Randy

We are charge to be not only hearers of the word but doers as well. I can sit in a church pew and be involved in bible studies like this but unless I live my life for Christ as I am instructed in the word, in every aspect of my life then I am deceiving myself and others.

I think that we are given our "spiritual birth" when we accept christ and are baptized, re-birth if you will. As we live out our time on earth, God will deal with us individually through various trials and life problems. As I have gone through some of these, my thirst for knowledge and the word has grown as i sought the biblical answers. I also feel that unless we are born again and have experienced that spiritual birth, the Holy Spirit will not give us a clear understanding of the word.

The promise in verse 5 is wisdom if we ask God for it. The condition to receive this wisdom is we must ask for it in faith as if it had aready been given to us. Trials will increase our prayer life and walk with God.

It's all about faith, when I go through a trial, I always ask the Lord to help me work through it as if it is already done. If I question the Lord in prayer, it is a meaningless prayer.

I think people that blame God for evil really do not understand that God really wants you to be happy and to spend eternity in heaven with him. Sometimes when bad things happen, they are a direct result of choices we have made, (being involved in activities that are not peasing to the Lord) and we know that there are no athiest in foxholes, so if somthing bad has happened it just may be the Lord trying to get your attention to turn away from sin and back to him. God gives us all free will of choice to live as we want, walk in the light or dark, there are consequences for each choice, I choose the light!

It took a while for me to fully understand about trials and their purpose. It has been my experience that when I am faced with trials, my walk with the Lord has been slack. My prayer life has fallen off and my attitude toward worldy things has increased, taking my eye off the prize and my faith in the back seat so to speak. The trials seem to bring me back and help me regain my focus on faith that God WILL get me through the trial. I would tend to say that God has refined me through trials bringing me closer to him and his will for me. I have changed over the years working daily to try to keep my relationship with God 1st in my life.