Hal Hollister Ministry

“But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.” 1 Peter 5:10

The Holy Spirit spoke to me this morning about His promise of vindication after a long struggle of testing.

We forget about this promise when in the midst of a whirlwind of adversity. Jesus keeps His promises and will deliver a believer. He can be implicitly trusted.

The trials of Jesus are designed to perfect you, establish your reputation and faith, give you strength, and settle you with the peace of Jesus.

The Cross is modeled after the death of Jesus and transforms a believer into the character and personality of Jesus.

The trials help to accomplish the goals of Jesus. He desires for a Christian to die to self and live for Him. The trials are extreme and seem cruel for the Christian who takes Jesus seriously and has laid down His life for the Most High.

The crux of the challenge is for Jesus to deal with your human nature at birth. We are ego driven people who are most concerned about our goals and lifestyle. In contrast, Jesus has no ego and is a God of unconditional love with no bias.

Christianity attempts to deal with the human nature through keeping laws, doing works and establishing regulations. This never worked for the Israelites and is doomed to failure.

Jesus desires for a Christian to have a personal and symbolic relationship with Him built on faith and obedience. The priority is relationship not religion.

The trials require a believer to stay grounded in Jesus through prayer, reading the Bible, and listening for the voice of Jesus. The believer must live one day at a time and draw on the strength of Jesus. 

The Holy Spirit is your friend and comforter during a crisis. He lives in you and will help a Christian find peace, wisdom and protection during adversity.

Concentrate on the attributes of God during a trial. 

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, The power and the glory, The victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, And You are exalted as head over all.