The modern gospel is often presented as a gospel without trials and tribulations. Everything will be great and you won’t experience any problems. The doctrine is focused on the carnal wealth and prosperity of the carnal man. The preachers promise the people prosperity, wealth, and a comfortable and happy life without problems. Through their motivational words and the promises they make, the people become enthusiastic and greedy. Many people repent and want to follow Jesus on the basis of all these wonderful promises. Because who doesn’t want to live a life without trials and tribulations and a life of prosperity, success, and wealth? But is this the gospel that Jesus Christ and the apostles preached? Is the gospel of Jesus Christ a gospel without trials and tribulations?
The trials in the wilderness
When the people of God were delivered from the oppression of Pharaoh, God prepared His people in the wilderness to enter and take the promised land. Not all the people of God stayed obedient to His commandments, which represented His will. Therefore many died in the wilderness and didn’t enter the promised land.
The main reason, why many didn’t enter the promised land, was that their image and expectation of God didn’t correspond with the true God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were familiar with the gods of Egypt and saw how the gods provided for the Egyptians. They saw how wealthy and prosperous the Egyptians were (Read also: The expectation of people).
Since God wasn’t like the gods of Egypt and didn’t act like them and didn’t give them what they wanted, everything that God did and all the things He provided for, didn’t meet their needs and desires. According to them, everything God did was wrong.
God didn’t meet their expectation and therefore they murmured and complained as soon as they encountered a trial or obstacle (Read also: The thankfulness of the sons of God).
Instead of trusting God, believing His words, and obeying God, the people remembered their ‘good old times’ in Egypt. Yes, they longed to go back to Egypt even if this meant that they had to live in the bondage of Pharaoh (Read also: Appointing leaders, who lead God’s people back to Egypt).
God didn’t meet their expectation and therefore many chose to go their own way. The pride and rebellion of the people ensured that many didn’t enter the promised land.
Despite the many wonders and miracles God performed and despite all His provisions, they continued to murmur and complain. And because many people didn’t want to submit to God’s will and didn’t believe and trust in Him, many died in the wilderness.
The trials in the life of Jesus
When Jesus was baptized in water and received the baptism with the Holy Spirit, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit to the wilderness, where He was tempted by the devil for 40 days. The devil tried everything to tempt Jesus to sin. In the wilderness, Jesus was prepared to preach and bring the Kingdom of God to God’s people and fulfill God’s work of redemption for mankind.
When Jesus returned from the wilderness the temptations and trials didn’t stop. Jesus was continuously tempted by the devil, during His walk on earth.
The devil even used people to tempt Him, so that He would become disobedient to God and sin.
But because of Jesus’ great love for His Father, Jesus stayed obedient to God’s will and overcame every trial and temptation.
Although Jesus was the Son of God, God didn’t spare Jesus from all the trials and temptations. God didn’t even spare His Son for the suffering on the cross. God allowed everything! The Word says, that through the many trials and sufferings, Jesus learned obedience.
Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared; Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered; And being made perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him; Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec (Hebrews 5:7-10)
Blessed is the man that endures temptation
Blessed is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to them that love Him (James 1:12)
There are many temptations and trials in life. Every time, you encounter a temptation or trial you have a choice. You have a choice to keep walking in obedience to what the Word and the Spirit say or to murmur and complain and deviate from the Word and walk in obedience to what your flesh and the world say.
As long as you live after the Word and keep walking after the Spirit, you shall walk in faith on the small path of life. But when you deviate from the Word and listen to the world and walk after the flesh you shall leave the small path of life and enter the broad path of the world (Read also: Can you resist the temptation?).
The message that Jesus preached
Jesus preached a message of repentance, of laying down your life, and becoming born again and daily taking up your cross and following Jesus (a.o: Matthew 4:17; Matthew 9:13; Matthew 10:38; Matthew 16:24, Mark 2:17; Mark 8:34, Luke 5:32; Luke 9:23; Luke 14:27; Luke 24:47, John 3:3 (Read also: The painful process known as dying and Following Jesus will cost you everything!)
But… Because a false doctrine has entered many churches, which only promises a life of prosperity and blessings, without trials and tribulations, it often happens, that as soon as Christians experience trials and tribulations in life, they panic and don’t know what to do and often times succumb. Because they are not prepared (Read also: Is life a self-fulfilling prophecy?).
They don’t know what to do. Because they only expect prosperity and blessings and to be loved by the world. Because that is the message, that is preached in the church (Read also: Why the world hates Christians?).
Therefore, Christians begin to doubt themselves and wonder what they are doing wrong. Because they are taught, that when you experience trials, setbacks, and tribulations you are doing something wrong and that you are on the wrong track in life.
So what happens? Christians start to digg into their past, searching for a cause, looking for generational curses, soul ties, and/or hidden sins that they have not confessed and did not repent of. But all these things cause Christians to sink further down (Read also: Don’t fall in the hole of your past! and Do generational curses exist?).
Christians complain and murmur and beg God for help, because they don’t know what to do.
And to be honest many leaders of churches don’t know either. Therefore they blame the lack of faith of these Christians and/or hidden sins in their lives. Because of this behavior, they only feel more miserable and discouraged and don’t know what to do, and oftentimes leave the faith.
There are many Christians, who have left the church and become apostate of the faith because of this false doctrine. Their lives didn’t correspond with the doctrine that was preached and the life that was promised in the churches and in all the prosperity books, which are many times written by unspiritual carnal people.
Because if the doctrine that is preached and written in books, would come from spiritual people, then the content of the books would be completely different. Because their words would line up with Jesus’ words and the words in the Bible and they would preach the exact same doctrine that Jesus preached.
Whom the Lord loves He chastens
My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chastens not? But if you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards, and not sons (Hebrews 12:5-8)
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent (Revelation 3:19)
The Word says, that whom He loves He rebukes and chastens. It’s the same with raising a child. Sometimes the parent speaks hard words, rebukes and corrects the child, and allows certain situations to happen for the wellbeing and the development of the child. The parent doesn’t do it to punish the child or because the parent doesn’t love the child, on the contrary, the parent does it out of love for the child (Read also: ‘Whom the Lord loves, He chastens and scourges‘).
He that spares his rod hates his son: but he that loves him chastens him betimes (Proverbs 13:24)
God allows certain situations in your life. So that you learn to trust God and stay obedient to His Word and spiritually mature. It’s easy to have faith and believe in the Word when everything goes well. But when a situation arises where your faith is tested, you show by your actions if you truly have faith and believe the Word and trust God or not.
Through difficult situations, setbacks, trials, and tribulations you learn to trust God and you will be formed. You learn to apply His words in your life and to persevere, which makes you spiritually resilient. You shall spiritually mature in Jesus Christ and be an overcomer in Him.
As long as you stay in Him and obey His words and persevere and don’t deviate from His words, you shall stay an overcomer.
God doesn’t give more than you can handle
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it (1 Corinthians 10:13)
You shall be able to handle every situation that comes your way. Because God has promised, that He wouldn’t tempt you above you can handle. Therefore everything that comes your way, and everything you are going through, you shall be able to handle. As long as you stay obedient to the Word and persevere, you shall be victorious.
It’s just like in the parable of the wise man that built his house on the rock and the foolish man that built his house on sand. Both men experienced the same rain, floods, and winds.
Jesus didn’t say in this parable that only the foolish man would experience rain, floods, and winds and that the wise man was excluded.
Therefore, we can conclude that everyone will experience storms in their lives and that no one is excluded. But only the doers of the Word shall stand and be victorious (Read also: ‘The hearers vs the doers’, ‘The two ways to go through a storm‘, and ‘A prisoner of circumstances)
If anyone says something else and promises that when you repent and become born again, you won’t experience any storms in your life, they lie and don’t tell you the truth. Because they speak against the Word of God. These people are carnal and preach out of their flesh; their own opinion, insights, philosophies, emotions, and feelings, and therefore they are false teachers, who don’t have the Spirit.
The truth prepares Christians
It is so important that the truth of the Word is preached, so that Christians will be equipped with the truth that is written in God’s Word. Because only through the truth, Christians will be prepared and know what to expect.
So that when situations or problems arise, Christians won’t be surprised and overwhelmed by the situations or problems and succumb. They won’t try to bypass the situation or run away, because they are prepared. They know, who they are in Christ and that through Him they are more than conquerors. Therefore they know what to do and shall confront the situation and go through it (Read also: Why do so many believers panic? and Who are you really?).
The believers shall consider the storms in their lives as a normal phenomenon. Because the Word has prepared and equipped the believers. They are familiar with the spiritual tools and know-how to use them.
They won’t complain and murmur and ask God ‘why’, nor will they blame God. But they will glorify God and thank Him in the midst of the situation and keep standing in the authority of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit and don’t give up. Because they are aware that trials and tribulations, setbacks, and persecution are part of the life of a born-again Christian (Read also: Stop blaming God!).
The believers are aware of the fact, that through regeneration they are no longer sons of the devil, but they have become enemies of the devil and his kingdom, which is the kingdom of this world. The devil shall not give up his sons without a fight and resistance. He shall do anything he can and he shall use every situation to win his sons back.
But those, who stay in Jesus Christ and stand on the Word and walk in obedience to God, shall be untouchable and victorious.
‘Be the salt of the earth’
