Our Season Two finale episode contains the two truths you need to know about about persevering through trials. Pastor Joe McIntyre also will share:
- How do we “count it all joy?”
- What is a positive confession of faith and why is it important?
- How do we come boldly to the throne of grace to find help in time of need?
- What if we are grieving that this trial has come upon us — is that okay?
Season Three of the Empowering Grace Podcast will return fall 2023!
Additional Resources
War Over the War book by Joe McIntyre
Traditions That Hinder Healing MP3 Series Joe McIntyre
Christ the Healer by F.F. Bosworth
The Call by Rick Joyner
Enduring Faith by Bill Johnson
Transcript
As many of you know, we have been through quite a season of challenge. And during much of it, the Lord usually gives me a scripture to just chew on, to feed on. And the scripture that the Lord gave me during this last season is from James chapter one, verse 12. And it says, Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial. Because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him. So as I’ve been chewing on this, I’m saying, Lord, I want it. I want the crown of life. How many of you know who wears crowns? Kings. So this is saying, as you learn to endure the tests of life, you receive the ability to reign in the life of God. I want to talk to you this morning about being the blessed man or woman. Everything the Lord has spoken through those who shared his prepared the platform for this message. It’s not a message that the immature can grasp, or even envision, but you can and will, in Jesus name.
In this passage, James tells us that when we hold steady in trials, we are qualifying ourselves for the crown of life. Earlier in his letter, James had instructed us to count it all joy when we fall into various trials, knowing that the faith the trial of our faith works steadfast tenacious, endurance and perseverance. Now, this is fulfilled this counting it all joy, because we know this is the result of proven endurance in tests and trials. You see what I mean? He’s saying that you’re going to count it all joy when you really know that your trial is working for you, not against you. I remember, as a young believer, I read that counted all joy when you fall into trials and I thought, Yeah, right. Come on. He’s got to be kidding. Trials are no fun. But I’m learning and have been learning that when we rightly see a trial, the trial doesn’t come from God. And so when we rightly see it as an opportunity for God to reveal Himself in us, to us and through us, and actually cause us to defeat the enemy that sent the trial, then we can look at that trial and say, Glory to God, look what’s going to happen. When I get through this, I’m going to have a greater testimony of God’s goodness, God’s faithfulness, of his unfailing love, you see. So trials are the doorway to the crown of life.
Now, that’s the good news. The bad news is you have to get through it. That’s not bad news, though. Really. We’re saying it’s even good news. I often wondered, how did the early church you know, embrace this idea of, Paul said it too, of counting it a joy, rejoicing in trials, and I’m starting to see it. But I’m believing for us that it’s a real key to being unstoppable. You see. If I know that my father is going to make this work for me, not against me, then I can rejoice while I’m awaiting the manifestation of His victory in my life. It says, after you have stood the test, you will receive the crown of life. Now some people would say, Well, that’s when we get to heaven. But you know what? I just have decided Paul wasn’t much interested, and James as well, in telling us what’s going to happen in heaven. He’s trying to encourage us for life. This life. And so yeah, I’m sure we’ll all be real victorious people in heaven when there’s nothing to overcome.
Years ago, we read a book by Rick Joyner, The Call. In there he has this little section where Jesus is showing him, you see, he’s caught up to heaven. And Jesus is showing him around heaven. And they come into the throne room. And he looks at the Father, and the Father is weeping. And he says, Why is the father weeping? He said, Oh, it’s the worship from Earth. It touches him like nothing else. And Joyner says, Well, all the angels and all the redeemed up here, they’re all worshiping the father. You know? And he says, Yes, but it doesn’t cost them anything. And I’m thinking the same truth applies to going through hardship, going through trials, going through difficulties. You see, I think that sends an aroma of a sweet sacrifice to the Father that pleases his heart. And it’s a certain thing that we can only do in this life. And so you know, it’s a part of growing up. It’s a part of maturing. At first, it can seem overwhelming. How can I count this horrible thing a joy? How can I rejoice in it? Well, the way you do that is you get a revelation of Father’s heart towards you. If God be for you, who or what can be against you. We’ll look at that verse a little later in Paul’s writings, but I want you to recognize some factors in what I’m talking about today, because there are certain things we have to know and understand, to be able to embrace this teaching.
One of the first things we have to reject is any thought that God is sending the trial or orchestrating the test. I remember I was taught that as a young believer in the church I attended. I was taught that well, everything comes to you, filtered through the loving hands of your father, and it’s all for your good. Well, it is. You know it can be turned for our good, but the idea that God sends it because there’s something in me that needs fixing, was what I was taught. Well, these trials they come to get you free from all your problems. Well, in a sense that can happen, but the deal is if I think God is sending it then I’m sure he’s finding fault with me. And if God’s finding fault with me how can I confidently come boldly to the throne of grace and ask for mercy and grace to help? I’m gonna come with my tongue tied, my head bowed and Oh, Lord, I know I’m not worthy. Oh, religious humility is all over me. Lord, I feel so bad. We got to crucify religious humility. Religious humility is I put myself down and honor my sinfulness in the face of God’s grace that’s already broken the power of that sinfulness and already set me free. See, God wants me to come with boldness. And I can’t come with boldness if there’s a shadow of condemnation.
Alright, so the first thing is trials don’t come from God. And James in chapter one, verse 16, Do not be deceived. You know much of the church is deceived. It says, My beloved brethren, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. So God is consistently good. If you want to know what father’s like look at Jesus. When I was first saved because of my being brought up in a denomination that talked about this scary God, after Jesus saved me, I loved Jesus and I was not afraid of Jesus at all. But father, I don’t know about him, he might, you know, tolerate me for Jesus sake. You know, it’s kind of a, it was a gray area in my life. And it’s a gray area in the life of many Christians. Why did God let this happen? Well, let me just say, my book War Over the Word is the answer to that because it’s the parable of the sower by Jesus. Jesus says, The sower sows the Word, Satan comes immediately to steal the word.
So why do trials arise? They arise to stop your progress in God, and to distract you from the truth you’re hearing. God is always working to bring his truth into our life and to build it into our character. And Satan comes to destroy that process or to uproot that seed. And you have to think of the word of God is not just the written word of the Bible. It can be the preached word, it can be the prophetic word, it can be visions and dreams that are anointed by God that come to you. That’s all the word of the Lord. And in the Old Testament, it says, The word of the Lord came to so and so in a vision. You see, so these things that we experience in God, they’re all designed to move us into fullness. And Satan comes to stop the process, working through people and circumstances. He seeks to deter us from our focus. He wants us unfocused.
In first Corinthians 1:13, It says, No temptation, or test or trial has overtaken you, except which is common, that which is common to man. And God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above your ability, and will with the temptation, test and trial, make a way of escape. Right? So God is the one helping you through and to overcome, not the one orchestrating the trial. I know you all know that. Not everybody has always heard what we’ve heard, known what we’ve known. And you know, my messages go up on YouTube, and people hear them who this may shock them. You see, because they’ve been taught all their life is God is sovereign. God is meticulously controlling every detail of your life. Well, I think that’s one of the most damaging, you know, it’s like saying, Yes, I’m a child abuser, and I’m so proud of it. See? Now God will use whatever the devil tries to do, to actually bring greater victory. So he can work, I like the NIV of Romans 8:28, In all things, God works together for the good of those who love Him, and are called according to His purpose.
So this is an important part of getting victory and trials, you’ve got to be clear about where they come from. Otherwise, you’re saying, Why did you allow this God? And if we really understood the truth that we’re coming to know now, we’d realize that he didn’t allow it? We did. Well, what do you mean, we did? Well, if we don’t know our place in Christ, if we don’t know our authority, and we don’t know our standing with God, we can let things happen that we could resist, and cause them to be broken before they really developed. You see? We put up the shield of faith to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And so there’s a part of responsibility. See, God gave the dominion over the earth to mankind, and he has restored it back to us in Christ, and we have to learn to walk in that. And one of the main ways that we open the door to the devil is by mouthing what the devil is doing, without mouthing also the corresponding truth of God. And what I mean by that is a positive confession of faith is not denying the circumstances. Paul in Second Corinthians, he lists, he says, We are cast now but not forsaken, we are gonna… go through this whole list of the things he’s experiencing in the natural realm. But after each one he says, But God. You see? And if you want to judge your own speech, when you describe what’s going on in your life in the physical realm, is the but God after, or is it, Well, I know God loves me, but the circumstances. See one of those is unbelief, mental assent. But the true confession of faith says, I’ve been through the most difficult time in my life, but God is faithful, God is merciful, and God loves me, so I’m coming out on top. You see. That’s a confession of faith. It’s alright to acknowledge your circumstances. It’s alright to say what’s going on in the natural realm, but don’t let that be the last word. You can say, Well, all this is going on, but I trust God. You don’t have to make some elaborate statement. All you have to do is let people know that in your life, no matter what you’re facing, you are believing God, trusting God, and you’re confident in his love for you. That’s the healthy balance in positive confession. Some people are afraid to say anything about their circumstances, Well, I don’t ever say a bad confession. Well, that’s not healthy. You need to be able to tell what’s going on in the natural realm. But then you need to affirm that God is greater than the natural realm.
Alright, so trials aren’t from God, number one point, gotta have that. Alright, the second thing that we need to really know is it’s okay to be grieved by trials. You see, sometimes you think, well, if I’m trying to believe God, then I can’t have any grief. Well, you know, Peter said, that though we are grieved by trials, the trying of our faith more precious than gold that perishes. You see? But he said, grieved by trials. Well, in other words, you’re able to, you know, you’re able to say, This is one of the most difficult things I’ve ever faced. I’ve been distressed, confused, in wonder and trust, in questioning God, but… I think I shared this with some of the folks previously, but one of the things that really helped me was listening to Bill Johnson talk about, I had a two CD message of his called Enduring Faith. I got it years ago, and I didn’t realize what it was about, and then I thought of it after this whole thing, all this whole event occurred.
And so the message was about how, you know, Bethel Church, years ago declared war on cancer. And they’ve set their hearts to believe that God will heal cancer in their midst. Well, they see many people healed of cancer. Henry went down there and received a dramatic healing of cancer, and many others have received healing from cancer. So this is sort of a thing they’ve set their heart on. They don’t see a hundred percent, but they’re seeing many, many people healed. Well, Bill’s father, and Bill is a fifth generation preacher, so he’s obviously a believer with an inheritance, was struck with cancer. Well, of course, the whole church rallied around him. Bills whole family rallied around him. And they were contending for his healing. And, you know, it’s such a part of their church, they just, you know, figured God would heal him, but for some reason, he didn’t receive the healing. And Bill was just kind of blown away by this. And what he said that helped me, and this might be helpful for you in any situation that seems overwhelming. He said, I complained to God, I spoke my frustration to God. I told God I didn’t understand what happened. And he said, then I got back to the truth about God, that he’s good. He desires everybody’s healing. Whatever the reason was, it was not God’s will that we experienced that death. And he said, he talked through his frustration with God. And then he went on, and moved to affirming who the word says God is and what God will do.
Well, that process was very helpful for me. Because I had been believing God, I’ve seen God heal me of congestive heart failure, heal me of asthma, heal me of many other things over the years that were, you know, not as large. But I’m also believing God for healing on some other areas for many years. So I thought I had it, by faith. And so when these things happened, and it became necessary to have such a monumental deal happen in my life, I had to work through it. I had to say, Lord, I don’t get it. What’s the deal? Well, what Bill said is, we are, as we’re pressing in, the whole body of Christ, the charismatic church, at least, and many, many evangelicals. They’re trying to get in to healing. Healing is becoming so widespread that many people who didn’t believe in it now believe in it.
But think about this now. For the last, oh, probably, since the Reformation, the new birth has been clearly taught and is completely widely accepted in all evangelical and charismatic churches. But divine healing’s been around for less than 100 years, well, actually a little over 100 years. And so much of the church has these traditions that hinder healing. If we could use the term, they psych people out of their faith. We had a couple who heard that our church believed in divine healing came. They called and said, We’ve heard your church believes in divine healing. Is that so? I said yes. They said, well, we’d like to come. So they came and she had cancer. And we rallied around her. And we we prayed and believed God the best we knew. And she died. And of course, we were disappointed, but we knew we’d done what we knew to do. And about a year later, the husband came to me and he said, Joe, I just read F.F. Bosworth’s Christ the Healer, and heard what he had to say about Paul’s Thorn, that it wasn’t a sickness. And he said, We always thought maybe she had Paul’s Thorn, or a thorn in the flesh. So what did that do? It kept her double minded. See?
When you’re praying for somebody else, unless you’re an evangelist with a gift of healing or working of miracles, you cannot override their unbelief. If they’re still wondering after they receive the prayer, unless it’s an instantaneous manifestation, if they’re still wondering if they have Paul’s Thorn, or Job’s boils, or maybe it’s the chastening of the Lord, or maybe God in His sovereign design ordained this. I’ve just given you the meat of my book, Traditions That Hinder Healing that will soon be available. But really, these are the things we deal with. In in western Christendom. It’s hilarious when you read about all the Methodists and Presbyterians and Baptists in third world countries, they’re all charismatic. Because they know the reality of the demonic realm, they know the reality of the spiritual realm. And so most of them are introduced to Christ through people ministering healing.
I read in Billy Graham’s magazine, how he spoke in India. And you know, Billy never teaches healing. This is really humorous if you think about it, but he was preaching a powerful sermon on Isaiah 53, the chapter of Christ’s substitution for us. And he had a Indian translator who was translating from the Indian version of, you know, I think Billy was using a King James or something. And so he said, Isaiah 53:4 in King James, Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Well, Hebrew says he has borne our sicknesses and carried our pains. Well, the original language when it was translated into the Indian dialect that the guy was reading the Indian Bible from got it right. And so they heard he has borne our sicknesses and carried our pains. Healing broke out for the first time ever in a Billy Graham meeting. And he concluded the article by saying there might be more to this healing business than we know about. All he had to do was say it under an anointing, and they got healed. Isn’t that awesome?
The next thing we need to realize is it’s like if you lose a loved one, you feel grief. It’s legitimate grief for a while. Then it needs to move on into joy and celebration of they’ve gone to be with the Lord, ideally. But trials bring our faith to maturity. And I mentioned earlier, James,
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know, you know, that’s the key, you got to know this, you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Now, some of you will remember my teaching on perseverance sometime in the last few months anyway, that it means tenacity, courageousness, persistence, zealous determination. Now, if you see your trials as the key to zealous tenacity, and all of these issues, you’ll start to look at them through the eyes of faith. In fact I did a message, I think it was less than two months ago called Seeing Your Trials Through the Eyes of Faith. Well, that’s what we have to develop.
Now, when you read the early church, everybody’s rejoicing in trials, and they’re going through hellish things. Well, they must have caught a glimpse of this, that nothing can hinder God’s hand if they stay in faith. And so they learn to count it a joy. And there’s a process in this. In Romans, chapter three, excuse me, Romans chapter five, it says, And not only this, but we also rejoice in our trials, knowing that trials bring about perseverance, tenacity, courageousness, a holy determination and perseverance, proven character. You see? How I face my trials is an indicator of my character development in God, my new creation life development And he says, Proven character, hope.
Now, the other scripture that I have been meditating on in this season is Romans 15:13, which says, May the God of hope, fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, that you may overflow with hope, by the power of the Holy Spirit. So I’m meditating on this, the God of hope. What does God have hope for? Well, you know, God has hope for everything he says that it will eventually come to pass because it’s loaded with his word and hiss anointing. So God’s hope, and it’s his holy… it’s like perseverance. It’s his holy determination to see the whole earth filled with the glory of God. And so God’s hope…this is, I mean, it’s has to come to us by revelation, but love isn’t passive compassion. Love is active holy determination to see people free. See, there’s this, there’s this zeal in God. And, you know, one of the unfortunate translations in our Old Testament is it talks about the jealousy of God. It’s the same Hebrew word for zeal. Just means he’s passionate. He’s not just jealous. Jealous is a carnal thing. If a husband is jealous of anybody that talks to his wife, we think he’s unhealthy. And then we use that same word to describe God. No, it’s his holy zeal.
There’s a passage in Numbers that the twelve spies come up to the promised land, and they go in and they investigate it. You know, the story, they come back, and ten of them have an evil report and only Joshua and Caleb have a good report. And so again, it’s a time where God’s thinking, maybe it’s time to put an end to this generation. And Moses intervenes in prayer. And it’s interesting, Moses quotes, Exodus 34:6, where God says, he is He is compassionate, merciful, long suffering, abounding in mercy and faithfulness. And Moses prays that back to God. And God says, Moses, I’ll do it because of your words. Boy is there a lesson in that. Moses called upon God to keep his word, and God said, Because of your words to me, I’ll do it. But then he says, But the whole earth shall be filled with the glory of God. Now do you see that hope, that holy determination. His hope is in us. He’s believing the best of us. And when we align with that, we rise up into it and walk in it. Overflowing with hope. But you see, hope isn’t like we use it. It’s not like, Well, I applied for that job. I hope that I got it. There’s no assurance in it. But there’s a determination in biblical hope.
Trials can bring our faith to maturity. And then the final thing that we want to know about this is God’s love will stabilize us. If you’re confused about where your trial came from, you’re not going to come and say, Father God, here I am boldly at your throne of grace, knowing there’s no condemnation in your heart towards me. You’re gonna be thinking, Oh, well, God allowed this for some reason. Why did God allow this? Oh, maybe God doesn’t love me. You see, all of those issues rise up when you have an unbelief kind of blessing.
So the love of God is the stabilizing force in your walk. So you have to have freedom before His throne. You have to be confident that you’re welcome there and that his heart is for you. We have a faithful and merciful high priest, who ever lives to intercede for us. He’s gone into heaven before us and opened up a new and living way where we can come with our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. So we’re water washed in the word and our conscience is cleansed by the blood, so we just come in like we belong. I like to say, I’m learning to hang out at the throne. Because Father loves me, and his love is the energy on which my faith thrives. You see what I mean? Kenyon, in one of his books describes grace as God’s love in action. I like that. God’s love in action. God’s love doing things for us.
Well, in a couple of weeks, I’m going to be beginning a series on entering into the love of Christ. And I’m going to be sharing more about that, but this is a key to the victorious life. This is the key to the overcoming life. I know God loves me. And Paul, when he was concluding the first section of the book of Romans in chapter eight. He makes these statements and I’ve only recently understood how Paul could say these things. And it’s he was so assured of God’s love for him, that he knew what I’m about to read to you. He knew, Who is he that condemns us. It is Christ who died and furthermore, is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ. Shall trials, distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness or peril or sword? As it is written for your sake, we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Satan hates the image of God and seeks to destroy it, by seducing us to selfishness. You see, he wants the universe to see selfishness as a better way of living. That’s how he, remember what he said to God about Job? Yeah, take away his blessings, and he’ll curse you. You see, this is a sick puppy, the devil. So he goes on. He says, Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Is that good?
I pray those Ephesians prayers, all the time. And one of the words in those prayers, Colossians and the first Ephesians ones, is the Greek word that means deep and intimate knowledge or love. It’s deep and intimate knowledge. It’s precise and accurate knowledge, full and personal knowledge, are all different ways Greek scholars say that word should be translated. Well, I was going through every verse in the New Testament that used that word. Well, there’s another passage in Timothy that says, God wills all to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Well, that’s not just basic knowledge of the truth, that’s full knowledge of the truth. So full knowledge of the truth brings us into the love of the Father. And that’s the will of God for every one of us. And you can’t come boldly to the throne of grace and receive that love, if you’re confused about who sent your problem, or if you question your worthiness, or if you feel like your past is too dark, so God really can’t fully accept you. Any of those lies. The master of lies throws every lie he can to keep you from the throne of grace. He wants you to be questioning your standing with God and your acceptance with him, because that’s the way he can throw darkness at you if you’re not walking in the light. But John says, if you walk in the light, the blood of Christ continually cleanses you from all sin. Does that mean I never sin? No. But that means if I do I quickly confess it, and I believe it’s forgiven, and I get back into the light.
All right, I want to just conclude. This is from the passion translation of Proverbs chapter five, four the end of the chapter, Proverbs chapter four, the end of the chapter, and he says, Set your gaze on the path before you. And with fixed purpose, looking straight ahead, ignore life’s distractions. Watch where you’re going, stick to the path of truth, and, and the road will be safe and smooth before you, Don’t allow yourself to be sidetracked for even a moment or take the detour that leads to darkness. I happened to be reading this as a reading through the first eight chapters of Proverbs and I asked Pam to bring the Passion Translation, so I could read it in that, and I just finished doing my notes. And I read that and I thought, Whoa, that fits into my message. Proverbs four end of the chapter. Yeah. It reads differently in the other translations, but this was so appropriate to what I just finished these notes, I just wanted you to hear that.
Don’t let anything distract you from pressing on to know the love of God and the love of Christ. That’s the healing agent. In fact, let me just say, we’re wanting to see more healing. The greater our level of compassion, the more we’ll see healing. And what if a whole group of us were filled with a love of God, and we just let that compassion move us. I think that’s what we’re after. And I think that’s what your word was about, was that we’re a group that’s moving into that. Now, I don’t doubt that many others are. But the only ones I’m close to is you, so I’m believing this is the word of the Lord to us today. Amen.
I have a great blessing of Aaron. Aaron’s blessing in a language, but it basically says…and I started to look, somebody sent this to me and I, you know, there’s a lot of people that says, Well, the Greek says this, the Hebrew says this, and I look it up, and I go, No, it doesn’t. I mean, people kinda say that. So I always check up on stuff. Well, this said, you know, it’s, The Lord bless you, the Lord keep you, the Lord lift up his face upon you. You know, just the thing that Roger says all the time, and that we got from Ty Mostavoy, singing in Hebrew. Well, this was translated from the Hebrew and it says, The Lord bless you. Well, this one said the Lord, kneel before you and give gifts to you. And I thought, kneel before you? I said, I gotta look that up, so I look up blessing, and it’s used to say kneel. So this is saying, God in his is love kneels before us and gives us gifts. Oh, my God. That is. That’s amazing. So the Lord bless you. The Lord, kneel before you and give you gifts. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you full of mercy. The Lord give you favor, and may you increase in every area of your life. In Jesus name. Amen.
