Suffering and its role in our spiritual lives
This is something that God revealed to me yesterday while meditating on His will and grace:
The Lord led me to 2 Cor 12. It says, starting in v. 9:
"But [the Lord] said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
And they rejoiced because they were found worthy to partake in Jesus' suffering. (Acts 5:41-my summary)
My sufferings are not for me! They are not for my benefit, per se, but for others! Just as Christ did not suffer for Himself, but for others, likewise, my suffering is not for me, but is for others. THey are for God and man. They demonstrate my faith and love for God to my fellow man. They bring glory to God, not me. They cause others to look at God, not me. This primary purpose is to bring God glory and to others to Him.
O God, let me never bemoan my suffering. Let me embrace it for Your sake. Let me be filled with that which You have not directly suffered, but let me partake joyfully, knowing that my suffering is used as a witness to who You are! It is for others to see and know that You love them! Let me rejoice in this!
(Excert from my journal)
Other things that God taught me was that my suffering declares my solidarity, my identification, with those that are not like me or from where I am. It is vicarious for it lets them see that while they "were yet sinners, Christ died" (Rom 5:8). I am to do as Christ commanded in Luke 9:23, to deny myself and take up my cross and follow Him. Where did Christ go? He went to die on His cross. That is what I am also to do. I am to die on the cross that I take up, not wear it around my neck like a pretty little ornament, but to let it be used to kill me and all that I am, in order that I might be filled with the life that God wants to give me through His Holy Spirit that His Son earned for all of us.
My actions speak the Holy Spirit to people. My words speak the Holy Spirit to people. This is why it is so important for us to empty ourselves of ourselves and let the Holy Spirit use us. This is a death of my personality, but of my personal will, those decisions that I want to make independantly of God. I am to depend upon Him, just as a child depends upon his own parents.
Praise to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit for His work in all of us. Amen.
The Lord led me to 2 Cor 12. It says, starting in v. 9:
"But [the Lord] said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
And they rejoiced because they were found worthy to partake in Jesus' suffering. (Acts 5:41-my summary)
My sufferings are not for me! They are not for my benefit, per se, but for others! Just as Christ did not suffer for Himself, but for others, likewise, my suffering is not for me, but is for others. THey are for God and man. They demonstrate my faith and love for God to my fellow man. They bring glory to God, not me. They cause others to look at God, not me. This primary purpose is to bring God glory and to others to Him.
O God, let me never bemoan my suffering. Let me embrace it for Your sake. Let me be filled with that which You have not directly suffered, but let me partake joyfully, knowing that my suffering is used as a witness to who You are! It is for others to see and know that You love them! Let me rejoice in this!
(Excert from my journal)
Other things that God taught me was that my suffering declares my solidarity, my identification, with those that are not like me or from where I am. It is vicarious for it lets them see that while they "were yet sinners, Christ died" (Rom 5:8). I am to do as Christ commanded in Luke 9:23, to deny myself and take up my cross and follow Him. Where did Christ go? He went to die on His cross. That is what I am also to do. I am to die on the cross that I take up, not wear it around my neck like a pretty little ornament, but to let it be used to kill me and all that I am, in order that I might be filled with the life that God wants to give me through His Holy Spirit that His Son earned for all of us.
My actions speak the Holy Spirit to people. My words speak the Holy Spirit to people. This is why it is so important for us to empty ourselves of ourselves and let the Holy Spirit use us. This is a death of my personality, but of my personal will, those decisions that I want to make independantly of God. I am to depend upon Him, just as a child depends upon his own parents.
Praise to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit for His work in all of us. Amen.