There are 5 examples shown in the Word that give a purpose to trials we endure:
Persecution | Planting |Purging
Proving | Producing
“The sower soweth the word. And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.”
Mark 4:14-15
• “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.” 1 Peter 4:12-13
• “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17
• Your trial could be based on the fact that you’re a Christian.
• “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” Isaiah 55:8-11
• The word has to be planted, it does no good laying around. It must be planted in your heart. The enemy will always come to take away the Word from getting into your heart.
• Two things come when you have heard the word, faith and Satan. (See Romans 10:17 and Mark 4:15)
• The enemy will come to test the word you’ve heard. Don’t let the enemy eat your seed before its even planted!
PLANTING
“Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee. And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.“
Mark 10:28-30
• “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Galatians 6:7,9
• These verses in Galatians, tell us not to faint. Faint means to give up, cave in and quit.
• “And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:62
• “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:58
• We cannot walk away from our sacrifice and our service. When we are going through a trial, that is not the time to withdraw from God.
• Don’t give up on seed you are sowing into someone. Don’t be removed from the harvest that you are waiting on.
• If you have lost something in a trial, treat whatever you have lost like seed. The Lord will give it back to you plus more.
• “And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.” Luke 16:2
“Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.“
Hosea 10:12
• Sometimes its not that what God put in you is not there, it just needs to be stirred up.
“Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.”
Haggai 1:6-7
• Often times, people will blame the devil when they are in a trial. If it’s your own doing, binding the devil won’t do anything.
• You control what you sow and reap.
• In 2 Kings 4:1-7, there was a woman with a debt and a claim on her sons to pay the debt. All she had was a pot of oil. The prophet Elijah told her to borrow vessels and fill them with the oil and sell the oil to pay off her debt.
• God will always address you in what you do have. He never asks us to manage what we don’t have. Honoring the Lord with your finances is not contingent on you having more money, it is about being a good steward over what you already have.