Trials

5/17/25 12:00 PM
Solitary Man
solitaryman.substack.com

20250516

My people, what would you do without trials?  What would become of you?  Is it not during the pressures and afflictions that you push in towards the kingdom?  Would you be as motivated as you should be, if you were not constantly reminded of how much you need me?

This fact is simply a confirmation of your true wretchedness, apart from me.  You may not realize it, but the enemy has been steadily ratcheting up the levels of distraction in his kingdom.  Even though you are not part of his kingdom, you must live in it, and experience its effects on your soul.

Satan is most certainly attacking your attention span.  Many of you find it difficult to sit still in my presence.  The world is training you to never sit still.  Always needing one stimulus or another.  No matter how trivial or non essential, your soul is being captured by the barrage of information you allow into your life.

So how can I rescue my people?  When I speak through my word, most cannot sit still long enough to hear.  If I speak through my prophets, it’s just another piece of information, quickly discarded when something else comes along.

No, the only way is by trial.  Trial and affliction.  When I afflict, I am actually rescuing you.  Unlike the world, who afflicts for their amusement, I afflict to bring you back to your senses.  To bring you back home.

When I intervene with something that forces you to give me all your attention, you are not strong enough to free yourself.  In my mercy and in my compassion, I will not leave you in your chains.  Only those who continually refuse to embrace my corrections do I eventually let go.  Not because I want to, but because they decide to do so.  I will never leave you nor forsake you, but that does not mean that all of my children will make the same choice.

But I never let go easily.  I will fight for you as long as there is hope.  Rest assured that the good shepherd will keep searching and keep correcting all of his wayward sheep, until there is no more remedy to be had.

So many are lost in the mazes and byways of the virtual world.  So many have given up sweet fellowship with their shepherd, for the momentary vanities of a world that is not real.

My people, it is called a virtual world for a reason.  It is not real.  You are trapped in an illusion.  You have allowed flesh to enslave you after you were once freed.

Remember those first days when you came to me?  Was I not your all in all?  Did we not walk together in warm affection, you and I?  Was not your joy great, your peace fulfilling?  Did you care if you were rich or poor, weak or strong, popular or shunned?  No, all you cared about was spending time with me.  All you desired was more of my presence.  The revelation of my word made you a rich man.  The sweetness of my presence was wealth beyond measure.

My children, what happened along the way?  Why has vanity fair drawn you away from me?  What is so fulfilling about what you find there?  Can you honestly say you are happier now than when you truly walked with me?

As I send affliction to awaken you, remember from where you have fallen.  Embrace the pain, and let it destroy all those false idols out of your heart and mind.  Let the pain do its work.  Let it cause you to remember what really matters in life.  If you choose to embrace it, your heavenly inheritance shall be restored unto you.  Your inheritance of peace, comfort, and a joy unspeakable and full of glory shall once more fill your heart.  Embrace, and you shall be embraced with my Father’s love.  Embrace, and your eyes shall be opened once again to what you have let slip.

Scripture References

Jas 1:2  My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

Jas 1:3  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

Jas 1:4  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Psa_4:4  Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.

Psa_46:10  Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

Heb 12:5  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

Heb 12:8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

Heb 12:9  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

Heb 12:10  For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

Heb 12:11  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Luk_15:4  What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

2Pe 2:20  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.

2Pe 2:21  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.

2Pe 2:22  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

Rev 2:4  Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

Rev 2:5  Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

Mat_13:44  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

Mat 6:19  Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

Mat 6:20  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

Mat 6:21  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Luk 15:20  And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

Luk 15:21  And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.

Luk 15:22  But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:

Luk 15:23  And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:

Luk 15:24  For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

Solitary Man

Photos courtesy Depositphotos