Often it is simply the answers to our prayers that cause many of the difficulties in the Christian life.
We pray for patience, and our Father sends demanding people our way who test us to the limit.
We pray to be unselfish, and God gives us opportunities to sacrifice by placing other peoples' needs first and by laying down our lives for other believers.
We pray for strength and humility, and 'a messenger of Satan" comes to torment us.
We pray to the Lord, as His apostles did, saying,"Increase our faith!". Then our money seems to take wings and fly away; our children become critically ill; an employee becomes careless, slow, and wasteful; or some other new trial comes upon us.
We pray for a Christlike life that exhibits the humility of a lamb. Then we are asked to perform some lowly task, or we are unjustly accused and give no opportunity to explain.
We pray for gentleness and quickly face a storm of temptation to be harsh and irritable. We pray for quietness and suddenly every nerve is stressed to its limit.
We pray for love for others, and God sends unique suffering by sending people our way who are difficult to love and who say things that get on our nerves and tear at our heart.
Yes, we pray to be like Jesus,and God's answer is "I have tested you in the furnace of affliction". Will your courage endure or your hands be strong?" "Can you drink the cup?"
Extracted from Streams In The Desert
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