“Trials and temptations are not the punishment of God, but the process of God.”

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus (2003-09-04) from his book, Uprising: A Revolution of the Soul(Kindle Locations 3029-3030). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

So many people have the mistaken idea that if they have a relationship with God that everything will be perfect. I am in the process of reading the Gospels 13 times this year and I’m finding that Jesus life was not perfect. In fact one of the first things He went through at the beginning of His ministry was a time in the wilderness being tempted by Satan. He also went through many, many trials.

“Trials and temptations are not the punishment of God but the process of God.” Because we don’t really get this we lose out on the benefit of the process. God wants us to grow. HE wants us to become like Him. So what is He like?

One of Jesus close followers, Philip asked Him one time, “Lord, show us the Father. That is all we need.” He wanted to know what God was like. So Jesus replied to him, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.” (John 14:8 & 9 CEV) In other words, Jesus was God in human form. And the temptations and trials that come into our life are there to make us to become like Jesus if we allow them to and don’t fight them.

Why don’t you let God work in your life? Let His process make you like Him. Don’t fight it, don’t gripe about it and don’t live in guilt about it but let it work in you. God has a plan for your life. And it is to be like Him.

So what part of the process are you in right now?

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