Tag Archives: suffering

Hard Road

My child, I know it has been a hard road for you these past few years. It has been hard work and you feel like life hasn’t been fair. But I allow adversity to shape your life, to cause you to cry out to Me and to trust Me to bring you through to the other side. A beautiful diamond comes out of a rock that has been chipped out, then shaped and polished. It doesn’t look like much at first, but during the process it starts to shine and you can see what’s there. You are My diamond. The process has been rough, but you are beginning to shine and see the brilliance I have made coming through. Do not despise the chipping and shaping process. Embrace it and I will bring forth your beauty as you allow Me to shape you. Embrace Me, for I am the One that shines through you. Without Me, you are just another rock. Hard, cold and useless. But with Me, you are a gem. Precious, valuable and able to shine in this dark world.

Your Father who has always been there. 

So That

Beloved, this is what I came for. This is why I suffered and died. So that you would know Me, so that you may be one, so that you would have My joy made full, so that you would know the truth and the truth would make you free.

Suffering

Suffering can strike at any moment. You have to hold onto Me. I am your anchor, your rock and your peace through the storms of this life. The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to you. Hang on to Me. I will bring you safely through to the other side.  Romans 8:18

Eternity

My child, consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to you. Your true home is waiting for you .I am preparing a place for you to come and dwell forever. The anxious longing you feel in your heart will disappear the moment you step into eternity with Me. Never forget that this life is temporary and your true home is in heaven with Me. I will give you everything you need to complete the work here on earth. Endure with joy My child. Glory awaits!

Romans 8:18-19

Closer

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My child, so many people follow after other gods. They are distracted and filled with pride and rebellion. I want your focus to be completely on Me. Do you feel Me drawing you closer? Thank Me for what ever you are going through that makes you stick close to Me. It usually involves suffering to get your attention. Thank Me for your suffering. For you will come out the other side closer, deeper and more intimately related to Me than before.

Suffering: God’s Tool

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Trials are common to all believers. And they are not the result of any lack of interest or caring on God’s part. Just the opposite, actually: He allows suffering because He deeply cares about us. His glorious purpose for our lives dictates that He press us toward His long-term goal, instead of providing counterproductive short-term solutions. This is no doubt why God’s promise that we are “children of God…heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” is made along with this qualifying statement: “if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”(Romans 8:16-17)

Will I continue to trust God in my circumstances? Or will I cut and run by giving in to my natural inclination to do things my own way—in the process showing God that I really do not trust Him. God allows suffering not that He might discover what we harbor in our heart. He already knows what’s there. Rather, God wants us to recognize what is concealed within, and suffering is His tool for laying it all out on the table.

Excerpted from: Free from the Power of Sin: The Keys to Growing in God in Spite of Yourself

 

Unavoidable Challenges

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God wants us to experience joy and fulfillment, and even lots of pleasure as we live our lives for Him. Still, because the role of suffering occupies such a central place in God’s plan for our ultimate destiny in Him, we can’t simply sweep the issue under the rug. So one way to better understand His purpose for us is to begin to recognize the methods by which He employs suffering as a part of His plan to bring us into our destiny.

             What are they? First of all, this world is not our home. We are merely sojourners here. The great people of God in the Bible all knew this to be true.(Hebrews 11:13) Paul was well aware of this fact: “For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven”(2 Corinthians 5:2, Romans 8:23). We simply were not created for the objective of happiness on this earth, no matter how bountiful life here might turn out to be.

            It doesn’t matter how rich we become, what prestige or power we gain in life, or even how wonderful our relationships with family and friends are. Mature Christians know that all these things pale in comparison to what we’ve really been designed for. And the fact is that none of these earthly benefits, no matter how marvelous they are, exempt us from challenges and hardships that come in so many different ways throughout our lives. Merely by virtue of the fact that we live in a world full of sin and suffering—what we call a fallen world—puts us in direct conflict with any hope that God’s design could be solely focused on our happiness here on earth.

Excerpted from: Free from the Power of Sin: The Keys to Growing in God in Spite of Yourself

 

The Good News: Part 7

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I know that God causes all things to work together for good for me, because I love Him and am called according to His purpose. For God knew me before the beginning of time, and as a result has predestined me to be conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:28-29). Through Him I now rejoice in my tribulations, for I know that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that is to be revealed to me (Romans 5:3 & 8:18). I take solace in the fact that my suffering is merely a means of reinforcing my perseverance, refining my character, and providing me hope (Romans 5:3-5).

            My salvation is secure, because nothing shall separate me from the love of Christ (Romans 8:35). So He has promised! Even though I know that I will one day stand before the judgment seat of God, I have no fear, for in that day I shall be found sheltered in Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:10, Colossians 3:3). My perishable body will be raised in glory (1 Corinthians 15:42-43). Just as my nature has borne the image of the earthly, I shall also bear the image of the heavenly, since He will transform the body of my humble state into conformity with the body of His glory (1 Corinthians 15:49, Philippians 3:21).

Excerpted from: Free from the Power of Sin: The Keys to Growing in God in Spite of Yourself

The Good News: Part 5

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Having been made righteous through Christ, I am no longer condemned, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:1-2). I have been raised up with Him, and seated with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6). I have also been given access to the Father through Christ and I am sealed with the Holy Spirit who has been given as a pledge of my inheritance (Ephesians 1:13-14 & 2:18).

His grace has been showered on me according to the measure of Christ’s gift for the work of service for the building up of the body of Christ, of which I am an integral and indispensable member (Ephesians 4:7 & 12, 1 Corinthians 12:27). And through His power, I can now rejoice in any sufferings that result from doing my share on behalf of His body (Colossians 1:24).

Excerpted from: Free from the Power of Sin: The Keys to Growing in God in Spite of Yourself