“I want to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering” Philippians 3:10

How are you doing today?

Is everything going great or are you struggling with a broken relationship? Or perhaps you have an incurable disease – maybe something worse.

Some parts of our life’s journey are painful. Recently the Lord gave me an insight into suffering that I would like to share with you. It was very helpful to me.

God is faithful – and will walk with us each step of the journey.

I had an experience that was very painful. I found that even though I had long forgiven the people involved, painful memories kept coming back. I asked the Lord about this,

“How can I stop those memories from coming back?”

He reminded me of the verse in Philippians,

“I want to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering.”

He told me to thank Him for the horrid experience because through this experience, I had the privilege of “the fellowship of Christ’s suffering.”

I was getting to know Him in a deeper way – in a way I wouldn’t have if I had not gone through this.

We often pray for the power of His resurrection, but do we ever pray for the fellowship of His suffering? Jesus our Master said we could expect trouble if we follow Him. We shouldn’t be surprised!

Father, we want to know You. Thank You for reminding me about the “fellowship of His suffering.” Thank You for the painful times in life. Thank You for walking with us each step of the way. Amen

by Katherine Kehler
Used by Permission

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“We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:3-5 (ESV)

I was 22-years-old and I was living a nightmare. I was in the middle of a divorce, a custody battle, and my life as I knew it was coming to an end. No more white picket fence and the 2.5 kids (or so I thought). I was suffering, and every day felt like a battle that couldn’t be won.

What I couldn’t see then, and what I do see now, is that in those moments of absolute distress, I was beginning to learn and grow as a godly man. It would take another 15 years before I would surrender my life to Him. However, the foundation of Christ was set during those times of my divorce.

God was shaping me and He was molding me. I was a rebel and He was using afflictions of this life to bring me closer to Him. My suffering was producing endurance, and as Paul writes, from endurance comes character and hope.

What a gift this is from our Lord! He knows our nature and yet He still adores us. He sees our rebellion and yet His faithfulness knows no boundaries. He allows times of suffering, as a loving Father, in so that we may find our way into His loving arms.

Father. We cry out to You in our times of suffering and afflictions. We say heal and we say change. Lord, we only want what is in Your will. Let us see the gift that You give us in our times of suffering. Open our hearts to turn back to You, Lord. In Jesus name, AMEN!

By Rev. Daniel Forster

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The post The Gift of Suffering appeared first on Thoughts About God.