God’s 10 Way Test

Posted on November 11, 2019

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God’s 10 Way Test

This is a transcript of a message preached by Pastor Afolabi Oladele

I found in time that the purpose of test is to show that you are matured and have a potential to go higher. You should understand that you will experience tests at every stage of your growth, you cannot manipulate yourself into a new class. Tests always precede promotion, prepare you for and prove that you are ready for a promotion if you get it right. If you manipulate yourself into things that you are not prepared for, you may get away with it for a while but in the days to come, you will be found wanting.  And that’s what happens to young men and women who cheat in exams. When they are brought to face reality, they find that they cannot stand.

Every test that precedes promotion is a sign that you have stayed long enough in a class and that you are ready to grow. And if you fail in God’s class, you will keep repeating until you pass.

My purpose today is to take you through the ten different dimensions of test that God puts you through if you are a child of God. Irrespective of what anybody says concerning your life, God has a script for you and you better be prepared for the tests.

Test #1 – The Test of little things and true riches

He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.  Luke 16:10

I looked at Jesus and His relationship with Judas. Everybody else knew that Judas was a thief but in the three and half years Judas worked with Jesus, Jesus never one day called Judas a thief. I speak to employees who add more to the price of things that they are told to buy by the boss in the office. If you are unfaithful in little things, how can you ever have your own? It is impossible; the sentence is already upon you. You ask, why are things so difficult for me? I also ask you, how faithful are you in little thing? If as a civil servant who was sent on an assignment, you cook up false receipts when it’s time for you to balance the book, so that you get a cut of the extra change, how then do you want to get abundance?  People have forgotten that this God is a God of process. Look at the seed that is planted into the earth, it struggles gradually to blossom. But we all don’t want to struggle. Don’t go against process.

Our integrity always meet its match in money matters. God calls us to be honest even with small details that we can rationalize away. Heaven’s riches are far more valuable than earthly wealth but if we are untrustworthy with our earthly wealth, no matter how little; we are unfit to handle the vast riches of the kingdom of heaven. This test of little things comes when we are asked to do something that is beneath our ability and potential. It proves how faithful we are to our commitments and reveals if we are ready for greater responsibilities. Whoever can be trusted with little can also be trusted with much. With the little things you steal, you rob yourself of great things ahead.

God calls money unrighteous mammon and differentiates it from true riches. This tells us that money is not true riches.  And this is a message that Christendom has to preach and not focus on money as if it was all in all.  Whenever my heart begins to think about money, I say “God, take it out” because money has the power to take the place of God in your life. it can become your master.

5 WAYS TO KNOW IF YOU ARE A SLAVE TO MONEY.

1.  Do you worry about it frequently

2.  Do you give up doing what you should do because you want to make more money?

3.  Do you spend a great deal of your time caring for your possessions?

4.  Is it hard for you to give money away?

5.  Are you in debt?

Money is a hard master and a deceptive one. It promises power and control but it cannot deliver.  And I want you to know that great fortunes can be made and can be lost in a moment.

Test 2 – The Motive Test

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. Matthew 6:5

The test of motive comes when we are doing the right things but not necessarily for the right reasons.  In Matthew 6:6 praying was good but hypocrites were not praying for the right reasons.  To tithe is right, to honour pledges is also right but if you are doing it because you want God to give you a job, there’s a problem. God cannot be bribed. Everyone of us will face the motive test when we do the right things but for the wrong reasons. That’s why we all need the mirror of God’s word. Each time you are doing something, do you check why?

Test 3 – The stewardship Test

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.” Luke 6:38

If you tie this to the practice of giving on a regular basis, it will prevent you from being owned by whatever it is you give away. If you can’t give your money away, it becomes your owner. While this scripture speaks about the principle of God’s economy it also speaks on the principle of stewardship. Money is also called currency because it is supposed to flow. But when you withhold it out of fear and greed, you limit what God will give to you. That’s why He said “give, it shall be given unto you.”

Test 4 Wilderness Test

Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end”  Deuteronomy 8:15-16

A generation that is unable to endure short term pain for long term gain cannot stand the wilderness test nor get far as it happened with the children of Israel in the wilderness.  The moment something is not going well, we begin to cry. Some of the things that will come your way are things that no one can help you out with because they have also not experienced it before. But the scripture tells us in Deuteronomy 8:15-16, “that it might be better for them in the latter end.” How often has short term gain blinded you to what God is doing in your life?

Test 5 – The credibility test

And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law. Genesis 19:14

If you study the story of Lot well, you’ll realize that not only did he choose to try and upstage his uncle, Abraham, he also was a quick deal maker (he sat at the gates of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:1) But Lot forgot something important like we all do – people always remember the track record that we bring along. So much so that when it counted the most, when the angel wanted to save those that were Lot’s relations, when Lot called them, the scripture says they looked at him as one that mocketh. They couldn’t trust his words.

Children often loose confidence in their parents because they have no track record which speaks up; no credibility. For example a father promises his child saying “I will do this” and then finds reasons why it should not be done and the father then does this often and often. The child may keep quiet but will know that he or she can’t trust their father’s words.

Test 6 – The Authority Test

God was not making a mistake when He put David under Saul. And David was not so stupid to have stayed under the leadership of somebody who was a failure; who he knew he would succeed, yet he stayed, subjected himself.  Learn as much from the mistakes of the man you consider a failure as much as from the man you consider a success. And you should stop playing the game of comparison and spiritual politics. You will never be a leader until you have learnt to be a follower and have learnt to submit.

Test 7 – The Offense Test

Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! Luke 17:1

There are three ways that you can response to offenses:

  1. Give it back to the person (revenge)
  2. Be silent and yet burning within until the day you have an outburst
  3. Forgive

Jesus said offenses will naturally come but what should your reaction be? The offense test is something you have to come to terms with – Jeroboam was selected by Rehoboam himself because of his diligence. And then one day, the prophet Ahijah told Jehoboam that God was going to divide the kingdom and give 10 tribes to Jeroboam. But when Rehoboam came after him; he ran to the unbelieving world for advice and copied them. He did not go to the prophet Ahijah. Yet it was the same Ahijah he sent his wife to meet, when his son about to die. The same prophet he refused to go to at first. When the heat is against you in the house of God, don’t run away. It was too late for Rehoboam; his son died and God wiped out everything. I wonder why God who chose him would wipe him off and He said “yes, he knew better than to run to the world to pick up all the wrong things when the prophet who I sent to anoint him was still there.” When Saul wanted to kill David, David ran to the house of God. You leave a church saying that there is no love in this church yet when you go to another church where you think there is love, you still pollute it.

Test 8 – The Warfare Test

And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt.  Exodus 13:17

When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them through the philistine country though it was shorter because God said they stood the risk of running back to Egypt because they had not faced war. What I’m saying in that if your destiny is worth pursing then fight for it. A battlefield is not a bed of roses. You must engage the enemy each day, using each spiritual weapon at your disposal. If you don’t Satan will steal every God given blessing that you have got. He will start from stealing your identity and that’s why you get so mixed up that people can’t know the difference between you and a thief; then your integrity, your calling, family and future.

The warfare test demonstrates your ability to continue in your vision even when you are experiencing disappointments and oppositions. Those in leadership position should take this very much into account.

Test 9 – Test of Time

Thomas Edison, the man who invented the light bulb has been long dead but the legacy that he left behind survived the times. Will your foot print endure the test of time? Thomas Edison has been long dead but each time you use your light switch, your light comes up. It is still the same for the man who started the Salvation Army. What are the legacies you are leaving behind? It doesn’t have to be a big name. Fathers, what legacy are you leaving for your children?

The test of time comes in two dimensions – temporal (the example of the light bulb) and the eternal legacy (the one you give to your children (godly nature). The first you will present to God is your family and if you cannot, you are a failure and heaven will ask, “Where is the heritage I gave you?”

Test 10 – Lordship test

Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. Luke 5:4-6

Peter was a master fisherman and he knew that it is against every rule to fish during the day but when the Master gave the command, he said “at Thy word” and obeyed. How obedient are you to God?

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