Good Monday morning (6-14-10),

In the Book of Daniel, the Prophet makes an interesting prediction that in the last days the devil will wear down the saints of God through afflictions and trials.

Taken in pure context, this scripture is of course referring to the anti-christ and the war he’ll wage against God’s people. Yet, the broad truth of this passage is that there’s coming a time when all who dwell on the earth will face a time of unparalleled testing and trials. Some are living in those times now.

Because satan opposes everything good, our struggles to do the right thing can sometimes result in suffering. Suffering is by definition pain, misery, and hardship. Who doesn’t hate suffering!

Nobody likes to suffer. At times well meaning Christians might imply that once you’ve walked the aisle and confessed Jesus as Lord your troubles are over. However, the Bible lets us know that once you’ve given your allegiance to Jesus the good fight of faith has just begun. The result of this struggle can at times be painful. This is called suffering.

I’ve began to notice that some preachers –like David Wilkerson—have been writing about the afflictions they’ve seen Christians endure. I’ll admit that at times I didn’t want to hear about the subject, and I’ve dealt with it by just throwing the articles away unread. I guess the issue of suffering agitates me. Maybe it hits to close to home, or maybe it’s just easier to ignore the topic altogether.

It’s fortunate for us that suffering for almost all modern Christians is very unlike what the early Church endured. Many were publicly slaughtered just because they obediently chose to follow Jesus Christ. Still they were victorious because now the Word of God has filled the earth. Because they paid the price, the Gospel is now being preached everywhere.

When our faith is being exercised it’s really important that we understand where the source of our problems are coming from. If we’re suffering we must never conclude that God is working against us. You hardly ever hear someone blatantly say that, but I have heard it said many times that, “If God promises…… then why are all these bad things happening to me?” They conclude that, “Because He controls everything, He must be the source of my problems.” As a matter of fact, I know people who’ve completely rejected their faith because they thought this way, and now they’re mad at God. It became their opinion that He abandoned them or, worst yet, that God was not true to His Word.

Why would God want to destroy our peace of mind when His Son Jesus suffered so horribly for our welfare? Why would He dismiss the blood His faithful martyrs shed while they established His Kingdom? Why would He promise good things only to deliver us to disaster?

The truth is that God is never the mastermind of death, disease, poverty, confusion, depression, murder, or any other work of darkness. If we know God, then we know Him as light, and in Him is no darkness at all.

But as His ambassadors, we must clash with the same opponents Jesus did. He engaged in our conflict, and the outcome is beyond our natural reasoning. Our opponent is the devil and death. Only now, as the Apostle Paul wrote, we are authorized to wield the promise found in Isaiah, “O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?” As it is also written, “Death is swallowed up in victory!” Hallelujah!

Whether we want to face this matter or not, Christians will encounter pain. Fortunately for us the Bible deals with this topic in great detail. For example, in John 15 Christians are called branches which are connected to the True Vine. Jesus is that True Vine, and every branch in Him which bears fruit gets pruned in order that it might bear more fruit. Pruning can be a miserable experience, but it’s mandatory in order that we might mature in the things of God.

I’m not implying that all the suffering Christians face is the result of God’s pruning. I absolutely know that’s not the case. But what I am pointing out is this; it can hurt when the unfruitful parts of our lives are cut away. This is our cross, the painful crucifixion of the old man.

It’s true that a lot of my own pain is self-inflicted, as the proverb has warned, “He, that being often reproved hardens his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.”

No one likes to be reproved. But being a wonderful Father, our God is going to correct us. As you know, Hebrews 12:6 warns against rejecting His chastisement. To do so would indicate that our relationship with God is illegitimate.

What if the Holy Spirit corrects us? His correction may seem, for the time, unpleasant. I could say His corrections have caused me to suffer, that is until it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness within me. Then His peace is like deep waters.

On the other hand, when I harden my heart and stiffen my neck by refusing orders, I must face the consequences of my actions. I will suffer, but not as a Christian was meant to. I suffer as a result of my disobedience. Even then, when I repent, this experience can work in me the peaceable fruit of righteousness. But first I must repent and receive His grace with my whole heart.

The voice of God tries to prevent our suffering by admonishing us. Here’s an example. I’ve known people who were prone to road rage, and that road rage led to cases of violence and injury. These Christians rejected the Holy Spirit’s warning to tone it down, and as a result they endured some horrible consequences. They, and innocent people, suffered because of bad choices. This is not suffering as a Christian should.

This brings to mind a scripture in 1^st Peter, “But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.”

There you have it. Two kinds of hardships which a Christian will face: suffering as a result of bad choices and suffering simply because they live like Christians.

Christians who suffer only because they’re Christians should not think it strange when they face the fiery trials which come to try them, but they are to rejoice in as much as they are partakers of Christ’s suffering.

Keep in mind that the servant is not greater than his master. Since the devil hates Jesus, he hates you too. No big deal! Greater is He who’s in me than he who’s the world!

Should we suffer as a Christian, we are commanded to rejoice because we are then partakers of Christ's sufferings. The outcome being that, when His glory is revealed, we will be glad also with exceeding joy.

Because Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh, attending to the wasteful lusts of men, but to the wonderful and complete will of God.

Wayne Witcher