Is this belief biblical?

I'm not sure that testing is what you are experiencing. Surely there can come tests but that doesn't mean you are in one. There can also be dry seasons, we are to live in these times and know that He is God. He is always with you. If He wants you He will call on you but we live through these times in trust and faith. God doesn't have to do anything. People seem to want all sorts of action from Him but we should know that even in the bible these times often were far and few between. Think of Moses 40 years in the desert
then one day it's commands from God and burning bushes, carved stones etc.

The Psalms are full of " how long shall I have to wait on you Lord" but also knowing I am blessed. Joseph years in prison then the king finds out he can read dreams and Joseph is vindicated and raised in status before his accusers.

Live life, know He is God and keep seeking. Ask and you shall receive but He doesn't say when nor does He show us what that will look like ! Meanwhile have peace in your heart and rest in the Lord. Best I can tell you for now.

To reach God we need perseverance. We also need to remove the blocks that stand between us and Him (sin being the main thing). So we need to obey Him (fully repent) and identify our false idols, we all have them. Being honest about your idols is one of the biggest issues from what I understand.
Where the bible states "seek and ye shall find". Seek means to search for Him in earnest. The more time that passes, the more diligently one becomes, and the more earnest the longing one will be. That's what He wants and that is what's required.
Some people are blessed and can get through much easier than others. It depends on their point of desperation. From what I've read and heard, these are usually the most desperate people in society, druggies, prostitutes, people on the verge of suicide, etc. Many of these people have broken through the barriers of pride and vanity etc, and so they will cry out from their heart and God can hear them and help them. For the rest of us in our comfortable environment and cosy jobs with not much to threaten us, it takes longer to break down those barriers and cry out in earnest. But through perseverance I believe God gives us His grace to increase our faith and love for Him which eventually results in a two way communication. Never give up.

Fallingupwards said:

*Don't give up, your blessing is about to hit.

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I suppose it depends on what you are expecting your blessing to be? "Don't quit 5 minutes before the miracle" is a common slogan in AA for people who are struggling to stay sober or experience some peace and change in their lives.

Are you looking for a spiritual blessing and change of a personal nature, or are you looking for something like a financial windfall?

Biblically, I like the scripture in Luke 11:5-11

5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacite he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.
9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Notice a few things - in the instance of verses 5-8, the man is not asking for something for himself - he is asking for help in meeting the basic needs of someone else. Also notice what he is encouraging his followers to ask, seek and knock for - the Holy Spirit. Jesus uses some references here to scorpion and snake in contrast (I think these are words often used to reference or refer to demons in other places of the Gospel, Luke 10:18-20, he had just finished saying this). So if you have something in you that is evil, resentment, wraith, lust - He is faithful to take this from you. Ask, Seek, Knock - this is my experience, and this is the real miracle, and this is the real promise. But you have to want it gone.

Contrast the verses in Luke with Matthew's telling, Matthew 7:7-9

7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

In this telling, the specific promise of the Holy Spirit is replaced with a generic "good gifts". Though the spiritual references of a "stone" (cold or hard heartedness) or "snake" (an evil bent) are kept. Both gospels encourage persistence, though I feel like Luke is better in telling what we are to be persisting for. One could go and found a Prosperity Gospel church off of Matthew and start claiming all sorts of material things, and some have. I prefer Luke though I think it captures more of Christ's intent.

Pray about it, and for it. Most people spend more time peeing than they do praying. And perhaps both spiritual and material blessings are on the table. But I'd rather have the spiritual than the material. In a lot of cases, I think our lives are full of blessings but we don't have the eyes to see them or the heart to be grateful for them. "Open my eyes to your blessings, miracles and will today" is a good simple prayer.

Fallingupwards said:

Hey guys,

Okay so, for the past few months I've been hearing and reading something along the lines of -

*Don't give up, your blessing is about to hit.
*God is breaking you to build you up again
*God is preparing you for your blessing, you have to go through what you're going through to reach your blessing
*The closer you get to God, the closer he gets to you.

And so on...

To sum it up, what people are basically saying is that in order to reach God(If you're a new Christian) or get a word/direction/guidance from him, you have to go through a period of testing. It's a sort of process that you'll need to passto reach God, and that He won't reveal himself to you straight away as you're building up your faith.

Is this belief really biblical? If so, how do you know how far you've made it? This would be difficult for a new Christian I'd assume because that's when they'd need direction the most.

I've recently picked up my faith again after falling short unfortunately, and I'm at that stage in my life where I'm not sure what to correct, or what to do next in order to improve my faith. I've prayed about it, but I haven't received any sort of response and I don't know what to do next.

I hope that makes sense.

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what kind of blessing are you hoping for? The Bible says we already have every spiritual blessings in the heavenly places. We have salvation, adoption, and an inheritance in Christ. We are called to give up our desires and seek what God desires. So many churches are promising that in Christ you will be rich, successful and fulfilled. What they are putting like a carrot on a stick is the things that bring the peace of this world. Jesus said my peace I give you not as the world does. You already have it. The idea of waiting on your blessing sounds like some shallow prosperity preacher or a Joel Osteen clone who is tickling your ears with the pride of life as Joel Osteen wrote a book your best life now... The Christian is living for the next life. Jesus said deny your self take up your cross and follow me. So what do you want? If you want God to overflow in your life and lead you this is a promise that we have already and you can start living in it everyday.

Fallingupwards said:

Hey guys,

Okay so, for the past few months I've been hearing and reading something along the lines of -

*Don't give up, your blessing is about to hit.
*God is breaking you to build you up again
*God is preparing you for your blessing, you have to go through what you're going through to reach your blessing
*The closer you get to God, the closer he gets to you.

And so on...

To sum it up, what people are basically saying is that in order to reach God(If you're a new Christian) or get a word/direction/guidance from him, you have to go through a period of testing. It's a sort of process that you'll need to passto reach God, and that He won't reveal himself to you straight away as you're building up your faith.

Is this belief really biblical? If so, how do you know how far you've made it? This would be difficult for a new Christian I'd assume because that's when they'd need direction the most.

I've recently picked up my faith again after falling short unfortunately, and I'm at that stage in my life where I'm not sure what to correct, or what to do next in order to improve my faith. I've prayed about it, but I haven't received any sort of response and I don't know what to do next.

I hope that makes sense.

Edit - Those bullet points above were not said to me specifically, but something I heard and read all across Youtube and several other websites. The goal for this post was to discuss if this belief was biblical because it seemed awfully common.

I've only ever prayed to have my anxiety, depression and loneliness lifted, and to be made into a better believer. I don't care about any worldly achievements like wealth or popularity and would never pray for anything like that.

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They sound like general exhortations to encourage someone during hard times. I don't see anything wrong with the sentiment.

The writer of the Revelation said to his hearers:

Rev 3:19 - As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

But that was during a time of severe persecution. I cannot say that I have ever known anyone who has been through anything similar.

Fallingupwards said:

Thank you all for responding.

Just to be clear, those bullet points were not said to me specifically. After reading several posts and watching some videos on youtube, I noticed that those beliefs of "wait for your blessing and God's response" seemed very common. Hence why I created this thread because I don't remember any verse stating anything like that.

I've been praying for God to get rid of my depression, anxiety and loneliness, and to make me a better Christian. I don't care for wealth, popularity or anything worldly in any way.

I'll edit the original post to reflect this.

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Hi start reading the psalms. You will see in many of Davids writings he wrestles through the same things you are experiencing. What does he do? He pours out his complaint and then recounts who God is and the faithfulness of the LORD. He ends by placing his trust in the LORD and his joy and strength and hope are restored. Jesus said to cast your cares on Him for He cares for you. Think about it Jesus thinks about you all day. He is God he takes in 100 % of every ones thoughts and feeling all the time and He cares for you. He has promised that if you come to him fountains of living water will flow out of your inner most being. This block you have is overcome by faith and seeing your own personal relationship with God as an ever present spirit of Jesus who is always with you. This is a great comfort and this is how you walk in the Spirit. You see Jesus promised the Spriit or comforter and the fruit of the Spirit is love joy and peace. This is what results when you see God with you the seal of your salvation the love that surrounds you and holds you and keeps you. This is what we need is the awareness of Jesus in our hearts to rise up.

Well there is a pathway within successful prayer. The Lord laid it out in the Lords prayer actually. We come before God in prayer of thanksgiving, praising Him, glorifying Him then asking Him to fulfill our needs. Close with more praise ( for Yours is the kingdom the power and glory).

Paul speaking of spiritual blessings is knowing we have these in heavenly places. Under grace we can rely on that but on earth there will be tribulation. Eph 1:3-6 shows clearly we have blessings in heavenly places: 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

I agree that the psalms are loaded.

Yes God can test and prepare you for a task through placing challenges on your path. Read Genesis, where you'll find the story of Joseph.

Do you pray for others rather for yourself ? Do you think only about self do you feel empathy for others pray often for them ?

Fallingupwards said:

Hey guys,

Okay so, for the past few months I've been hearing and reading something along the lines of -

*Don't give up, your blessing is about to hit.
*God is breaking you to build you up again
*God is preparing you for your blessing, you have to go through what you're going through to reach your blessing
*The closer you get to God, the closer he gets to you.

And so on...

To sum it up, what people are basically saying is that in order to reach God(If you're a new Christian) or get a word/direction/guidance from him, you have to go through a period of testing. It's a sort of process that you'll need to passto reach God, and that He won't reveal himself to you straight away as you're building up your faith.

Is this belief really biblical? If so, how do you know how far you've made it? This would be difficult for a new Christian I'd assume because that's when they'd need direction the most.

I've recently picked up my faith again after falling short unfortunately, and I'm at that stage in my life where I'm not sure what to correct, or what to do next in order to improve my faith. I've prayed about it, but I haven't received any sort of response and I don't know what to do next.

I hope that makes sense.

Edit - Those bullet points above were not said to me specifically, but something I heard and read all across Youtube and several other websites. The goal for this post was to discuss if this belief was biblical because it seemed awfully common.

I've only ever prayed to have my anxiety, depression and loneliness lifted, and to be made into a better believer. I don't care about any worldly achievements like wealth or popularity and would never pray for anything like that.

I feel like I'm not doing what's required of me as a believer. I pray, avoid sinning and I've read several pages of the Bible but I still feel empty and without direction. I'm just not sure what to do next, and when I tried googling some answers, the bullet points above is what I found.

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Sometimes, those principles can be rightly applied to your life, sometimes not. Encouragements like this were given in the New Testament to churches that were undergoing persecution. Individual trials happen as well, but the blessings that people can come to expect don't always come when the trials are over, and it's not the fault of the Christian that it all happened to. When Christians don't get that, they make blessings up that they expect God to give them. God is under no obligation to grant such blessings, so claiming them is essentially sabotaging your own faith.

Fallingupwards said:

Hey guys,

Okay so, for the past few months I've been hearing and reading something along the lines of -

*Don't give up, your blessing is about to hit.
*God is breaking you to build you up again
*God is preparing you for your blessing, you have to go through what you're going through to reach your blessing
*The closer you get to God, the closer he gets to you.

And so on...

To sum it up, what people are basically saying is that in order to reach God(If you're a new Christian) or get a word/direction/guidance from him, you have to go through a period of testing. It's a sort of process that you'll need to passto reach God, and that He won't reveal himself to you straight away as you're building up your faith.

Is this belief really biblical? If so, how do you know how far you've made it? This would be difficult for a new Christian I'd assume because that's when they'd need direction the most.

I've recently picked up my faith again after falling short unfortunately, and I'm at that stage in my life where I'm not sure what to correct, or what to do next in order to improve my faith. I've prayed about it, but I haven't received any sort of response and I don't know what to do next.

I hope that makes sense.

Edit - Those bullet points above were not said to me specifically, but something I heard and read all across Youtube and several other websites. The goal for this post was to discuss if this belief was biblical because it seemed awfully common.

I've only ever prayed to have my anxiety, depression and loneliness lifted, and to be made into a better believer. I don't care about any worldly achievements like wealth or popularity and would never pray for anything like that.

I feel like I'm not doing what's required of me as a believer. I pray, avoid sinning and I've read several pages of the Bible but I still feel empty and without direction. I'm just not sure what to do next, and when I tried googling some answers, the bullet points above is what I found.

Click to expand...

The bible does give us guidance around the issues of blessing. But these things are in God's time and season. Every Christian will be blessed in the end, be it in this life, or if for any reason not in this life finally in the life to come. The bible tells us "delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart". One of my desires as a young man was to be married, I had desires for this, but it took over 35 years for this to actually happen, but when I grew in my marriage it became a very good experience, and a blessing to me. There were many years of waiting, some times with frustration, even anger, but in the end I was blessed. The time before my marriage, was not necessarily a test, but there were things I learned as a single person. Not every blessing requires a deep test. The test is really can we fully trust God. Is our faith in God to help us.

Fallingupwards said:

Hey guys,

Okay so, for the past few months I've been hearing and reading something along the lines of -

*Don't give up, your blessing is about to hit.
*God is breaking you to build you up again
*God is preparing you for your blessing, you have to go through what you're going through to reach your blessing
*The closer you get to God, the closer he gets to you.

And so on...

To sum it up, what people are basically saying is that in order to reach God(If you're a new Christian) or get a word/direction/guidance from him, you have to go through a period of testing. It's a sort of process that you'll need to passto reach God, and that He won't reveal himself to you straight away as you're building up your faith.

Is this belief really biblical? If so, how do you know how far you've made it? This would be difficult for a new Christian I'd assume because that's when they'd need direction the most.

I've recently picked up my faith again after falling short unfortunately, and I'm at that stage in my life where I'm not sure what to correct, or what to do next in order to improve my faith. I've prayed about it, but I haven't received any sort of response and I don't know what to do next.

I hope that makes sense.

Edit - Those bullet points above were not said to me specifically, but something I heard and read all across Youtube and several other websites. The goal for this post was to discuss if this belief was biblical because it seemed awfully common.

I've only ever prayed to have my anxiety, depression and loneliness lifted, and to be made into a better believer. I don't care about any worldly achievements like wealth or popularity and would never pray for anything like that.

I feel like I'm not doing what's required of me as a believer. I pray, avoid sinning and I've read several pages of the Bible but I still feel empty and without direction. I'm just not sure what to do next, and when I tried googling some answers, the bullet points above is what I found.

Click to expand...

I've heard all of those.

About 20 years ago, people told me to not give up, because the blessing was about to hit. Yeah, that was 20 years ago. I guess it just depends on how loose a definition of "about to hit" you want to believe.

As far as breaking you down to build you up... I've got about 50% of that down pat.

So I don't know.

There are examples in the Bible of God testing the faithful, but He generally communicated with them at the time. Job is only a partial exception, as God did show up eventually.

Not everything bad that happens to you is testing by God. Some of it is because you're on the wrong track entirely.

Tbh, I don't even know what "biblical" even means anymore. Talk about a cannibalized word. And yet...

Fallingupwards said:

*Don't give up, your blessing is about to hit.

Click to expand...

I find this improbable.

Fallingupwards said:

*God is breaking you to build you up again

Click to expand...

I'd say Moses was broken down in order to be built back. Same thing, to a degree, with St. Peter.

Fallingupwards said:

*God is preparing you for your blessing, you have to go through what you're going through to reach your blessing

Click to expand...

With respect, this seems like a trite platitude. Although that doesn't make it not true. In life, you'll have bad times and then you'll (hopefully) have good ones. And it is true that the good ones make the bad ones worthwhile.

Fallingupwards said:

*The closer you get to God, the closer he gets to you.

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Sounds like a variation on St. James 4:8 to me.