- 2 Timothy 2:12

If suffering is not desirable, does that also mean it cannot be profitable? Does the pain have no purpose or meaning? Since “God causes all things to work together for good” (Romans 8:28), suffering must have some positive consequences. Consider these;

1. It drives you deeper to the heart of God. Your ultimate purpose should be not to achieve pleasure or happiness but to know Christ and become like Him. Real trouble facilitates that goal, driving you closer to Him.

1. Suffering causes You to receive more of God’s marvelous, merciful grace. You think you are strong, but suffering reveals your weaknesses. That’s when you discover the inexhaustible resources of God. He gives you all you need to endure. His strength replaces yours.

1. You develop a base of reality and compassion with which you can minister to and love others. A former or present cancer sufferer is the best one to help another cancer patient.

Suffering is never desirable. But your sovereign, loving God can make it profitable. Christ is the only one who has the answer in all our adversities. In the midst of suffering Job says, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you” (Job 42:5).

Occasionally a “why” in adversity is met with a swift response from God. But on most occasions, God does not directly give explanations for adversity. To advance in your adversity, you must not dwell or linger too long on “why” but shift your focus to “who”- the person of Jesus Christ.

Let us take Job’s life in example. Job cried out for God to answer his questions. He desperately wanted to know why he was called upon to endure so much suffering. Finally, God answered him out of the whirlwind. But the answer was not what Job expected.

God refused to grant Job detailed explanation of His reasons for the affliction. The secret counsel of God was not disclosed to Job.

Ultimately, the only answer God gave to Job was a revelation of Himself. It was as if God said to him, “Job, I am your answer.”

Real, solid growth can occur in difficult circumstances when you bow before God and entrust yourself and your problems to Him without demanding a solution.

We have to always seek God’s providence in all that we are going through. Though at first, these adversities might seem so dull and you might feel hopeless, be reminded that God is in control. Take the life of Job, tested yet remained in the love of God.

God’s purpose in your life is sure. He is certain in all that He is doing to your life. The thing that you should do is trust Him. Let God do the holding and you do the trusting. Let Him hold your hand and walk with Him. Surely, all that you are going through will be profitable to you.

]]> http://greatisthelord.net/blog/701/how-do-you-profit-from-suffering/feed/ 0 http://greatisthelord.net/blog/654/being-a-servant/ http://greatisthelord.net/blog/654/being-a-servant/#comments Wed, 02 Sep 2009 15:43:39 +0000 Bobbie http://greatisthelord.net/blog/?p=654 “Come to Me. All you who are weary and hardened and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28 – 30

The word gentle appears as meek.  Jesus is so meek and humble in spirit.  He came not to be served by people, but He himself served humanity.  He says, “Whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve.  He gave His life as a ransom for many.  He exemplified the best model of lowliness of mind and meekness.  He never practiced self-depreciation.

His deep love for humanity enables Him to reach out and to touch the lives of many people.  His greatest desire is to love and to serve mankind. It is so pleasing to hear His words saying, “You are loved.  You are forgiven.  You are important.  You are healed.  You are accepted in the Beloved.”  These words are soul-inspiring that even the blind can see, the lame can walk, the dead can rise from the grave and live again.

People who are hurting and sorrowing are encouraged when they sense and feel that Somebody cares deeply for them.  He says, “Casting all your cares upon me, for I care for you.”  He cares for everybody and is always willing to help us in times of our needs.

A medical practitioner showed his great love and concern to his patients by silently praying for them, requesting the Great Physician to extend His miraculous hands to them before he gives any medical prescriptions for their medical aids; he showed such tenderness and compassion to them. As a result of his great care for them they are comforted, strengthened, and recuperated from their pains and sicknesses.  He unselfishly lends his ample time and shares his talents to serve them patiently and diligently.

Jesus communicated His utmost care for the different kinds of people with diverse cultural backgrounds and varied personalities.  He wept even for the salvation and redemption of the worst of sinners.  He also loves even the unlovable and forgives our sins granting our clemency and pardon.

Do we really care for others?  We can show our love and concern to the widows.  Even to the aged who are suffering from their sicknesses and loneliness. .  We can send letters, cards, or flowers to the bereaved.  We can also share our words of comfort and encouragement to those who are depressed to allow them to find strength in the midst of trials.  We can visit those who are hurting in prison and those who are in their hospital beds.  We can show our concern to   the fatherless, the abandoned street-children, the blind beggars, the emotionally and physically abused, the battered wives, etc. May we always open the gates of our ears to listen to the cries of others.  May he always guide our mouth in expressing gentle words to them. We can act being

His servants doing our supportive roles to this world in despair.

]]> http://greatisthelord.net/blog/654/being-a-servant/feed/ 0 http://greatisthelord.net/blog/254/love-of-a-mother/ http://greatisthelord.net/blog/254/love-of-a-mother/#comments Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:23:24 +0000 Bobbie http://greatisthelord.net/blog/?p=254 When it comes to anything good for a child, every mother knows best. In Matthew 20:20-23, “Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. ‘Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.’ ‘You don’t know what you are asking,’ Jesus said to them. ‘Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?’ ‘We can,’ they answered. Jesus said to them, ‘You will indeed drink from my cup.’”

The mother of James and John asked the Lord to bestow honor on her sons but was told instead they would drink from the same cup as the Lord’s. No one knows if she realized that Jesus was describing His cruel death. We don’t know if she understood that this meant martyrdom for her sons.

Every parent wants to see his child promoted and honored. This dear mother is not all that unusual. But God may have a different plan for that child, perhaps one not as glamorous or as full of accolades. Always, a parent’s desire for a child’s advancement must be held in check as the mother and father pray that God’s will be done in his life.

I believe the mother of James and John ended up understanding this. When you flip over to Matthew 27 you will read a startling fact about this same woman. “Many women were there (at the cross). They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs. Among them were Mary Magdalene…and the mother of Zebedee’s sons.”

The mother of James and John was one of the few who remained by the cross of Jesus. She saw firsthand the terrible cup that her Lord had talked about weeks earlier. She may have realized then the hardships her sons were destined to face. Oh, the tenderness and the compassion that must have filled her heart.

Almost every mother is a praying mother. No doubt, all mothers are natural intercessors. They can be called heroes of today when it comes to Intercession. Somehow Jesus modeled it to the mothers during those days. I must confess that I don’t get up every morning of the year eager to do the will of God in prayer whatever the cost. I sometimes have to struggle on my knees with the Word I prayer and confession. But Jesus provides me with an inspiring model when it comes to prayer and intercession. Jesus is the ultimate model, but He also gave me my mother. That was a bonus for me. God used my own mother to let me, my father, and my siblings know that God loves us and has wonderful plans for each of us.

To all mothers, God is not blind, nor deaf not to hear your prayers. He can see you, He can hear you. He knows your situation, your hardships, your burden, your needs and wants. He feels how you feel today. He knows your deepest cries and fears. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Mathew 11:28-30). Will you respond to Him by saying, “Yes, to Jesus? Will you lay down your burden to Him, trust Him to be your Lord and Savior and follow Him?

How would the greatest King be impoverished, and his treasures banish, if all, that are needy and miserable, had encouragement to apply freely to him, with a promise of relief, fully answerable to their want and wishes! But the riches of Christ are unsearchable and inexhaustible. If millions of millions of distressed people come to him for relief, he has sufficient for them all. His mercy is infinite to pardon all our sins; his grace in infinite to pardon all our sins; his grace is infinite, to answer and exceed our utmost desires; his power is infinite, to help us in all our difficulties. Numbers came to him, from one generation to another; and not one of them has been sent away disappointed and empty. And the streams of his bounty are still flowing, and still full. Can we hesitate to accept of these words, as affording a full proof the divine character of our Lord and Savior; supposing only, that he meant what he said, and that he is able to make his promise good? Can a man, however excellent and prosperous, use this language? Can a creature discharge the debts, sooth the distress, and satisfy the desires of every individual who looks to him? Who but the Lord God can raise up all that are bowed down, and comfort all that mourn.

Again, as is his majesty, so is his mercy. In acts of grace amongst men, there are always some limitations. If a president proclaims a pardon to a rebellious person, there are still exceptions. Some ringleaders are excluded. Either their crimes were too great to be forgiven, or their obstinacy, or influence, are supposed to be too great, to render their safety consistent with the safety of the state. But the Savior excludes none, but those who willfully exclude themselves. As no case is too hard for his power, so no person who applies to him, is shut out from his compassion. He that comes to him, whatever his character or conduct may have been, he will in not cast out.  It is the consideration of his mercy in pardoning sin, and in saving sinners, which causes that admiring exclamation of the whole earth.

The all-sufficient God, can increase these communications of comfort from himself, to a degree beyond our ordinary understanding.  In ordinary cases, and in all cases, they who taste how good the Lord is to them that seek him, how he cheers them that seek him, how he cheers them with the light of his countenance, and what supports he affords them in the hour of need, can, without regret, part with the poor, perishing pleasures of sin, and encounter all the difficulties they meet with in the path of duty. Whatever their profession of his name, and their attachment to his cause, may have cost them, they will acknowledge that it has made them ample amends.

Come therefore unto him, venture upon his gracious word, and you shall find rest for your souls.