Prophetic Word – Tests vs Temptations?

This prophetic word is titled Is it a Tests or a Temptations?  This is more of a teaching than it is a prophetic word. However, the prophetic part of this message is that I am 100% sure ALL of us are walking through this right now.  Yes, all of us!

Who is this word for?  Everyone

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This is something that you need to know because the outcomes of each is different.

Tests come from God.  He uses these to qualify you for your next step along your journey.  Think of it as when you were in school – basic school/preschool, elementary school, middle school, high school, university – you learnt different things each year and throughout the year you had a test every semester. Then to move to the next grade level you had to take your final exam.  The same thing happens in the kingdom of God, there is always a test that qualifies you for your next level in the Lord.

**A tip to know what level you are with the Lord is what grade you’re in when you dream about being in school.  If you keep dreaming that you’re in middle school and it’s been that way for years, that means there are some lessons that you have to relearn and tests you need to pass before you can graduate to the next level.  You will notice when you start dreaming of higher grades and that means that you have passed some tests to get where you are.

Temptations come from the enemy. He will put these along the way to stagnate you, steal from you, and bring distraction to get you off track.

Therefore, tests and temptations are two different things.  There is an upgrade in the spirit and a new level accessed every time you pass a test.  There is no graduation when you escape the temptation, it is more a matter of you “dodging a bullet” so to speak and not allowing the enemy to entrap you.

You should know that in the Bible the words are interchangeable, it is basically the same Greek word but the positive one is a test and the negative one is a temptation.

3986 peirasmós (from 3985 /peirázō) – temptation or test – both senses can apply simultaneously (depending on the context). The positive sense (“test”) and negative sense (“temptation”) are functions of the context (not merely the words themselves).

So how will you know the difference?

Temptations generally lead you to sin because it’s devil that’s bringing it.

Tests generally builds your character, transforms you into the image of Christ and ends with a promotion.

A test will NEVER call on you to sin.  Neither does it ever come in the form of a sin. You are going to find that test usually come to crucifying your flesh.  It has to do with building your Christian Character and Godly virtues.  Hence, when the test shows up you may not even realize you are being tested.

The test doesn’t come with a notice letting you know you are being tested. I can give you a GIANT HINT based on my own experience.

Ready?

It is going to be something that is presented to you and you’ll have the choice to make a wrong decision or a right decision.  Usually the right decision will be harder and will not make your flesh feel good.

When you are building your character is like working a muscle you’ve never worked before.  So that the old you will always desire you to move in the old ways and patterns because this is your comfort zone.  As you begin to read the word of God, you are going learn in your head what the right thing is.  This is a mental exercise.

You pass the test not by knowing the right thing in your head but by physically doing the right thing with your actions.

Sometimes doing the right thing, feels very difficult, makes us uncomfortable and sometimes no one will even know that we did the right thing.

Here is a list of Christian Virtues and Character traits so that you can understand what is being built in you…

Respect

Compassion

Kindness

Contentment

Decisiveness

Submissive

Dependable

Integrity

Diligence

Gracious

Discernment

Peaceful/Calm

Discretion

Endurance

Trust

Hopeful

Faith

Purity

Forgiveness

Generosity

Temperance

Gentleness

Grateful

Hospitality

Peacemaker

Humility

Joyfulness

Love

Loyalty

Meekness

Obedience

Orderliness

Patience

Reverence

Self-control

Sincerity

Tolerance

Truthfulness

Merciful

Wisdom

Honor

Perseverance

Service/Servanthood

This is not an exhaustive list and as you can see these present themselves in different ways, through different scenarios and at various stages of life.  As you go along in your Christian walk the Lord has to bring these virtues forth in you.  He does this by putting you in a situation where you have to exhibit one of these virtues.

These things that He presents to us are the TESTS.  When we respond correctly is when we pass the test.  This is why sometimes the test can be there right in front of you and you won’t even know it.

You can pass a test and not even know it and you can fail one and not know as well.  God keeps bringing it back until you pass it.  I believe when we are taking the finals is when we actually know we are being tested because these tend to be harder things that we need to consciously be aware of our actions and attitudes.

The more mature you become in Christian Character is the more He can trust you to make the right decision when He gives you what He has promised you.

As an example, do you remember when David found Saul in the cave and he could have killed him?  (1 Samuel 24:1-22)  Saul had done so many bad things to him up to that point that it was to be expected that he would kill Saul.

However, David chose to use self control and not kill him.  You see, not because you can do something means that you should!  Not because you are right in a particular situation gives you the right to do whatever you want to do either.  God gave us free will to choose the right response in every situation.

1 Corinthians 10:23 AMP

All things are legitimate [permissible—and we are free to do anything we please], but not all things are helpful (expedient, profitable, and wholesome). All things are legitimate, but not all things are constructive [to character] and edifying [to spiritual life].

When Joseph’s brothers went to him in Egypt to be fed during the famine, if Joseph had not forgiven them and had compassion upon them, they would’ve perished.

It is in the valleys of life and through suffering when these virtues are formed.  And, I don’t believe God actually elevates anyone – up to a certain level – until they are capable of passing these tests.

I believe where most of us make mistakes is when we embrace certain behaviors and attitudes because we were able to progress in past season with them thinking we can get away with it forever, only to come upon a season when it will totally disqualify us.

Hence, it is prudent for you to call your sin a sin.  When you recognize that your mind, the way you think of others, your behaviors and attitudes are not right, at that very moment is when you need to say “Lord Jesus, help me fix this because this was very bad”. Otherwise, those same behaviors will stop you at a certain point.  What a child does in preschool can be laughed at and called “cute” because they are 4 years old, that does not mean the behavior is correct, it just means they are still a child and we overlook it expecting they will outgrow the behavior.  Because we laughed at it, the child viewed it as approval and so they continued with the behavior. When they become a 27 year old adult, those same behaviors will stop them from progressing in life.  It’s not cute at that age.  Therefore, the parent has to stop the behavior at a certain point.  It’s what all good parents do.

It is the same with our spiritual walk.  Therefore, PLEASE do not take it as a license to continue with certain behaviors just because God extended grace to you and allowed you to graduate through pass seasons with them.  In doing so, you will become aware when doors begin to shut in your face because of the behaviors and when your goals, dreams and aspirations are no longer accessible because …it’s not cute anymore and your Father in heaven has to stop it.

Your only option, change by way of a test.  And then you can move to the next level.  Otherwise, you become stuck at that spot.

Most of our issues, it not what we think it is.

The test is not financial hardship…nope, HE’s using the financial hardship to build something else in you.  That is the test. So, what is He building in you?  The minute you realize what it is and you respond correctly…watch how fast that thing gets resolved.

We generally use Faith and Trust as a giant blanket for everything but sometimes it’s other things like Stewardship.

This is a prophetic word because we are in a season when many of you are going through a very difficult time.

This is a testing season and what comes after this, is something beautiful.

Now, there are times when we are tempted by the enemy and we’ll say “God is tempting me”. No, He’s not because He’s not going to put anything in your path to cause you to sin.

He’s building character in you and the enemy knows it, so sometimes the enemy will come along at the moment and throw a temptation in the middle of your test.

As an example, let’s say that you are struggling to feed your family, you may be down to your last dollar,  God will test you to see if you can trust Him to fulfill His word to feed you.  While you are there waiting on the Lord to show you where to get food, you get this thought in your head to just go to the store and take it.  Now there you are in the store stealing steaks!  Is that God’s test?  No.  That’s the devil that tempted you to steal while you were going through your test.

The test was to develop Trust within you, then the enemy came in and tempted you with theft.  These are not the same thing and neither are they from the same source.

You resisting the devil and saying “no, I’m not going to steal”, is resisting the temptation.  If you chose to sit and continued to wait for the Lord in your hunger and then your neighbor showed up with a basket of food, that is you passing the test of Trusting the Lord to provide.  You see the difference?

A test and a temptation can show up at a round the same time to the point where you become confused which one it is which is why I’m writing this post so you can deferential it.

James 1:13-15

¹³ When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone; ¹⁴ but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. ¹⁵ Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

Therefore, if you did steal the steaks and got arrested and ended up in jail, you fell for the temptation.  Because while you are in prison, God can bring the test of trust around again by causing you to trust Him that you can get out jail without lying!!  You see, the test can present itself in many different ways and at any time, using any situation because what God was working on is the trust.

 

1 Corinthians 10:13

¹³ No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

 

Please know that when the temptations come God has promised us that He is going to show us a way out.  Therefore, if the temptation presets itself just say a simple prayer

“Lord, show me a way out of this, in Jesus name, Amen”

Job 2:9

His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”

In the depths of his testing, the devil basically used Job’s wife to tell him what he was being tested on …perseverance and integrity…but that was mixed in with a temptation from the devil.  The two things were there simultaneously.

A temptation is something that you shouldn’t do.  While a test is something that you should do.  Stop and Go.

Matthew 4:1-11 is Jesus being tested in the Wilderness before He began His ministry; however, we see that the enemy came to tempt Him through the whole thing.  The Holy Spirit led him into the place of testing and then the enemy came and started the temptations and as soon as He responded well to all, He was out of there.

I pray that this post has helped you to identify a test vs a temptation.

Blessings