Passing God’s Test

Earlier this week as I was praying and studying, I heard the question rise out of my spirit, “what have these lessons been about?”
God and I had actually been studying something else but I immediately knew He had more to say about the tests we are facing/ about to face (see my previous few posts). As I registered the question of what the past year’s lessons were all about, I had the sense that in order to pass our looming end-of-season tests we would benefit from a period of revision to make sure we’re ready – it’s time to review the lessons that we’ve been learning, and make memorials* so we don’t forget them & go back to our old bad habits.
(*for anyone interested, I highly recommend doing a study on memorials in the Bible and all the times God commands His people to “Remember”!)

I have two teenagers in my house. One is studying for his A’ levels (ending this year) and the other for his GCSEs. So we are well placed to recognise the parallels between academic testing and what is happening in the spirit realm – how to prepare for the tests we are facing. There are three main keys that I identified this week…

1/ Revision.
Over the past couple of weeks, God has graciously warned us that we the Church are entering testing season. Just as my sons are reviewing what they have been learning in their academic subjects, I believe it is really important for us to revise what we’ve been learning in the spirit, so we are ready to be tested. Remembering is a big deal to God. Over and over again He led His people to set up memorials and holidays and to habitually pass revelation on to the next generation. He tests us because He wants to know that we have learned & won’t forget. Israel didn’t have a great track record in passing tests, even with all their ritual memorials. I pray with all my heart that we would do better.
Let’s re-read our journals, and/ or review the events and prophecies etc of the past year to focus on the main points of what the Holy Spirit was teaching us. We need to know what the point was of all our lessons – what were we supposed to be learning? Re-vision – looking again at what He has been showing us all over the whole season – is essential so we don’t miss anything important as we prepare to be tested.

2/ Recognise the tests.
As my sons will tell you, an essential exam skill is to be able to understand the questions. In His kindness God has told us what form the coming tests may take, so we will recognise and know how to interpret them when they come – because spiritual tests are not as straightforward as a written paper of questions.
A point worth noting from my eldest’s A’level studies: he started his course two years ago, aiming towards the all-important written exams at the end of the season. He and his peers could have been tempted to coast for most of the year and then just cram what they needed to know over a few weeks of revision for a superficial understanding, just enough to look like they had made progress (selah). But with this year’s exams cancelled, the focus has shifted from end-of-year testing onto day-to-day assessments – a much more constant pressure. And that is an important reflection of what’s happening in the spirit realm. Western Christians with their surfeit of teaching used to coast and do the minimum required under pressure to give ‘good enough’ answers to theoretical questions – but that’s not enough any more. Now we’re being asked to show evidence of that learning in our daily lives. It’s a lot harder to fake – but isn’t that the point?

3/ Be equipped with the answers.
So all that remains is the answers themselves – are we confident that our answers to the tests will be sound? Do we know what the examiner is looking for? After I wrote about the coming tests last week I was very aware that being able to identify the tests still doesn’t necessarily guarantee our ability to answer well. And given all that God’s been saying, how could we ever remember it all anyway?
But when God spoke to me this week about the point of our year’s lessons I was reminded of the old Sunday school joke: it doesn’t matter what the question is, the answer is always Jesus!

This past year has been full of multiple lessons, but when the question arose within me of “what have these lessons been about?”, God showed me that there were just one or two main points to them all. They are both simple and vital to remember and put into practice…

*Fix our eyes on Jesus
As Hebrews 12:2 says, “We look away from the natural realm and we focus our attention and expectation onto Jesus who birthed faith within us and who leads us forward into faith’s perfection” (TPT)

That means looking away from all that we used to fixate on: our Sunday meetings, religious habits, pet doctrines, denominational preferences; all the structures and organisations that used to divide us; all the personalities and leaders who used to feed us. Just looking to Jesus: one Saviour; one Lord; one High Priest over one Church; one King with one beautiful Bride; one Head of a single Body; one Captain of a single united army; one Shepherd of one flock. Just Jesus, our holy, mighty, compassionate, glorious, human-identifying God. We could (and will) gaze upon Him for all eternity and never run out of reasons to worship.

The absolute, number one lesson of this season has been all about restoring Jesus to His rightful place as the One we whole-heartedly, undividedly lavish our attention upon. Not religion. Jesus. He is our reason for everything. He is always the answer.

And the second point to this year’s lessons that I felt God also wanted to highlight today was this:
*Learn to follow the Spirit’s leading
Isaiah 30:21 – “When you turn to the right or turn to the left, you will hear his voice behind you to guide you, saying, ‘This is the right path; follow it’.” (TPT)

I’m not sure that this is a separate point, to be honest – Jesus and the Holy Spirit are one. It causes all sorts of theological tanglings to try to define where one ends and the other starts – they are both God, One with our loving Heavenly Father. And yet I felt prompted to add this as a second lesson of the season: to have our ears attentive to the leading of the Spirit.
Just as the Pharisees devoted their lives to learning the law and still managed to miss the Word of God when He physically walked among them, so I believe it is possibly to fix our eyes on Jesus by learning all about Him, quoting Him and even trying to be like Him… but still miss His very essence if we are not filled to overflowing with the dynamic power of the Holy Spirit. It is His fruit in our lives that make us like Jesus – His gifts that equip us to minister the Kingdom as Jesus did.
Instead of building our own lives and ministries according to what we have been taught is the right way to go, in this New season it’s imperative that we listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit and only step where and when He says to.

So we need to fix our eyes on Jesus and have our ears attentive to the Spirit’s leading.
Otherwise we could end up as we were before: living, gathering, and even ministering according to our good ideas and asking Him to bless those ideas with a few goosebumps, rather than asking Him to take over and just following His lead into a glorious outpouring.

So a final bit of revision…
Q: when the tests come, as they already are, what is the answer?
A: To keep our eyes on Jesus & ears attentive to the Spirit.
Whatever the test may demand of us, that is the answer:

When we are tested to see if we will sacrifice what is most precious to us, the answer is found in keeping our eyes on Jesus, and ears attentive to the Spirit.
When we are tested with discomfort and lack, the answer is found in keeping our eyes on Jesus, and ears attentive to the Spirit.
When we are tested to see if we will obey even when we don’t understand, the answer is found in keeping our eyes on Jesus, and ears attentive to the Spirit.
When we are tested by the persuasive words of “important” people’s opinions, the answer is found in keeping our eyes on Jesus and ears attentive to the Spirit

Whatever the question, whatever the test, the answer lies in looking away from everything else, focusing only on Jesus and following His Spirit’s leading.
So now we know the answers in theory, let’s make sure we are putting them into practice in our lives, so that we will be found ready when the tests arrive!