Experience the Proving of our Faith by Trials to receive the Salvation of our Soul

As we practice losing our soul-life in this age and go through sufferings and trials, the proving of our faith is being found unto praise, glory, and honor, and this will result in the receiving the end of our faith – the salvation of our souls. Hallelujah, what a sweet promise!

While He was on earth, the Lord Jesus told us that no one knows the day nor the hour when He will come, and even more, He told us that we should pray to escape the hour of trial which comes over the whole inhabited earth, the great tribulation at the consummation of this age.

On one hand, the Lord is with us until the consummation of the age; on the other hand, we need to deny the self, lose our soul-life, and take up our cross to follow Him, and when we see the signs of the Lord’s return, we should beseech that He would take us to Himself.

Our living today needs to be with the Lord’s coming in view; our living as believers in Christ and as sons of God is not of this world or for this world – we are here as citizens of another kingdom, the kingdom of God, and our commonwealth is in the heavens!

However, if we focus on the worldly things, if we allow our heart to not be pure and single for the Lord, we will be weighed down by all kinds of things, including the anxieties of this life, and thus we will miss the Lord’s secret return.

When He returns, the Lord will first take those who are prepared, ready, and overcoming; He will take those who are precious in His sight, for He is looking for the “treasure” to “steal it” in His coming as a thief.

Wow, the Lord is not only our Saviour, Shepherd, Friend, High Priest, heavenly Minister, and life, but He is also a thief, for in His secret return He will come to steal those who are precious to Him and are worthy of being stolen by Him!

On our side, we need to love the Lord, keep our heart pure and single for Him, and beseech Him to take us before the great tribulation comes.

To beseech is a particular kind of prayer, even a begging, an imploring, a desperate asking; we need to desperately ask the Lord, on the negative side, to rapture us, and also to make us worthy of being taken by Him at His secret coming.

We want to live in the Lord’s presence today, doing everything we can to keep ourselves one with Him, and rely on Him for everything, so that, in that day when He returns, we will simply take a further step of being in His presence with Him for eternity.

Amen, we want to escape the great tribulation which will come on the whole inhabited earth and be before the Son of Man at His coming, on Mount Zion, and then return with Him as His bridal army to defeat Antichrist with his armies, end this age, and bring in the kingdom age!

As we Live under the Government of God, we Experience the Proving of our Faith as we’re made Sorrowful by Various Trials

According to 1 Pet. 1:7 we are told that we’re put into trials and hardships, and we are made sorrowful for a while, for the proving of our faith. Just as gold is refined by fire, so the proving of our faith needs to be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

The reason we are put into trials because our faith needs to be tested by proving; in Greek, the word rendered “proving” means testing for approval.

Our faith itself is excellent, glorious, and divine, but the proving of our faith, the testing of our faith, must be found unto praise.

This can be likened to a student passing through an exam to prove that he knows and understands what he studies; it’s not the study itself that is found approved, but the examination that is found to be approved.

We have proper faith, and there is a proving going on, the proving of our faith by many trials through sufferings.

As we live our Christian life under the government of God, we will be made sorrowful by various trials and experience the proving of our faith.

We should be fearful since we are under God’s hand; we all need to humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand. It is God’s ordination and arrangements that, at various times, we would be made sorrowful by trials, sufferings, unpleasant circumstances, difficulties, and adversities.

The Lord Jesus Himself suffered, and the apostle Paul also suffered; all those who went before us suffered.

Actually, all human beings suffer, but we who hold the faith in Jesus Christ, the sufferings work out for us the proving of our faith.

All our sufferings, our going through hardships and trials, is for the proving of our faith; like gold is refined by fire, so our faith needs to be proven or tested.

The trials we go through are sufferings that test the quality of our life as believers. Just as a student takes a test to test out what he really learned and studied, and without that test there’s no qualification or proving of his study and learning, so the trials and hardships are for the proving of our faith.

Without the trials and sufferings that are constantly testing us, our faith is not proven.

The trials and sufferings are constantly testing us as to the quality of our life on earth, the quality of our life in following Jesus, and our life in the church!

Our entire Christian existence today – both individually and corporately – needs to be tested for the proving of our faith, so that we may see its quality.

These trials that we pass through are used by God to prove and try our faith to see whether we will follow Christ in suffering (1 Pet. 2:19-23; 3:14-18).

We shouldn’t be surprised when trials come; we shouldn’t be disappointed or discouraged when we experience hardships or tribulations.

When trials come our way we should not be put down or discouraged, for they come to prove and try our faith, whether we continue to follow Christ even in suffering.

Our faith is in our spirit, and it is excellent; the proving of our faith is by trials that come through sufferings.

When we pass through these trials and sufferings, we should simply pray and open to the Lord, and stand with the Lord and with one another, for we all go through these things.

When we see our brethren passing through trials and tribulations, we should simply pray for them, stand with them, remembering that we also pass through these things too – maybe at a different time – and all this works out the proving of our faith, that it will be found unto praise, glory, and honor.

Lord Jesus, we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, for it is under Your arrangement that we are made sorrowful by trials and tribulations for the proving of our faith. Amen, Lord, may we realize that trials and sufferings come our way for our faith to be tested and proven. We want to follow You, Lord, even in sufferings, trials, adversities, persecutions, and unpleasant circumstances. We stand with You and we stand with one another, for all the brethren pass through these trials and tribulations. We pray for ourselves and we pray for all our brothers and sisters, that the proving of our faith would be found into praise, glory and honor!

May we Receive the Salvation of our Soul at the Lord’s Revelation, His Coming Back!

At the Lord’s revelation, that is, at His coming back, some believers will enter into the joy of the Lord to receive the salvation of their soul (the result of the proving of their faith), while others will suffer in weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 25:21, 23, 30; 24:45-46, 51).

If we do not have the proving of our faith unto glory and honor in this age, our faith as defeated believers still needs to be proven and qualified by the suffering in the next age.

We want that, when the Lord is revealed at His return, we will receive the salvation of our soul! Unto this, there’s the proving of our faith taking place today by all kinds of trials, tribulations, and hardships, so that we may receive the reward when He returns.

The proving of our faith to be found unto praise, glory, and honor results in the obtaining of the end of our faith, that is, the salvation of our souls. Our whole being needs salvation, and our whole being will be saved completely.

First, the Lord saved our spirit through regeneration (John 3:5-6). He will also save our body by redeeming it through transfiguration (Rom. 8:23; Phil. 3:21).

Our soul also needs to be saved from sufferings into the full enjoyment of the Lord at His unveiling, His coming back.

In order for our soul to be salved at the Lord’s return, we need to deny our soul’s pleasures and enjoyment in this age so that we may gain it in the enjoyment of the Lord in the coming age (Matt. 10:37-39; 16:24-27; Luke 17:30-33; John 12:25).

Our soul is for enjoyment and expression; our soul seeks enjoyment, and the world has many things to offer to us for our enjoyment.

However, no matter how rich or poor we are, how educated or uneducated we are, and even no matter whether we’re believers or not, there’s a certain measure of sufferings that come our way, and our soul goes through sufferings a lot.

We may think that some brothers and sisters in certain countries across the earth suffer for the Lord, for they are persecuted and even imprisoned for their faith; however, even in the country and city where we are, we also have a certain amount of sufferings in the soul.

Having an abundance of material things and the certainty of food on the table the next day doesn’t mean that we’re spared from suffering in the soul.

Simply living on earth as a human being is suffering; our very existence is filled with suffering, for the earth today is not for our enjoyment.

We do have enjoyment on earth, and we do enjoy the Lord also in our soul as we spend time with Him and we meet with the saints, but at the same time, sufferings are our portion.

We may think that as long as we have a good degree in a good university, we will get a good job and there will be no more sufferings; however, the earth is not a paradise, and suffering will be our portion wherever we are.

We must wait for the Lord’s coming to be saved from the realm of suffering into a realm of comfort; when He returns, that will be the full salvation of our soul, if the proving of our faith is found unto glory and honor.

Our aspiration today is to enter into the joy of the Lord at His return (Matt. 25:21, 23).

We desire that at the revelation of the Lord Jesus – His coming – our soul will be saved, and we will be qualified to participate in the Lord’s enjoyment in the coming age (1 Pet. 1:9, 13).

If we lose our soul-life in this age and the proving of our faith is found unto glory and honor, at the Lord’s return we will find our soul, and we will enter into the Lord’s joy!

That will be the highest, greatest, and most glorious joy that any man can experience, for our soul will be fully saved from suffering, and we will enter into the Lord’s joy at His coming back in His kingdom!

Lord Jesus, we desire to enter into Your joy at Your return so that we may receive the salvation of our soul! Amen, Lord, may the proving of our faith be found unto glory and honor in this age so that our soul may be saved from sufferings into the full enjoyment of the Lord at His revelation! Lord, we take the sufferings You have allotted to us as our portion, and we entrust our soul to You, our faithful Creator. Amen, Lord, we want to enjoy You, experience You, and have our faith proven before You and before the whole universe. Our aspiration is to enter into the realm of full enjoyment of God in that day! Amen, Lord, for such a full enjoyment in the soul in that age we lay down our soul-life today and we deny our soul its earthly pleasures! We love You, Lord, we focus on You, we want to enjoy and experience You, and we want to enter into Your joy at Your return!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 Peter, msgs. 6-7 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Christian Life, the Church Life, the Consummation of the Age, and the Coming of the Lord (2020 fall ITERO), week 3, The Losing of the soul-life, Participating in the Rapture of the Overcomers, and Receiving the End of our Faith – the Salvation of the Soul.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – All thy griefs by Him are ordered, / Needful is each one for thee; / All thy tears by Him are counted, / One too much there cannot be; / And if while they fall so quickly / Thou canst own His way is right, / Then each bitter tear of anguish / Precious is in Jesus’ sight. (Hymns #676)
  – O soul, are you weary and troubled? / No light in the darkness you see? / There’s light for a look at the Savior, / And life more abundant and free. / Turn your eyes upon Jesus, / Look full in His wonderful face, / And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, / In the light of His glory and grace. (Hymns #645)
  – Help me then, in every tribulation, / So to trust Thy promises, O Lord, / That I lose not faith’s sweet consolation, / Offered me within Thy holy Word. / Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting, / E’er to take, as from a father’s hand, / One by one, the days, the moments fleeting, / Till with Christ the Lord I stand. (Hymns #713)