Suffer?

[orion77]

(Luk 6:22 LITV)  Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they cut you off, and will reproach you, and will cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man;

(Luk 6:23 LITV)  rejoice in that day, and leap for joy; for, behold, your reward is much in Heaven! For their fathers did according to these things to the prophets.

(Luk 6:24 LITV)  But woe to you, rich ones, for you have your comfort!

(Luk 6:25 LITV)  Woe to you, those having been filled, for you will hunger! Woe to you, those laughing now, for you will mourn and lament!

(Luk 6:26 LITV)  Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers did according to these things to the false prophets.

(Luk 6:27 LITV)  But I say to you, Those hearing: Love the ones hostile to you, do good to those hating you,

(Luk 6:28 LITV)  bless those cursing you and pray for those insulting you.


Are these things happening to you on account of the faith God has given you?  Or are you accepted, well thought of, scorn others who differ in belief, for the faith you have?

Can you imagine what Noah had to endure, those many years building a huge boat in the middle of the desert?  David, from reading the Psalms, endured much sufferings, all of the prophets that were killed, the sufferings of the apostles and early christians, also from history, all the many innocent people who suffered at the hands of so-called religious people, and also the Lord Himself.

Seems that for His people, in this world will suffer fiery trials for His names sake.  Truly the carnal mind is an enemy of God.


(Phi 1:27 LITV)  Only behave yourself worthily of the gospel of Christ, so that whether coming and seeing you or being absent, I hear the things concerning you, that you stand fast in one spirit and one soul, striving together in the faith of the gospel,

(Phi 1:28 LITV)  and not being terrified in anything by those who oppose, which to them truly is a proof of destruction, but to you of salvation, and this from God;

(Phi 1:29 LITV)  because it was granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer on His behalf,

(1Pe 3:14 LITV)  But if you truly suffer because of righteousness, blessed are you. "But do not fear their fear, nor be disturbed.

(1Pe 3:15 LITV)  But sanctify" Isa. 8:12, 13 the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give an answer to everyone asking you a reason concerning the hope in you, with meekness and fear,

(1Pe 3:16 LITV)  having a good conscience, that while they speak against you as evildoers, they may be shamed, those falsely accusing your good behavior in Christ.


Hope this might be some help to any suffering for His names sake.

God bless,

Gary

[chuckusa]

Hi Gary,

Those are good words. We must learn to suffer graciously, for it is truly a messy business. It has taken many trials, but I am slowly learning to suffer unto myself, and to not let it bleed over to much upon others as I have in the past.

This too is from God, I can't claim this victory as something from myself.

To endure, truly endure, is a deeply personal thing, and I find that my carnal nature is always trying to lash out at others in some kind of attempt to disengage from my experiences at hand. I am slowly learning to lean only on those that understand, and won't take offense at my condition, knowing that I am under the commands of God, and that I often "know not what I do".

These experiences have helped prepare me to return this blessing to others who find themselves in these trials also. That is what this forum is about, I believe.

Thank you for your reminder Gary, God Bless you.

Love,
chuck

[orion77]

Amen Chuck,

To reach out and possibly be a help for others, is in the right direction.  The longer I've been part of this forum, the more I see the many simularities we have suffered, and the trials we have gone through.

Did you notice the 29th verse in Phi:

(Phi 1:29 LITV)  because it was granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer on His behalf,

It was granted to us, to suffer on His behalf. 

G5483
χαρίζομαι
charizomai
khar-id'-zom-ahee
Middle voice from G5485; to grant as a favor, that is, gratuitously, in kindness, pardon or rescue: - deliver, (frankly) forgive, (freely) give, grant.

God uses this suffering to strengthen us in His love.  To be in a place, where we must forgive them, for they know not what they do, is following Christ.  Being able to forgive our enemies in real life, not just in words read, but through experience, and to come through these many trials with love and forgiveness towards those who have done us wrong, we become sons and daughters of the Most High God.

God bless,

Gary

[hillsbororiver]

Very good stuff Gary & Chuck,

There have also been some very profound changes in my life since the Lord began to drag me closer to Him. Until a few months ago I thought this change began just after I "stumbled" upon Bible Truths, in retrospect the change actually began a few years previous to that unforgettable night.

I have had many ups and downs, many setbacks (most of them self inflicted) and some incredibly fortunate ones as well, through all the times of poverty (not only financial) to self sufficiency to prosperity and back to poverty and through the cycle again and again I had this sense of optimism, that things were going to work themselves out no matter what situation I found myself in. Looking back I see that this optimism was actually at the root of many reckless decisions and the cause of much boorish behavior on my part, I might say or do just about anything and expect to be able to come out of it unscathed, others would notice this as well, a woman years ago once remarked "Joe, you could fall in a tub of **** (dung) and come out clean as a whistle, smelling like a rose. I believed it.

About 3 or 4 years ago this optimism started to recede, I was (and still am) in a very good marriage, our daughter had graduated from college (since then obtained her Masters Degree) I had (and have) a very good job, earning a comforable living with the freedom to come and go as I please (as long as the Department I manage meets it's goals). I had every reason to be content and comfortable but I was uneasy, unsettled, something was definitely missing, there was a void in me you could drive a truck through.

My solution or diagnosis was that I needed to do something big, something that would outlast me, leave a physical, tangible monument that my daughter and eventual grandchildren could inhererit and live in long after I was gone, I was going to build a beautiful house.

We found the perfect property right on the river, close to everything but surrounded by woods, a park and only one neighbor bordering our property. I got busy on it and the feeling of dread only got worse.

I would have knots in my stomach from the time I woke up in the morning and it got to the point I was self medicating  just to be able to get through the day. There was absolutely no reason for me to be feeling this way, the construction was going smoothly, no disasters at home or at work but I was feeling lower and lower. I convinced myself it was just the stress of building (conveniently forgetting this feeling began before we even bought the property) and it would pass once it was completed. It didn't.

The dread and despair that had no name no cause (that I could see at the time) and no reason became part of my existence, I could hide it behind a mask of jovialness, but I also would explode in anger over some very minor things, my foundation was non existent, in winter I would look look forward to spring, spring to summer, etc. It was too painful living in the present but I had no clue as to why.

We went through a pretty active hurricane season in Florida during '04 and it was expected to be just as bad in '05, it was in the news constantly, meteorologists gleefully prophecysing doom and destruction for all, August 2 '05 I was at my wits end, that was the night I stumbled on Bible Truths. I Googled Revelation/Weather looking for some biblical writings on "end times" weather patterns and the first link was Bible Truths, I have never been able to duplicate that result since.

Ever since that night the despair has given way to an optimism I never knew before, far exceeding the carnal optimism I had since my late teens, a wonderful promise of redemption, of obtaining true life has been my driving motivation rather than accumulating "things." I found that I was walking through His Fire without knowing where I was, or where I was headed, tribulation has not ceased but knowing the Source gives comfort now rather than sorrow.

This has translated into how I perceive others, in the past when I would have to interact with people that had rather despicable personality traits I would either go head to head with them or write them off as "losers," sometimes both. Now I see them as walking through life untethered to anything of real sustainance (our Lord) they are freefalling, grasping, lunging at anything and everything, over reacting to situations because there is no measure in their lives.

I now visualize them as people who are reeling from financial setbacks, unable to meet their obligations worrying about staying afloat day to day even as they have the winning lottery ticket in the pocket of an old jacket, but they forgot about it's purchase and it's location. This winning lottery ticket is how the Lord made me feel when He so graciously revealed His plan and purpose for me. I don't mean to degrade this gift by comparing it to money, but He Himself compares this journey to seeking "treasure," it is that, but so much more too.

This suffering we experience to me is nothing compared to not knowing Him, believing His promise, appreciating His sacrifice and best of all knowing Him more every day. I don't want to minimize what each of us experience in our trials and tribulations but knowing the reason for this purification process should be a source of joy. We are being formed into Sons and Daughters of the Almighty God!

Praise our Lord and His (and our) Father!

Joe  

       

PS It appears I did it again, my apology for writing another "epic." Someday I may learn how to make a long story short.

[orion77]

Hello Joe,

Not long at all, you have the gift of properly conveying a message through the written word.  Always enjoy reading your posts.  I particularily like the last paragraph in your post, in saying what the suffering leads us to, true, so true.

Here is some verses that speak of the joy, and the sufferings we endure.  A little long but well worth the read:

(1Pe 1:3 LITV)  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, He according to His great mercy having regenerated us to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

(1Pe 1:4 LITV)  to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, having been kept in Heaven for you

(1Pe 1:5 LITV)  the ones in the power of God being guarded through faith to a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time;

(1Pe 1:6 LITV)  in which you exult; yet a little while, if need be, grieving in manifold trials,

(1Pe 1:7 LITV)  so that the proving of your faith, much more precious than perishing gold, but having been proved through fire, may be found to praise and honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

(1Pe 1:8 LITV)  whom having not seen, you love; in whom not yet seeing, but believing, you exult with joy unspeakable and being glorified,

(1Pe 1:9 LITV)  obtaining the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

(1Pe 1:10 LITV)  About which salvation the prophets sought out and searched out, prophesying concerning the grace for you,

(1Pe 1:11 LITV)  searching for what, or what sort of time the Spirit of Christ made clear within them; testifying beforehand of the sufferings belonging to Christ, and the glories after these.

(1Pe 1:12 LITV)  To whom it was revealed that not to themselves, but to us they ministered the same things, which now were announced to you by those having preached the gospel to you in the Holy Spirit sent from Heaven; into which things angels long to look into.

(1Pe 1:13 LITV)  Because of this, having girded up the loins of your mind, being sober, perfectly hope on the grace being brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ,

(1Pe 1:14 LITV)  as children of obedience, not fashioning yourselves to your former lusts in your ignorance,

(1Pe 1:15 LITV)  but according to the Holy One who has called you, you also become holy in all conduct;

(1Pe 1:16 LITV)  because it has been written, "Be holy," "because I am holy." Lev. 19:2

(1Pe 1:17 LITV)  And if you call on the Father, the One judging according to the work of each one without respect of faces pass the time of your sojourning in fear,

(1Pe 1:18 LITV)  knowing that not with corruptible things, silver or gold, were you redeemed from your worthless way of life handed down from your fathers,

(1Pe 1:19 LITV)  but with precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot,

(1Pe 1:20 LITV)  indeed having been foreknown before the foundation of the world, but revealed in the last times because of you,

(1Pe 1:21 LITV)  the ones believing in God through Him, He raising Him from the dead, and giving glory to Him so that your faith and hope may be in God.

(1Pe 1:22 LITV)  Having purified your souls in the obedience of the truth through the Spirit to unpretended brotherly love, love one another fervently out of a pure heart,

(1Pe 1:23 LITV)  being regenerated, not by corruptible seed, but incorruptible, through the living Word of God, and remaining forever.

(1Pe 1:24 LITV)  Because "all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of men as the flower of grass; the grass was dried, and its flower fell out,

(1Pe 1:25 LITV)  but the Word of the Lord remains forever." And this is the Word announced as gospel to you. Isaiah 40:6-8


God bless,

Gary

[hillsbororiver]

Gary,

Beautiful.

Thank you,

Joe

[hillsbororiver]

Very good stuff Gary & Chuck,



Joe   

       

PS It appears I did it again, my apology for writing another "epic." Someday I may learn how to make a long story short.

Ya right!! (I don't think I believe it will happen anytime soon either  )

I enjoyed it Joe.

bobby

Thanks Bobby,

Joe

[Kat]

thank you Gary,

This thread has reminded me of how precious this calling really is.

Joe a great testimony,
some of it sounds very familiar, to what I experienced.

Act 17:27-28  God has done all this, so that we will look for him and reach out and find him. He isn't far from any of us, and he gives us the power to live, to move, and to be who we are. "We are his children," just as some of your poets have said.

mercy, peace, and love
Kat

[Deborah-Leigh]

Hello Joe

...I was just wondering about what you Mods must have gone through in life today....and here I read your story...! I can not read all the posts because I do not have the time to do so......

There is not enough time in the day to absorb it all  (I am not ungrateful) my Lord gives me what I need and that is what I wanted to tell you. I needed to read your story .......its just so wonderful..... Thank you and to Jesus I thank HIm for guiding you to express your life and HIs plan for you. Thank you again....

Arcturus

[chuckusa]

Hello all,

It's wonderful to see people who are not afraid to share the private matters of their lives, so that others will know that they are not alone in their trials. You don't find much of that out in the world.

Thank You,

Chuck