blog 19: suffering is good
Everything we do is easy these days. Nothing is too hard anymore and we’ve become so accustom to EASY that doing things the hard or “old” way is like mmm yeah I rather not. Information is now so easily accessible to us about EVERYTHING, a famous saying in our family is..”let me google it”. Cooking is easier, like the air fryer! Before we would have to set the oven, wait for it to get hot, if its summer time it makes the whole house hot, then put in your dish, set a timer check on it and wait till it’s done then turn off the oven and that would be just for dino nuggets! NOW….two clicks is all it takes; temperature, time, put in whatever you want AND bam its done! AND it turns off after its done! Goodness I love that thing!
Then there’s Amazon! Amazing!
Target pick? Life saver.
I can literally get anything and everything I want at my finger tips. Hey I mean i ain’t mad at it BUT if I’m honest it has brought me to be lazy and not want to do things the hard way.
No need to get the kids out of the car and into the store standing in line at the check out all hot and sweating while they throw a fit. Or standing at the line where the lady is paying with coupons and they are doing price checks on items. Talk about being tested in patience! I’ve been there. Nope, everything is so easy now. And it’s funny cause we still complain! I digress.
But God has NOT changed, He is the same. Times and technology may change but His ways have not changed.
You want growth? It’s going to take hard stuff.
It’s going to take discipline
It’s going to take trust
It’s going to take faith
It’s going to take WAITING…
And dare I say it’s going to take suffering
Romans 8:17-18 “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
Jesus went to the cross to be brutally murdered. In our human nature and way of thinking , that looks like defeat and a horrible defeat at that, we see he suffered. BUT what happened next? There was a waiting period, it took 3 LONG days. I’m sure those days felt like forever to the disciples. That’s how it feels in suffering sometimes. When is this ever going to end!? Where’s the silver lining?
BUT we all know the story. On that third day He ROSE! And how the glory so outweighed all the pain.
That’s how we must view our suffering and our pain. IF we are in Jesus , IF we are living a life that is honoring and obedient to Christ we never lose!
We hear scriptures like:
To die is to gain
To have joy in trials
To take up your cross
We cringe at these things. We feel sorry for ourselves that we have to endure such things. But that’s just because we haven’t seen the glory of God through the suffering. We haven’t truly yet seen the resurrection power that comes through and after the suffering.
1 Peter 5:10 "And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you"
God has called you for more than just suffering , for more than just gritting down on our teeth and going through the storm over and over again. There is glory in suffering IF we can seek God and see what He’s doing through it. I remember my pastors sister testifying about suffering, she had lost her daughter to cancer. Talk about suffering! I remember her saying “you have to be ready to suffer for Christ” immediately I starting crying because I didn’t want to! I didn’t want to hurt or feel pain. But later in my walk I was in THAT exact thing. Pain and suffering. And God met me there. Not only did He meet me there. He built me up there, He strengthened me there. He filled me there. He sustained me there. I fell more in love with my Savior there in the suffering.
Romans 5:3-5"We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope".
NOW when hard times come up, when suffering starts to take place I’m able to stand on this scripture, NOW I understand this scripture. Ohhhh okay Lord, I get it.
You wanted to build my faith, my trust, my discipline, my prayer life, my reading, my worship. You brought me through suffering to produce exactly what it says perseverance; character and hope. Ahhh okay I get it.
We NEED to get this revelation. The Lord doesn’t want us to look at suffering in a human mind set. No. It’s all for a purpose friend. Every single thing. The good the bad the suffering.
Today my prayer for whoever reads this is that you would run to Jesus in your suffering, you would seek the Father like never before! I pray that every part of suffering would produce exactly what the scripture says , perseverance, character and hope inside you. Remember the Lord is with you, He hasn’t left you to suffer alone. He loves you. You can make it through this with Jesus. I promise.
I hope you were blessed . Till next time.
LOVE YOU FRIENDS.
ONE LOVE
