Kay Arthur on going through the toughest time of life

Kay Arthur, Founder and Teacher of Precept Ministries, was featured on Nancy Leigh DeMoss, Founder and Teacher of Revive our Hearts, last week and the following is an excerpt from the Friday, July 2 program. You can read the entire manuscript from Friday here.

Kay: I have written at the top of Hebrews 11, “Faith is not faith until it’s tested.” It’s in the trial that I see:

• Do I really believe God?
• Do I really believe He’s sovereign?
• Do I really believe that He’s omniscient?
• Do I really believe that all things work together for good?
• Do I really believe I’m accounted as a sheep for the slaughter?
• Do I really believe that I am to be put to death all day long?
• Do I really believe that neither nakedness, peril, or sword can separate me from the love of God?” (See Romans 8:28-37).
• Do I really believe all that?
• Do I really believe my sins are forgiven?
• Do I really believe I can’t change the past, so therefore I’m going to move to the future and allow God to take the past and mold me and make me into what I’m supposed to be?

Nancy: You’ve shared that in this season of your life now, in your 70s . . .

Kay: Yes, 73.

Nancy: You’re going through some of the deepest trials . . .

Kay: Yes, the very deepest.

Nancy: . . . of your life.

Kay: Yes, the very deepest of our lives.

Nancy: How do you keep your bearings?

Kay: You know what I do? With every trial, I say, “God, I know who You are, and I am going to live accordingly.”

• That means I am going to give thanks.
• It means I’m going to count it all joy.
• It means I am going to bring every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ.
• It means I am going to be steadfast and immovable.
• It means I’m not going to be immobilized by it; I am going to always be abounding in the work of the Lord.
• It means I am on display. He’s put me in the trial, for He says in Romans 8, “We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter” (verse 36, NKJV). We are put to death all day long. We are put in an arena, and I’m in the arena (see 1 Corinthians 4:9, NIV).

Nancy: We’re a spectacle.

Kay: We’re a spectacle, and people are watching.

Nancy: Heaven is watching.

Kay: That’s right. Heaven is watching, and people are watching. I’m accounted as a sheep to be slaughtered. I’ve been put in the arena, and they’re watching.