God's sends us trials and tribulations??

This response was written by my mother (Nancy).

I am really strong (and not very diplomatic) about this issue because it reflects on the nature and character of My Father. He has made it very clear in His Word just exactly how He will communicate with us - through His Word and by His Holy Spirit. He also said that He prunes (like a tree) us with His Word (John 15:2-3) - not by taking things away from us or sending "tests" into our lives. He also said that faith comes by hearing the Word (Romans 10:17). He doesn't send trials & tribulations into our lives so that our faith can be built up! In James 1:2-5 it talks about considering it all joy when you encounter trials of any sort or fall into temptation because if you are releasing joy, you are activating the fruit of the spirit that are living in your spirit-man, and that means you are looking to God to show you the way out of the trial. These trials (if we will lean on the Holy Spirit) will activate endurance, steadfastness, and patience (which all were placed on the inside of you when you were born-again). These fruit of the spirit, when allowed to govern your outward responses, will cause you to be a person fully developed, lacking in nothing! Then in James 1:13-17, the Holy Spirit tells us exactly where temptations and trials come from - NOT FROM GOD!! You might think I react too strongly to any misrepresentation of My Father's nature, but this is one of the most commonly used weapons of the devil to undermine people's trust in God and God's heart desire for intimate fellowship with each of His children. If someone really believes that God might throw a "brick" [as it says in many popular "inspirational internet forwards" these days] at them, bringing some kind of destruction into their lives, just because they aren't giving Him enough attention, then how could you completely & whole heartedly trust HIM with your whole self without any reservations?? I pray that you really get a hold of this, so that the devil won't be able to use this kind of teaching to bring doubts to your thinking about whether God is going to come through for you each and every time you need Him. Or will you hesitate and think: "I know I haven't been spending enough time praying or reading the Word, so I'm not so sure that God can come through with the answer this time." Either what Jesus did for us on the Cross and in His Resurrection and in His continual interceding for us at the right hand of God settled our relationship forever with God, or what Jesus did wasn't enough. Which is it?? This is one of the reasons I don't listen to Joyce Meyers too much. She always gets something in (unexpectedly) about God sending us tests in order to see if we are ready to go on to the next level of our faith walk with Him. You can see how "religious" that sounds. She also will say that God uses tests & trials to discipline us. His Word says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17: "Every Scripture is God-breathed- given by His inspiration- and profitable for INSTRUCTION, FOR REPROOF (a proving or testing) and CONVICTION OF SIN, FOR CORRECTION OF ERROR AND DISCIPLINE IN OBEDIENCE, AND FOR TRAINING IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, so that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well-fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work!!" So which is it, does God use His Word for teaching, correcting, disciplining or does He need to send us trials, tests, tribulations? He said let no man say when he is tempted, that he is tempted of God. (James 1:13) Jesus made it really clear in John 10:10 that the devil is the one who steals, kills, and destroys. Jesus said He came that we may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance - to the full, till it overflows!! Does God use the devil to teach His children? No!! He said the HOLY SPIRIT is our teacher, praise God!! Jesus is the exact image of the Father, He said if we have seen Him, we have seen the Father. (John 14:9 and Hebrews 1:3).

So there!
Conspiracy!