10 Tests That Every Christian Must Take

By Michael L. Wiltcher

Travis asked, "What purpose does it serve to have a Christian believer struggle in life with problem after problem while his sinful friends are prospering everyday?"
"What an interesting question,' I thought. "What purpose does problems serve in a Christian's life?'

Jon Bloom said, "We humans have an irrepressible need to make sense of the world and our experience in it." One of the most bewildering questions that we face is this: "Does God really have a purpose for the struggles Christians encounter on a daily basis?

Indeed He does! The struggles and adversities that we encounter in life are carefully crafted tests that God places before us in order to reveal our hearts, and to mold us more and more into the character of Jesus Christ.

Ten Tests Every Christian Must Take walks you through the lives of heroes of the Bible and how they met and passed the tests with which they were confronted. Journey with me, and you too will be able to pass the tests that every Christian must take.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael L. Wiltcher
• Release date: Nov 27, 2021

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10 Tests Every Christian Must Take

by Michael L. Wiltcher

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2015 Michael L. Wiltcher

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Acknowledgements

Scripture quotations marked (CEV) are from the Contemporary English Version Copyright © 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission. Scripture taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Taken from the HOLY BIBLE: EASY-TO-READ VERSION © 2001 by Bible League International. and used by permission. GOD'S WORD is a copyrighted work of God's Word to the Nations. Quotations are used by permission. Copyright 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. All rights reserved. Scripture taken from The Voice™. Copyright © 2008 by Ecclesia Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (TLB) are taken from The Living Bible copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked J.B. Phillips are taken from The New Testament in Modern English, copyright 1958, 1959, 1960 J.B. Phillips and 1947, 1952, 1955, 1957 The Macmillian Company, New York. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked Weymouth are from the Weymouth New Testament, Richard Francis Weymouth, 1912. Public domain in the United States. Scripture quotations marked TM are from The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language, Copyright © 2002 Eugene Peterson, NavPress. All rights reserved. Scriptures marked KJV are taken from the KING JAMES VERSION (KJV): KING JAMES VERSION, public domain. The Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. Scripture taken from the Common English Bible®, CEB® Copyright © 2010, 2011 by Common English Bible. ™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. The Names of God Bible © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group. Scripture is taken from GOD’S WORD®, © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group.

Scripture taken from the Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Douay-Rheims Version—public domain

To Jackie Wyatt Wiltcher—

You believed in this project from the very beginning. Thank you for your constant encouragement and tremendous sacrifice to make it a reality. With a grateful heart I dedicate this book to you!

Michael L. Wiltcher

Table of Contents

Forward

Introduction

The Humility Test

The Motivation Test

The Obedience Test

The Trust Test

The Conviction Test

The Criticism Test

The Confusion Test

The Adversity Test

The Faithfulness Test

The Love Test

Epilogue

Forward

Have you ever wished life would come with an owner’s manual? Just so that we could reference certain situations and find the quick answer to the problem at hand?

You know. Things such as how to raise a child or how to marry and stay married. I hear you. Some have already started talking to the page saying we have a manual; it is called the Bible. I understand and totally agree. However, haven’t you ever wanted to be able to turn to an index that would list your specific problem and give you an immediate answer to exactly what you are dealing with? I know I have.

While we do have The Manual and it does index life’s multitude of problems, we still find ourselves with heads hanging down and brows furrowed seeking an answer to a dilemma or situation. We have read the pages of The Manual many times, and I am sure we have read about what we are dealing with at the moment. The only problem is that we still can’t see the answer. Why is that? Is it because we see the answer or the promise in the Bible passage as being for the character that is revealed in the story and not really applicable to our lives?

My problem this: How do I relate all these wonderful instructions in The Manual to my 21st century everyday life? As long as the words come off the page of the The Manual, I sincerely revere them. But how and when do I apply them?

It seems that we connect best with a passage or a story that speaks directly to where we are in life. The following chapters do exactly that. They help us, the reader, identify the problem and assist with the assimilation of the answer.

What is so unique about the following pages is the author, Rev. Michael L.Wiltcher, a very close friend of mine, has not only assembled a group of life lessons to use in the instruction of the reader, but he has walked down the lonely road in the wilderness seeking answers just as we have. What you are about to read is life lessons learned in the school-of-hard-knocks.

No, Mike did not learn this information in seminary. He has walked the walk of every page of this book. Most of us need to hear from someone who has identified with our burden in life. We love The Manual, but we want to hear how someone in our 21st century society successfully used The Manual and made it through. Mike is such a person.

You have picked up the right book. There is help inside these pages. God and Mike have some things to share with you. Let this booked be like a finely prepared meal. Eat slowly and savor each and every word and let the anointing that Mike wrote with be transferred to you and your life situation.

Go ahead, get your Bible, this book, your favorite coffee or your favorite soda, and tell the family you are going into your closet to hear from God.

Oh yes, you also may want to bring a fresh box of tissues, for I am certain there will be tears as God, through the pages of this book, begins to reveal His plan for your situation and your life.

God’s blessings as you read,

Rev. Bruce D. Maxwell

Introduction

I could tell something was troubling him. Something serious and far-reaching that needed to be resolved.

It was not that I had the spirit of discernment or the gift of prophetic insight. One would not need such giftings watching Travis stare off into the distance as if he were trying to frame his thoughts into a statement. Or perhaps a question.

Travis was more than just a church member. He was a friend. Someone that a young minister could sit back and enjoy discussing a wide variety of topics without having to carefully weigh each statement lest the mantle of ministry be sullied and the role as pastor diminished. With Travis I could sit back and decompress with a glass of iced tea. Or in this case, a cup of coffee.

Preacher, he began. He paused for a long moment before he spoke again. Preacher, he repeated, I want to ask you something.

Go ahead, I replied, taking a sip of coffee. Many a great conversation between Travis and I had started with this same introduction.

Travis set his cup on the dining table, leaned back into his chair, and stroked the bottom of his chin with a thumb. This I could tell was to be no frivolous question. Why is it, he asked, that those who never give God a second thought seem to always do well in life and those who devote their entire life to God seem to be always struggling to get by? What purpose does it serve to have a Christian believer struggle in life with problem after problem in great need while his sinful friends are prospering every day without a care in the world?

What purpose does it serve…?

What an interesting question! I thought. What purpose does it serve?

Thirty plus years have dimmed much of the remaining conversation with Travis, but never the question. The question burrowed itself deep into my consciousness refusing to be ignored or forgotten. What purpose did it serve to have a child of God struggling in life with little to show for the effort while his ungodly friends flourish? Would not a flourishing Christian, freed from the acrid taste of want and lack, be a better testimony of the great value of serving God?

I do remember sharing with Travis someone else who had their faith seriously challenged by the prosperity of the wicked. His name was Asaph.

Few would recognize his name save for the limited times he is mentioned as the author of a few psalms in the Old Testament. But he was more than just a composer of songs. He was also one of the worship leaders personally hand-picked by King David to usher the congregation the nation of Israel into the presence of God. An article, "Who Is Asaph", Richard Thompson pointed out that Asaph contributed more chapters to our Bible than ten of the Old Testament prophets and three of the New Testament apostles. One of the brightest notations to Asaph’s legacy, he was also music director at the dedication of Solomon’s temple. Asaph was among those that saw the Temple filled with a cloud and a dazzling light that they could only describe as the glory of God. His was a life to be envied!

Except years later we find an aged Asaph in the midst of a full blown crisis of faith. The joy of leading the celebration of bringing the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem has long faded. The prestige of being music director at the dedication of the Temple has been forgotten. Memories the blue flame that hovered in David’s Tabernacle have dimmed as the pitiless grinding of life and disappointment in people have taken their toll.

Thompson, in "Who Is Asaph," also pointed out that Asaph served in Jerusalem when David committed adultery with Bathsheba. He was serving in Jerusalem when David had Bathsheba’s husband killed in battle. Asaph served in Jerusalem as he witnessed the rebellion of Absolom. Asaph faithfully served in Jerusalem when Solomon abandoned the True God to serve the idols of his wives. Asaph faithfully served in the Temple as he watched his brother assassinated in the Temple by Solomon’s agents. Asaph faithfully served in the Temple as he watched the nation of Israel ripped apart by Solomon’s sons. Asaph faithfully served in the Temple even though the vast majority of the once large congregation no longer came to Jerusalem to worship.

And to add insult to injury, Asaph was serving faithfully in Jerusalem when the pagan Shishak of Egypt came and looted the Temple of its treasures and turned the once powerful Israel into a vassal state.

As he penned the song that would become Psalm 73 in our Bible, the once vibrant Asaph is now a weary old man disillusioned by one too many events of debauchery and disappointment. He sits in a dim chamber of a temple stripped of its glory. The feeble light from the flickering lamp on his desk exposes the ravages of age upon hands that once skillfully plucked inspiring notes from the lyre. The light also exposes a pen, a small bottle of ink, and a parchment. And with great deliberation Asaph dips the pen into the ink and begins to bear his soul upon the parchment.

Truly God is good to His people, Israel, to those with pure hearts. Though I know this is true, I almost lost my footing; yes, my steps were on slippery ground. You see, there was a time when I envied arrogant men and thought,The wicked look pretty happy to me. For they seem to live carefree lives, free of suffering; their bodies are strong and healthy. They don’t know trouble as we do; they are not plagued with problems as the rest of us are. They have so much more than enough. Their eyes bulge because they are so fat with possessions. They have more than their hearts could have ever imagined.

Let me tell you what I know about the wicked: they are comfortably at rest while their wealth is growing and growing.

Oh, let this not be me! It seems I have scrubbed my heart to keep it clean and washed my hands in innocence. And for what? Nothing. For all day long, I am being punished, each day awakening to stern chastisement. Trying to solve this mystery on my own exhausted me; I couldn’t bear to look at it any further. (Psalm 73:1-16 The Voice)

Listen carefully to Asaph’s lament. It is in the last few sentences that reveal the depth of his disillusionment. While those that lived carefree lives and enjoy so much more, he has scrubbed his heart to keep it clean. He has sought to live a pure and holy life. And for what? Nothing, Asaph complains. While the wicked awaken each day to ever growing wealth, he, Asaph writes, awakens to stern chastisement. While the wicked are comfortably at rest with more than their hearts could imagine, he must endure a day full of punishment. It is enough to make the stoutest heart falter.

Each of us has sat at the desk of Asaph, our pens ready to give voice to our bitter groanings. We have sat there when someone far less qualified was elevated above us at work. We have sat there listening to the bragging of a church-eschewing neighbor boast about the third raise he got at work this year while we struggle to juggle the bills so that a few dollars could be spared for a child’s field trip. We have sat there as we limp wearily along in our old car to church while being passed by those headed to the lake with their brand new fishing boat, pulled of course by the latest model truck.

We have all sat there. Each of us. Including me.

And now Travis was sitting there. Wondering. Trying to solve the mystery as to why those that lied, cheated, cursed, and caroused seem to fare exceptionally well in all that they do while men faithful to God and to the cause of God struggle just to make ends meet.

What purpose did it serve for godly men to struggle? It was a nagging question that would not be silenced.

Lest I leave you greatly discouraged, please allow me to continue the story of Asaph. After completely exhausting himself in trying to solve the great mystery of imbalance, Asaph finally does with his question what he should have done in the beginning.

So I took my questions to the True God, and in His sanctuary I realized something so chilling and final: their lives have a deadly end. Because You have certainly set the wicked upon a slippery slope, You’ve set them up to slide to their destruction. And they won’t see it coming. It will happen so fast: first, a flash of terror, and then desolation.

You see, my heart overflowed with bitterness and cynicism; I felt as if someone stabbed me in the back. But I didn’t know the truth; I have been acting like a stupid animal toward You. But look at this: You are still holding my right hand; You have been all along. Even though I was angry and hard-hearted, You gave me good advice; when it’s all over, You will receive me into Your glory.

It will happen: whoever shuns You will be silenced forever; You will bring an end to all who refuse to be true to You. But the closer I am to You, my God, the better because life with You is good. O Lord, the Eternal, You keep me safe. I will tell everyone what You have done. Psalm 73:17-28 (The Voice)

The key phrases in the passage of Asaph are these: Their lives have a deadly end. When it’s all over, You will receive me into Your glory. You will bring an end to all who refuse to be true to You. But the closer I am to You, my God, the better because life with You is good.

Please circle the phrases deadly end and all over.

Solomon, the son of David, once wrote, Before every man there lies a wide and pleasant road that seems right but ends in death. (Proverbs 14:12 The Living Bible) We tend to judge life by current circumstances. The wide road is presently pleasant with no raging rivers to ford or creepy dark forests in which one must travel. Traveling the pleasant road today gives no hint of the deadly path it becomes tomorrow. Nor does it hint of the tragic result that waits beyond the next bend in the road.

Esau never thought a pot of beans would leave him weeping desperately in repentance. King Saul never thought that the sparing of Agag’s life would mean that his sons would never wear the king’s crown. King David never thought that a one night fling would end in the murder of his friend. Gehazi never thought that a few coins of silver and a couple of suits of clothing would result in leprosy. Nor did Judas ever give thought that a few coins of silver would lead to an unmarked grave in the potter’s field. The rich man in Christ’s story never thought his life of comfort would lead to being tormented and begging for the smallest taste of water. We tend to judge life by our current circumstances. God judges life by