Why Must Saints Suffer?

I think one of the greatest controversial issues in the Body of Christ is the issue of suffering. There are many doctrines out there that forbid even the thought of suffering of saints to be the will of God. But there are many scriptures that seem to advocate suffering for the people of God.

Yes friends, suffering is a requirement . It is necessary element of salvation.

Philippians 1:29
For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

2Timothy 3:12
Yea, and all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

2Timothy 2:12
If we suffer, we shall reign with him:if we deny him, he also will deny us:

Philippians 3:10
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

The Body of Christ cannot continue to wrestle with the truth. Not only are we to walk in the power of his resurrection that puts righteousness on display to the world, but we are also required to enter into the fellowship of his suffering.

The Christ who walked this earth was a persecuted suffering servant and his spirit lives on in us and that makes us the same as He is.

I know this is a message that sounds ridiculous or even maybe ludicrous but nevertheless it is the truth.

The Body of Christ has to stop spending so much time debating with the Word of God and accept it as it is in its totality.

Do you accepted his whole life or do you choose which part you will accept?

Be Blessed,

Pastor Jackie

Arm Youselves

Forasmuch then as Christ hath 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; (‭1 Peter‬ ‭4‬:‭1‬ KJV)

I have had a hard time in the past seeing my troubles as the mind of Christ. My reaction to troubles ranged from anger, to sadness, to disappointments. My first response use to be asking God, “why” in frustration.

I have learned that just as Christ suffered in the flesh so will you. This is the mind we must always have. We should never be surprised by hard times or difficult situations, but we are.

We wrongly interpret our troubles as coming directly from the hand of God, but technically they are because we live in a fallen world and they are the result of warfare with our enemy.

Let’s be honest, even though we know the scripture says arm yourselves, for most of us, being comfortable is really important to us. We don’t see how God can use troubles to make us and shape us into who he wants us to be. Difficult times can bring good to our lives– they can actually help us.

Our Father has a goal for is: that we become like His son, and that goal is in direct conflict with our desire to be comfortable. Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t make us immune from struggles, in fact, it’s the opposite.

Jesus warned his followers, here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take to heart, because I have overcome the world-John16:33.

His victory on the cross defeated our enemy; the greatest triump came out of the greatest defeat. We will share in his victoy, but on earth we will face the same frustrations, betrayls, and rejections that Jesus himself had to face.

Again I say Arm yourselves.

Be Blessed,

Pastor Jackie

Suffering Grace

It was at the cross that Jesus dealt with all our sins, griefs, and sorrows. He calls us to give up all rights to ourselves, take up our cross, and follow. This hard place in which you perhaps find yourself, so painful is the very place in which God is giving you the opportunity to look only to Him, to travail in prayer, and to learn long suffering, gentleness, meekness, to learn the depths of love Christ himself has poured out on all of us….this form of suffering is your opportunity to learn to leave with God what only God can do.

Oswald Chambers, in My Upmost for His Highest, says that ” No normal, healthy saints ever chooses suffering; he simply chooses God’s will, just as Jesus did, whether it means suffering or not.”

When you and I pray that God’s will be done in our lives, we must mean it, no matter what it costs us–for truly He will take us at our word.

2 Cor. 1:3-5 says Paise be to God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.

This passage let us know there is purpose in our sufferings because we learn to depend on Christ and then others can depend on us. There is no value in suffering when we look from the perspective it hurts so badly but there is great value in how we respond to it in light of the scripture.

Suffering can produce great depths of character, mature understanding, warm compassions, and rich spirituality…it makes us more like Jesus.

When I was learning my grace lessons on suffering I had to allow the process of suffering to transform me into the image of Christ then only when I was willing to let go of who I thought I ought to be and the. I became who God wanted me to be.

Don’t wait until lessons are fully learned, seek to know Him and serve Him in the middle of the pain. God definitely uses our sufferings to conform us in His likeness.

I Peter 5:10!says it best And the God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ after you have suffered a while will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast…

I am truly amazed by Grace!!

Be Blessed,

Pastor Jackie

Faith & Suffering

This is a topic not too many Christians like to address; because of the erroneous teaching of faith and prosperity, the doctrine of suffering is the greatest offense the Word has offered the Church. In spite of vast scriptural support for the development of a people who are willing to suffer in the flesh for the sake of Christ, this message is greatly rejected.

In order to cease from sin, we must accept the fact that we will suffer in the flesh. If we do not, we are in danger of not only forfeiting our ministry but our purpose in God as well.

A good leader always leads by example and ours did just that. Jesus Christ and the apostles exemplified the character of a suffering servant so that we might know the power of God in the earth.

Acts 9:16 says: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.– according to our Lord Jesus Christ, Paul would suffer many things for Christ’s sake, or on account of Christ. This was made plain to Paul from the beginning and here the righteousness of God is revealed. God will always allow us to know the facts before making a decision. It does not matter what the facts contain, or whether they be favorable to the flesh.

Our purpose is to promote truth, godliness, holiness, righteousness and the love of our Father. Everything we need to know concerning the mindset of a suffering servant is contained in the lifestyle of Jesus and His apostles.

All suffering works to yield peaceable fruit, but we must allow The Lord to continue to prepare us for His use and by His method.

Are you willing to accept His METHOD?

Be Blessed,

Pastor Jackie