You must pass the tests before you can graduate

You must pass the tests before you can graduate 2 Chronicles 32:31b God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart. The system of passing tests is a Kingdom principle which we need to understand, however it is somewhat different to the secular educational system that often requires one to just memorize information. Most of the tests we face in the Kingdom are of the nature of learning to trust God and developing fruit in our lives through experiencing adverse circumstances.  God removed His presence from King Hezekiah to see what was in His heart. The Wilderness We see in the scriptures that this wilderness principle is used by the Lord to test us in order to develop inward spiritual character. Jesus was taken by the Holy Spirit into a wilderness in order to test His submission to His Father. This whole experience of Jesus in the wilderness for forty days was a test to see if Jesus would operate independent of His Father’s will. Make stones bread, cast yourself down from the temple, etc. Jesus would not turn the stones into bread because He had not seen His father do this. Remember Jesus said that he only did that which He saw the Father doing.  John 5:19b The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. Jesus was undergoing a test, the test of submission to His Father and when He passed these tests the scripture says this. Luke 4:1 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Luke 4:14  And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. Jesus went into the wilderness filled with the Spirit and retuned in the Power of the Spirit After passing this wilderness test Jesus cold say this. Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. The inner qualities developed in Jesus while in the wilderness qualified Him for this external anointing; the spirit of the Lord came UPON him. 2 Corinthians 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; Moses was forty days in the wilderness learning to pass the tests. Israel was forty days in the wilderness learning to pass the tests. Jesus was forty days in the wilderness learning to pass the tests. Now if you don’t pass the tests you get to take it again sometime later Most Christians see their wilderness experiences as the work of the devil and they try in every way to get out of it. Their finances dry up so they ask for prayer to escape this crisis not realizing it is a test set for them in order to take them to another level in their finances. They have to pass the test by learning to put their whole trust in the Lord. Tests and trials are not of the devil, they are tailor made by God in order to bring you into a larger place.  Often God will allow a church to go through a time of testing in order to position them for a new move of God, and during these times of testing often many will leave the church as God begins to prune and remove some who would cause problems or would be a hindrance to what God has for that church. Often we have to loose in order to gain. During long periods of corporate prayer in a church God will prune and prepare the people to be able to handle a move of God. The removing of pride and lust for personal glory along with ambition and the temptation to use a move of God to build our own kingdom, must be removed. God is seeking to bring us to our high calling in God which is, to conform us to His image, which means to become like Him. In order to bring us into rest we have to have to face circumstances where we find ourselves in situation that is just the opposite of rest. The circumstances are set up or allowed by God in order to allow us to pass the test by putting our whole confidence and trust in the Lord and coming into rest. When we pass these tests then rest is established within us as a permanent grace, this rest becomes part of who we are. Life is a series of tests and graduations and if we do not recognize this we will go through life frustrated and miss out on the purpose of our existence. This life is a school-house which is supposed to prepare us to rule with Jesus and we must learn to recognize these tests and pass them. Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Blessings Neville Johnson