Why Do Christians Suffer?

By:  J. Meyer

As Christians, we like the thought of sharing in Christ's glory, but what about sharing in His suffering? Jesus took care of the death penalty once and for all so we don't ever have to worry about that again. But the Bible teaches that we must suffer times of trial if we are to share in the glory. Is it worth it? Read what Paul says in Romans 8:18: ...For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (this present life) are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and for us and conferred on us!

Acting Right When Things Are Wrong

Many of us think we suffer because of our circumstances. We believe that if our circumstances would change, we'd be able to act right. But God wants us to become so mature and stable that we act right even when none of our circumstances are good. There are different levels of faith, and most of the time we want to use our faith to get rid of a problem. But sometimes God's plan is for us to exercise a higher level of faith that will carry us through life's challenges. This requires even greater faith than being delivered from a situation.

Too often we marvel at the delivering power of God and overlook His keeping, strengthening and enabling power. Although there are many reasons why Christians suffer, I would like to address what I believe are eight of the most common reasons why there is suffering in our lives.

#1: A Lack of Word Knowledge

Many Christians suffer because they're too busy seeking carnal knowledge instead of the Word of God. The Lord Himself said, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge... (Hosea 4:6). Paul was an educated man, with a wealth of carnal knowledge. When he realized the importance of spiritual knowledge, he said, ...I resolved to know nothing (to be acquainted with nothing, to make a display of the knowledge of nothing, and to be conscious of nothing) among you except Jesus Christ (the Messiah) and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2).

Like Paul, we need to realize the importance of learning spiritual things, for Galatians 6:8 says, ...he who sows to his own flesh (lower nature, sensuality) will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

#2: Disobedience

Once we know the Word of God, we have a responsibility to be obedient to it. Too many of us intend to be obedient, but put it off. Even procrastination is disobedience, and it can cause us to suffer. James 4:7 gives us good advice: Submit yourselves therefore to God... . When God tells me to do something, I find it helpful to write it down. This serves as a reminder that I must be obedient if I want God's blessings. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land (Isaiah 1:19).

#3: To Purify and Test Your Faith

Sometimes people seem surprised that they must go through a time of trial or suffering. Perhaps they’ve been faithful to learn and obey the Word, and the trials still come. Sometimes trials come simply to test and purify our faith. [You should] be exceedingly glad on this account, though now for a little while you may be distressed by trials and suffer temptations, so that [the genuineness] of your faith may be tested, [your faith] which is infinitely more precious than the perishable gold which is tested and purified by fire. [This proving of your faith is intended] to redound to [your] praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) is revealed(1 Peter 1:6-7).

#4: A Need for Brokenness

The word brokenness may strike fear in some people, but it's really not a bad word. God doesn’t desire to break our spirits, but He wants to break that outer shell, the flesh that prevents Him from being all He wants to be in and through us. He wants to break off things like pride, rebellion, selfishness and independence. God wants us to be totally dependent on Him, and suffering seems to bring us to that point.

However, having to depend on God shouldn't cause us to feel sorry for ourselves. I once said, “Oh, God, I'm so lonely, and I don't have anybody but You.” And the Holy Spirit said, "Poor Joyce, you're just stuck with God." I've discovered that having only God is a good position to be in.

#5: To Build Compassion

Compassion is born out of experiencing similar problems. The Bible says, ...we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning (Hebrews 4:15). It comforts me to know that Jesus understands me and has compassion.

Going through trials and experiencing God's deliverance better equips us to minister to others. Our pain is never wasted; it brings about compassion that reaches out to other hurting people by saying, "I've been there, and God brought me through it, and He'll do the same for you."

#6: To Encourage Others

The apostle Paul said there were many things that God allowed him to go through simply as object lessons for other people. ...I want you to know and continue to rest assured, brethren, that what [has happened] to me [this imprisonment] has actually only served to advance and give a renewed impetus to the [spreading of the] good news (the Gospel).... most of the brethren have derived fresh confidence in the Lord because of my chains and are much more bold to speak and publish fearlessly the Word of God... (Philippians 1:12-14). Even in Paul's imprisonment, his stability and ability to be used of God was evident.

If we’re to minister to others, we too must face some adverse circumstances. But if we stand in faith and confidence, God will bring us through to victory, and we'll be a great encouragement to others in the process.

#7: Because of the Word

Sometimes we suffer attacks from the enemy simply because of our involvement with the Word of God.Mark 4:17 speaks of those who hear the Word and endure it for a while, ...then when trouble or persecution arises on account of the Word, they immediately are offended (become displeased, indignant, resentful) and they stumble and fall away. When someone receives the Word of God, Satan delights in coming immediately to try to steal what’s been sown in their heart. He knows the Word will strengthen us and help us live a victorious Christian life, and he wants to stop it if he can. So it’s imperative to guard the Word in your heart and resist the devil from stealing it away from you.

#8: Because of Living in the World

Christians may also face trials and suffer simply because we live in a world full of sin. But Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you]” (John 16:33).

What a promise! Understanding the reason for our suffering and having the assurance of the final glory we'll share should make it a little easier to enjoy our lives...even during the times of sharing in suffering.

And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory(Romans 8:17).


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How To Find Your Niche (Purpose) In Life?

By:  B. Sanchez

People ask all the time, “I don’t know God’s purpose for my life.” But it’s really easy.

Let me help you.

I tell them, “The easiest way for you to know God’s purpose is to look for the intersection between your passion and your potential.” In other words, find alignment.

Fulfilling your purpose may or may not to earn you money. And that’s okay. Life is not about earning money. This was my experience. For 20 years, I didn’t earn from the intersection of my passion and potential—which was speaking. It was pure ministry. I would speak anywhere and everywhere for free. I was very happy but very poor. With my finances, I could never raise my family or give more to the ministry.

So one day, I decided to go into business. To earn money, I sold hotdogs, squid balls, ice cream, memorial plans, and even engine oil. All those businesses failed. Why? Because I went out of my two circles of passion and potential…

To earn money, I had to go back to my core—the intersection of my passion and potential. But I had to do something else. If I wanted to prosper financially, I had to add one more circle. (I borrowed this idea from Jim Collins’ book, Good To Great—just changed the terms). The “Peso” circle consists of the various ways I could earn. I asked myself, “Where can I earn the most?” 

      

I realized that I could earn the most at that sweet spot where these three circles intersect. That sweet spot for me was still communication, but this time, I needed to find a way to monetize it. Obviously, even to this day, MOST of my speaking is still for free. I speak at the Feast each week without pay. But once a month, I’m invited by companies to speak and they pay me more than what I used to earn in a year.

Let me end with one last story…

Know What You Want

There’s this one very special restaurant in Singapore that my friends loved. In fact, its Hainanese chicken is so over-the-top and out-of-this-world, the restaurant has become a minor tourist attraction. If you visit Singapore, you have to visit this simple restaurant. 

And my two friends loved this restaurant so much, they had this crazy idea. They wanted to be the franchisee of this restaurant here in the Philippines.

 So they flew to Singapore to talk to the owner. And that was when they learned that they weren’t the first people to think of the crazy idea. They were last in a long line of people. The owner mentioned some very wealthy Filipinos who already visited him, wanting to buy the franchise. These Filipinos were huge institutions in the restaurant industry, the best of the best.

But for some reason, the owner turned all of them down.

Obviously, my friends were shaken. “If he turned down these gigantic Philippine restaurants, he’s going to turn us down too!”

But that’s when they received the shock of their life. After their long conversation with the owner, he looked at my two friends and announced, “I’ll give you the franchise for the Philippines.”

Later on, they learned why.

The owner used one big question to decide. He asked every applicant, “If I give you the franchise, who will come here to Singapore—to get trained in my kitchen—for 4 straight months?”

The other applicants—very wealthy business people—said, “We will send our best chefs for your training program.”

KBZZZZZZT! Wrong answer.

But when my friends were asked the same question, they raised their hands and said, “We’ll go!” In other words, they said, “We’ll forget whatever we’re doing in the Philippines and focus only on one thing—your restaurant.”

Are You Willing To Give Up Everything?

The restaurant owner was a very wise man. He was looking for people who know what they wanted.

I believe God is like that restaurant owner. He wants you to franchise his love in this world. He’s looking for His representatives. And He too is looking for an alignment between passion, potential, and purpose!

Passion means knowing what you want and giving everything you’ve got to get it. Passion is saying to yourself and to the universe, “This is what I want, and I’m betting my entire life on this. I’m putting my time, my future, and my comfort at stake here. I’m unloading all my guns. I’m holding nothing back. I’m sacrificing everything on the altar!”

That restaurant is now in the Philippines—and they’re full every single day.   They’re so full, you can’t get in without a reservation. It’s a smashing success. Why? 

Because there was alignment.

Let me ask you today… 

Do you know what you want?

Do you want it bad enough?

God waits for your answer.

I love saying this: When you want something bad enough, nothing much can stop you. As the Bible says, If you are unable to make up your mind and are undecided in all you do, you must not think that you will receive anything from the Lord. (James 1:7-8)

Orig Title -  (DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU REALLY WANT?)


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The Good Sense of Wisdom

By:  L. Adams

“If you really want to gain knowledge, you have to begin by having respect for the Lord. But foolish people hate wisdom and training.” (Proverbs 1:7, NIRV)

The Hebrew word used here for fear suggests reverence and awe. A person seeking wisdom is willing to bow down to God simply because of the awe and respect they feel for Him. This phrase also suggests total dependence on God.

I am reminded of my relationship with my earthly father. My Daddy was a wonderful man whom I loved with all my heart and respected so much. He was the perfect example of a godly father. Highly respected in our community, he was a fair and wise man. Yet I knew my boundaries with him. I had a proper fear of him. Not the kind born of bad experience (unless you would call the holy discipline of spanking ‘bad’), but rather awe and respect for him. I loved him with all my heart and desired to please him. This is the ‘fear’ of which the Bible speaks.

Our culture does not teach this kind of fear or respect, therefore, it is a concept many people do not fully understand. Respect means that I trust the other person and esteem them, or hold them in high regard. It also means that I am willing to be submissive to another person. Oh yes, the 'S' word--submit. To respect another causes one to desire to please that person and perhaps even emulate them.

As Proverbs 1:7 tells us, a fool does not feel the need to respect God and therefore lacks the wisdom and knowledge that comes only from God. In fact, the fool chooses to go the opposite direction from wisdom.

I like this quote from Walter Lippman:

"It requires wisdom to understand wisdom: the music is nothing if the audience is deaf."

The fool is like a deaf audience. He has no way to gain wisdom because he doesn’t understand or respect the way to wisdom, which is the Lord. The fool refuses to submit to God because he doesn't trust God.

When I fear the Lord and walk before Him in respect, He makes me so much wiser than I should be. Really, I am a blonde underneath the Miss Clairol on my head, so sometimes I am stunned by the wisdom that God gives me.

I don’t want to be a fool!

How about you?

Let’s learn to respect, trust and submit to God in order to get a dose of WISDOM.

Orig Title -  A Dose of Wisdom


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We Can’t Afford Not To forgive

By:  M. Noebel

Have you ever heard those words before? Forgiveness is hard to do, but with God's help, we can forgive. The definition of forgive is to pardon or excuse. It means that we no longer blame others or are angry at those who did us wrong.

"For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins Matthew 6:14, 15

God tells us that forgiveness is not an option if we want God to forgive us. We are not perfect; we all make mistakes. We will not all agree on everything all the time. We must understand that and learn to forgive those who intentionally or unintentionally hurt us. Yes, we may have a moment of anger, but we must not become slaves to anger. We need to repent for harboring bad feelings against others so that we can be set free.

The Bible tells us in 1 Samuel 16:7 that the Lord looks at the heart. What does He see when He looks at our hearts? We want to have clean hearts and hands when we stand before God. Look at what the psalmist David said:

"Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me"Psalm 51:10

"Who may climb the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? Only those whose hands and hearts are pure…"(Psalm 24: 3, 4a, The Book).

We want to stand before God and know that He is pleased with us. We don't want to carry the sin of unforgiveness in our hearts. When we pray, we want to know that God will answer our prayers. We certainly don't want this willful act to hinder our prayers.

"And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins" Mark 11:25

If we continue to have bitterness in our hearts and lives, we do not show the love of God. The Word of God tells us that we cannot even say we love God if we have hate toward someone else - 1 John 4:20 so what must we do? Colossians 3:12 tells us to "clothe yourselves with compassion." Philippians 2:4 says to "look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." Galatians 6:2 instructs us to "carry each other's burdens." Ephesians 4:32declares, "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you."

The lines are drawn. The Word is clear. We must forgive! No matter the offense, no matter how much pain we feel, we must forgive. We can't take revenge or even gloat when our enemy falls (Romans 12:19-21; Proverbs 24:17

Let's ask God to fill us with His love for those who have offended us. Let’s learn to walk in love and peace. We will be glad we did.

Orig Title -  Forgive - Can We Afford Not To?


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Embracing Resistance

By:  G. Markland

One afternoon while running an errand near the oceanfront in Virginia Beach, I decided to go an extra block and take a peek at the ocean. The air was cold, in the 40s, and cloudy, with a slight drizzle. It was a typical off-season day. The boardwalk was deserted/ So with my pick of the benches, I sat on a choice one, stretched out my legs, stuck my hands in my jacket pockets, and looked out over the water.

It was a little windy, as the rough waves crashed ashore making that unmistakable sound of the sea. Looking up at the seagulls flying, I noticed the drizzle had stopped. So I decided to enjoy the fresh sea air for a while, and maybe even get a little inspiration from the nature that God created. 

Sitting there in the cold, my attention was drawn to a seagull flying above the boardwalk, about 10 feet in front and above me.  Hovering perfectly still, his wings gave a slight flutter as he faced into the wind, which was blowing strongly. At first, I felt sorry for him as he was getting nowhere in this wind. 

But by facing that wind, he was kept aloft by its force. For a few moments he opened his wings, without flapping them, and remained stationary, directly in front of me, suspended in mid-air. 

As I observed this remarkable sight, the Lord spoke to my heart and said, “I’m not keeping you back, I’m keeping you up.” 

Maybe like me, you can relate to that seagull. Have you ever felt stuck in you life? Seemingly held back and not going forward? The Lord let me know that He’s not holding us back; He’s holding us up. 

As I pondered that thought and watched the seagull closely, I realized that if the seagull had flown away from the wind, he would have been blown down to earth. But by facing the resistance of the wind, with a slight flutter of his wings, he was lifted up. So when resistance comes against you, if you face it, put your nose into the wind and flap your wings. You’ll be lifted up and not cast down.  Resistance will lift you higher!

“You make the clouds your chariot; you ride upon the wings of the wind.” (Psalms 104:3, NLT)

When you pursue your goals and dreams in life, at some point you will inevitably encounter resistance. Think of King David in the Bible. He was chosen to be King as a young man, but the current King Saul put unrelenting pressure on him by trying to destroy him. Through the years of persecution from King Saul, David honed his skill as a guerrilla fighter, a strong leader of men, and a man of character and honor. Resistance lifted him to become the King he had been chosen to be.

Think of the early church. Great persecution came against the early church. Many were martyred for refusing to deny Christ and many had to flee for their lives. But this unrelenting pressure of persecution caused the church to become firm in the faith and spread far and wide in order to survive. Resistance lifted the church throughout the known world in 300 years, becoming the official religion of the Roman Empire.

If you turn from resistance and run, it will smash you to the ground. You’ll be crushed and your flight, as well as your dreams, will be over. So instead of looking at the winds of resistance as something formidably holding you back, look on it as something that God is using to hold you up and make you strong. Embrace resistance, and it will raise you to the heights you dream of reaching! 

“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:31, NLT)


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This is Now Your Time, Seize It!

By:  John L. M.

Get aggressive and go after opportunities. They usually don't find you, you must find them. The reason most people don't go very far in life is because they sidestep opportunity and shake hands with procrastination. Procrastination is the grave in which opportunity is buried. Don't be out in the backyard looking for four-leaf clovers when opportunity knocks at your front door.

For the tenacious there is always time and opportunity. Are you waiting on opportunities, or are opportunities waiting on you? I believe you should take the initiative and live your life on the offensive.

William Menninger said, "The amount of satisfaction you get from life depends largely on your own ingenuity, self-sufficiency, and resourcefulness. People who wait around for life to supply their satisfaction usually find boredom instead."

Albert Hubert remarked, "Parties who want milk should not seat themselves on a stool in the middle of the field and hope that the cow will back up to them." The door of opportunity won't open unless you push. It is always a bumpy, uphill road that leads to heights of greatness. Being on the defensive has never produced ultimate victory. 

"A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds," said Francis Bacon. It's more valuable to find a situation that redistributes opportunity than one that redistributes money. Have you ever noticed that great people are never lacking for opportunities? When successful people are interviewed, they always mention their big plans for the future. Observing them, most people would think, "If I were in their shoes, I'd kick back and do nothing." Success doesn't diminish their desire for dreaming.

There is far more opportunity than ability. Life is full of golden opportunities. Every person has a lot that they can do. Start with what you can do; don't stop because of what you can't do.

Great opportunities will come as you make the most of small ones. Many people seem to think that opportunity means a chance to get money without earning it. The best gifts we get are opportunities, not things. Seize them!

Orig Title:  Don’t Sit Back and Take What Comes, Go After What You Want

Good Ideas vs God Ideas

By:  K. Hee

We all need to have dreams, plans and visions for our lives. The Bible tells us that if we fail to plan, we’re essentially planning to fail! But it’s not enough just to have your own dreams for your life. Just because the plans that you come up with are “good,” it doesn’t mean they’re from God!

“Then the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.’” ~ Luke 1:30-31

Just like Mary, it’s important for you to have a revelation of God’s destiny for your life. And when you learn to align your dreams with God’s, then it becomes more than just a “good idea”; it becomes a “God idea”! And when it’s God’s vision, He will make sure that you have the grace and anointing to endure tough times until it’s fulfilled for His glory.

Do you want a God-given vision for your life? Seek Him today in prayer and in His Word, and patiently wait on Him. In God’s good timing, you will discover His plans and purposes for you. And He will anoint you with the power, gifts, and grace you need to live out your calling!

Prayer for the day:   

Ask God to reveal to you your destiny, and to give you the grace and anointing you need to live in it.