If We Suffer With Him We Shall Reign With Him

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Today I spoke from the heart about the aspect of suffering from my own experiences past and present. There is something about suffering, not as an evil doer, but as a Christian. I can honestly say that my entire life has been one big affliction, wars and endless trials. Yet woven into it are gold threads of glory where Christ is remembered in it all. Suffering does not leave us for the worst but for the better. Just like gold being tried by fire is shinier and brighter than what was previously thought to be acceptable.

I think God gets down into us, deeper into places where we suffer the worst when no one can comfort us. Like David said, "I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul." It is a kind of darkness that we have to adjust our eyes to see in the dark. And that seeing is only through faith to the sufferer. Jesus meets us there, and though our outward man feels like it is perishing through outward fires, there is another fire burning hot and bright within us.

When we suffer and we give God thanks and praise His name, it is not for the hard thing that has gotten a hold of us. Rather it blares it in the face of the enemy many times. The enemy likes to pounce on those being afflicted. Though all affliction is not of Satan, many times it is just life on earth. Yet the enemy likes to piggy back on the worst of things that happen to us when he can. He is what I call "an equal opportunity destroyer." I can honestly tell you that when you begin to magnify the Lord in the face of the enemy he cannot stand it. It embarrasses him.

Not to mention God is working a work in you and around you in the sight of unbelievers, the enemy and world. God is not only at your right hand. He is in you, walking in you, working in you and protecting you. Do not be afraid to suffer because suffering precedes the crown, and that is how you will learn to judge righteously and show mercy. It is how you are learning to "rule and reign." The Lord is your refuge and strength, and He WILL be magnified in your suffering and you will not go away empty handed but full of the power of an endless life. You will have your horn of oil filled to the brim and even to the overflow. "Praise the Lord for He is good for His mercy endureth forever!"