What is God currently teaching you? Have you found yourself in the classroom of faith lately?
I am being schooled in the delightful discipline of prayer as I joyously participate with my teacher, the Holy Spirit, in discovering the unmatched treasure of eternal knowledge on the subject of prayer.
However, I must also admit that I am taking a course that seems at times difficult and at other moments simply impossible. I am being taught to stand in strong and unyielding faith even while the flaming arrows of the enemy are flying around me.
My battle expertise is being tested.
I want to pass this test—oh, how I want to pass!
This is what I know: Whenever God allows one of His children to take a difficult test, it is because a promotion is about to take place.
Joseph, before he was given authority and leadership in Egypt, spent time in prison due to false charges of sexual harassment. Joseph was innocent and yet was confined to a dark and foreboding place of human filth and hardened criminals. However, it was in that very prison that Joseph had an awareness of God's presence that was powerful and life-changing.
"Joseph's master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were confined. So he was there in the prison. But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy" (Gen. 29:20-21a).
Joseph passed his test with flying colors and was named the No. 2 man in all of Egypt. Joseph was promoted from the prison to the palace because he passed his test of faith.
I want to pass my tests of faith so that I, like Joseph, will be promoted to my God-ordained destiny.
David's test was that he had to face the giant Goliath before he was able to rule as King of Israel. Goliath was monstrously large, obnoxiously prideful and unbearably loud as the little toothpick of a boy, David, gathered his five smooth stones from the brook.
"Then David said to the Philistine, 'You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a shield, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have reviled'" (1 Sam. 17:45).
David kept his eyes fixed on the Lord when everyone else was captivated by the size of the beast, Goliath. David passed his test, and although he was not perfect, was known by the Holy Spirit as the man after God's own heart (see Acts 13:22). David was promoted not only in the kingdom of man but also in the kingdom of God.
I am determined to pass every test that is presented to me as I fix my eyes and my heart on Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith. 
Carol McLeod is an author and popular speaker at women's conferences and retreats, where she teaches the Word of God with great joy and enthusiasm. Carol encourages and empowers women with passionate and practical biblical messages mixed with her own special brand of hope and humor. She has written 10 books, including The Rooms of a Woman's Heart, Defiant Joy!, Holy Estrogen!, No More Ordinary, Refined, Joy For All Seasons, Let There Be Joy! Pass the Joy, Please! Guide Your Mind, Guard Your Heart, Grace Your Tongue and Stormproof, which releases on March 1, 2019. Her teaching DVD, The Rooms of a Woman's Heart, won the Telly Award, a prestigious industry award for excellence in religious programming. You can also listen to Carol's "Jolt of Joy" program daily on the Charisma Podcast Network. Connect with Carol or inquire about her speaking to your group at carolmcleodministries.com.
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