God Blesses His Elect by Giving Them Trials to Endure

By -
It's true God blesses but He doesn't give Christians the promise of happy, wealthy and happy lives. That's just the garbage of the prosperity "gospel" movement. Do you want to know how God blesses Christians?

Let's read the Bible on a few verses about blessings:
Matthew 5:11-12 says, "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you."
Romans 8:26-28 says, "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. 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."

There is no reason that a Christian shouldn't expect trials. Jesus already warned about persecution more than He promised about blessings. The idea of your "best life now" is a heresy that has made several false converts. Jesus is not a Madison Avenue Jesus who will make them happy, wealthy and healthy. People want that kind of Jesus but that's another Jesus, not the Jesus of the Bible. Every other "Jesus" but the Lord Jesus Christ will just send the person to Hell.

Just because God promises to bless doesn't mean there won't be problems and heartaches. Sometimes, God will allow trials to mature the person so they'll know how to handle His blessings for them properly. The scenario is that if you want to offer better services then shouldn't it mean that you need to make improvements? No improvements ever happen without the use of effort. Sometimes, to make services better you need to expect necessary delays. Hard work is needed to improve services.

The analogy of blessing through trials can also be found in John 15:1-8 which says:
I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

Useless branches don't represent salvation that was lost. Instead, they picture people who were false converts. True branches are purged instead of thrown out because they will be more productive. Pruning means God will do everything to make the believers bear more fruit. The Father knows that through His grace that they can be more productive. The difference between true converts and false converts is that one endures to the end and the other doesn't. Trials are meant to strengthen only genuine converts while they also weed out false converts.


See also: