Things They Don't Tell You When You Follow God Closely — The Blessing Will Be Tested Before It Is Released

This is post 8 in Things They Don't Tell You When You Follow God Closely, a weekly Sunday series from Alpha VI Battalion.

They Did Not Tell You the Blessing Gets Tested

You have been believing for something. Praying for it. Working toward it. Standing on the promise through the seasons when it looked like it was not coming. And then it comes within reach. And right when it is close enough to touch, something happens that feels like it is being taken away.

This is one of the most confusing and painful moments in the life of a person who follows God closely. The thing you have been holding onto in faith appears to be the thing God is now asking you to release.

That is not a contradiction. It is a test. And it is the final test before the release.

Abraham Understood This

God promised Abraham a son. That son was the foundation of everything God said He was going to do through Abraham's lineage. Isaac was the promise made flesh. And then God asked Abraham to bring him to the mountain and surrender him.

What God was testing was not whether Abraham would kill his son. He stopped him before the knife fell. What God was testing was whether the promise had become more important than the God who made it. Whether Abraham trusted God with the thing God gave him or whether the thing had quietly replaced God in the center of his devotion.

Abraham passed. And the ram was in the thicket. The promise was not taken. It was confirmed.

The Test Is Not a Trap

When the thing you have been believing for is tested it is not God changing His mind. It is God confirming that you are ready to receive it without being consumed by it. The blessing held loosely, surrendered back to God when He asks, is a blessing that can be trusted with the person who holds it. The blessing clutched tightly, elevated above the God who gave it, becomes an idol before you even notice the transition happened.

God loves you too much to give you something that would replace Him in your life. The test before the breakthrough is protection, not punishment.

Put It on the Altar and Trust the Ram in the Thicket

Whatever it is that feels like it is being asked back from you right now, put it on the altar. Trust that if God gave it He can restore it. Trust that the ram is in the thicket even when you cannot see it yet. Trust that the test has an end and what is on the other side of it is the promise with roots deep enough to last.

The blessing gets tested before it gets released. That is not failure. That is the final step.

Stay in it, Light Bringer.

Continue Reading in This Series

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Next: You Will Have to Forgive People Who Never Apologize

Wear What You Believe

If you are holding the promise through the test, the The King Has One More Move Tee is the declaration for this moment. Or wear the posture with the Blessed (James 1:12) Tee. Browse the full Spiritual and Inspirational Collection.

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