trials are a place of access to God’s grace. When we are humble, when we realize we actually need the grace of God to come through that trial. In a trial God exposes my faith and shows me where I really am. It is grace through faith that leads us into the promises of God. When we are in a period of trial, we realize our own inability because God leads us into a circumstance where we have no ability.
God took the children of Israel. They thought they were having a hard time as slaves, and He took them into a desert where there was nothing—no money, no stores, no food, no water, no clothes, no protection from the elements, nothing. For forty years God provided every single thing they needed: the clothes on their back wore supernaturally, the food, the water, the protection at night and during the day. Everything came from God. God wants to bring us into a place of dependency upon Him. Most of us, if we are truly honest, enjoy living independent from God. We like to do our own thing and then occasionally have God come and pour a little blessing on it. True faith is about true trust and true dependency. A trial is a place where we access the grace of God.
Key Four: Trials Are a Place of Honesty
As it is written in Mark 9:24 (NKJV): “Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, ‘Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!’” A trial is a place of honesty, because true transformation requires honesty. The first step to seeing anything is being honest about where we are really at. I have prayed for the sick for forty years, prayed for thousands, sometimes thousands of people in one day, honestly. Thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of people.
So often people are not honest with themselves about where their faith is at. They will claim: I have got so much faith, and it is not working. It is not like they are trying to con me particularly. They are literally trying to con themselves and then trying to con God. I have learned this: if we try to con ourselves around our faith, we will end up trying to con God, and we cannot. We can con ourselves. You can con some of the people some of the time, but you can never con God. There is something about a trial where we are honest with our faith.
The first instance we see in the New Testament of unanswered prayer—of the disciples praying and not seeing breakthrough—was in Mark 9 where they tried to cast a demon out and it did not work. Jesus is annoyed and angry, rightly so, at the disciples. When the father comes, the guy is really honest. He says: Lord, I believe; help my unbelief. He is like: I have got faith, but I have got doubt and fear and all of these things. I am caught betwixt two. I am double-minded. He is honest with Jesus, and Jesus can work with you when you are honest about where your faith is at.
I encourage you, if you are going through a trial today, to ask God for wisdom—to not simply react and respond to the trial, but learn to connect with the Lord in the midst of that and see what He is saying and doing in your heart right now.
Selah.
Scriptures for Study
Deuteronomy 8:2, James 1:2-4, James 1:5, Matthew 3:17, Luke 4:1-2, Luke 4:14, Proverbs 4:23, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5-6, Romans 2:4, Mark 9:14-29, Mark 9:24, Psalm 139:23-24, Hebrews 4:12, 2 Corinthians 13:5, Proverbs 17:3, Jeremiah 17:9-10, Psalm 26:2, Lamentations 3:40, 1 Corinthians 11:28, Galatians 6:4, Psalm 119:59, Haggai 1:5-7, 2 Timothy 2:15, Romans 12:3
10 Questions for Reflection
- Where in your life have you given mental assent to a truth without it taking root in your heart?
- How have past trials revealed the true state of your faith?
- What does it mean for you to humble yourself under God’s mighty hand?
- In what areas do you prefer independence from God rather than dependency?
- Have you ever experienced God’s kindness leading you to repentance during a time of distance?
- How can a trial serve as a diagnostic tool in your walk with God?
- Where might you be operating in presumption rather than genuine faith?
- What grace have you accessed through humility in a recent trial?
- How honest are you with yourself and God about the level of your faith?
- If you are in a trial now, what is God showing you about your heart?
