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Growth Why Do Christians Suffer?

iLOVE

iLOVE

Member
As Christians, we like the thought of sharing in Christ's glory, but what about sharing in His suffering?

"I Will Show Him How Much He Must Suffer for My Name." Acts 9:16

1 Peter 4:12-19
New Living Translation (NLT)

Suffering for Being a Christian
12 Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. 13 Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.

14 So be happy when you are insulted for being a Christian,[a] for then the glorious Spirit of God[b] rests upon you.[c] 15 If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people’s affairs. 16 But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name! 17 For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God’s Good News? 18 And also,

“If the righteous are barely saved,
what will happen to godless sinners?”[d]

19 So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you.

Please add a message of encouragement to God's suffering believers.
 
Hebrews 13:4-6

Amplified Bible (AMP)

4 Let marriage be held in honor (esteemed worthy, precious, of great price, and especially dear) in all things. And thus let the marriage bed be undefiled (kept undishonored); for God will judge and punish the unchaste [all guilty of sexual vice] and adulterous.

5 Let your [a]character or moral disposition be free from love of money [including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions] and be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you have]; for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor [c]give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [d][I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor [e]let [you] down ([f]relax My hold on you)! [[g]Assuredly not!]

6 So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently and boldly say, The Lord is my Helper; I will not be seized with alarm [I will not fear or dread or be terrified]. What can man do to me?
 
Imho I believe the death of your young child is the highest suffering any Christian can experience!

Paul states, "that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.

Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

"What is your biblical understanding for these scriptures - Philippians 3:10 NKJV and 2 Timothy 2:3 NIV?


28 Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”

29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” Mark 10:28-31 NIV
 
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I think its important to remember that suffering, especially persecution, is part of the Christian experience.

That said, how do we *not* go overboard and glorify suffering?
 
All Christians will suffer some form of persecution from the world because we don't join in it's lustful lifestyle. We also suffer attacks from satan because he hates all things from God. We also suffer when God disciplines us because it feels harsh at the time. The glory from all this is that Yahweh uses all these for our good thank You Lord.

Rom 8:28 KJV And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
 
OK...maybe, its just because I'm a Baby Christian. I think Jesus=Shiny, Happy, People or something (thank you, REM).

How do we reconcile suffering--filtered through God, no less--with "the peace that surpasses all understanding" and the deep, abiding joy (in all circumstances) that are to characterize the believer?>
 
The same way all Saints do Hebrews 11. We understand why the world is the way it is and have faith in the promised resurrection to eternal life.

Heb 11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

Heb 11:39-40 KJV And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: (40) God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

Can you imagine it ?
 
I'm reminded of The Great Divorce. Lewis writes about becoming real, through Christianity and later this is finalized in Heaven. Anyway, when the narrator, who starts out in Hell, comes up to Heaven, even standing on grass hurts his feet. Being and becoming real is painful, I guess.
 
it looks to me, from life's experiences, like we 'christians' suffer a lot for the same reasons everyone else suffers. for christians and for non-christians, when people don't work together unselfishly, support one another in the community/family/locality where they live, and beyond as appropriate, they /we / everyone suffers. i.e. not 'right ruling' .. not living right ... living selfish lives; self-centered, ego-centric, self-protective, self-serving, accumulating things of this world, instead of Christ.
 
His_nee (Jeff) said:
it looks to me, from life's experiences, like we 'christians' suffer a lot for the same reasons everyone else suffers. for christians and for non-christians, when people don't work together unselfishly, support one another in the community/family/locality where they live, and beyond as appropriate, they /we / everyone suffers. i.e. not 'right ruling' .. not living right ... living selfish lives; self-centered, ego-centric, self-protective, self-serving, accumulating things of this world, instead of Christ.
Click to expand...
Worthy post Jeff. The Christian Faith has, today, become several Christian Religions and this, by itself, magnifies all problems. I'm saying this, not to trouble your post but using your, correct, thoughts to build from.

This, silly, division has gone so far that I will propose the oft used form of writing Christian as christian can be correct. (So many directions to work this from and it is difficult to pick just one.) When we study the Bible as it is written, we learn many thoughts and paths that are not taught by the Ear Ticklers today. One, important to this issue, is, "The righteous will suffer with the sinners of this world." This is illustrated with the rain falling on both groups and there are many examples in both the New and the Old Testaments but can only be discovered by reading to meditate, to study.

It is true that the Believer and I am not speaking of the Religious, but the Faithful do not suffer as severely as the religious and other non believers. People tend to get upset with me because I speak from personal experience but I can only testify from what I know.

I am in the final stage of MS. I was told I would be dead over two years ago because of my heart and other complications with this silly disease and yet, here I am and I tell anyone I am bed ridden, much of the time and yet I do not suffer! Many, at this point, are on the legal form of Heroin and, just as my mom did, they push the button until the increasing dosage kills them.

I am, oft, offered Morphine to replace my Tramadol but the truth is that though I can, legally take six doses a day I am still only up to one in the AM, one midday and then two to sleep on, that's 4 a day. The Holy Spirit dwells with my spirit and keeps me from such a severe suffering that I might need the Heroin/Morphine to relieve my pain levels.

In addition to my faith instead of religion and as a result of that faith, people pray for me every day and when the Faithful pray, God moves and when He moves He moves the faithful to act in behalf of the ones they pray for. My Church Family knows my interests because of the closeness of Family Relationships and right now, there is a new book, in large print, about WW II, Unbroken, given to me by one of my Christian Sisters, ready for me to read as soon as I finish my Kindle copy of Killing Jesus.

I have the same disease millions of others suffer from but my suffering is lessened because I do all I can to walk with God. ut the question, 'Why?" God has given every one of us a mission and the religious have pushed that off, onto the clergy, whose mission is to study to teach the pure Word of God. The reason is compound but it can all be boiled down to one thing, God does not need sissy soldiers!

God bless.
 
quick footnote. take it as you wish. i have a copy of the book "the pulse test" by dr coca. he discovered by accident that
100% of the people he tested (for allergies), that is , who he showed how to determine allergies, who had only one allergy also had been diagnosed with MS somewhere else.
this was only about 7% of the total number of people in his study. (almost everyone else had 4,5,6, or MORE allergies.)
ONLY those with MS had one allergy. Others either had no allergies or had many(most common).
the other people with many allergies, when they reduced what they were allergic to in their diet, their health almost always improved, sometimes in days, sometimes weeks and sometimes months (I don't remember details of this).
the people with one allergy, those who also 'coincidentally' had MS, also improved, quite dramatically as well as Unexpectedly, when they removed exposure to whatever that one allergy was(always a food(or additive/contaminant), or almost always, but the study focused on finding food allergies) .
Thousands of people benefited from this, but the regular establishment poo-poo-d it and blacklisted the doctor.
the book is still available on amazon (last I checked) and has gone through many printings.

even if it's not a 'cure' so to speak, for that matter even if someone has no diagnosed illness, it helps to eliminate what
a person is allergic to, 'by definition', as the body uses up a lot of resources when exposed to food, drink, immunization, air-borne or other whatchacallums ... (long word for allergens?) wherever they may be .. .. .. :)

shalom in Yeshua forever !
 
His_nee (Jeff) said:
quick footnote. take it as you wish. i have a copy of the book "the pulse test" by dr coca. he discovered by accident that
100% of the people he tested (for allergies), that is , who he showed how to determine allergies, who had only one allergy also had been diagnosed with MS somewhere else.
this was only about 7% of the total number of people in his study. (almost everyone else had 4,5,6, or MORE allergies.)
ONLY those with MS had one allergy. Others either had no allergies or had many(most common).
the other people with many allergies, when they reduced what they were allergic to in their diet, their health almost always improved, sometimes in days, sometimes weeks and sometimes months (I don't remember details of this).
the people with one allergy, those who also 'coincidentally' had MS, also improved, quite dramatically as well as Unexpectedly, when they removed exposure to whatever that one allergy was(always a food(or additive/contaminant), or almost always, but the study focused on finding food allergies) .
Thousands of people benefited from this, but the regular establishment poo-poo-d it and blacklisted the doctor.
the book is still available on amazon (last I checked) and has gone through many printings.

even if it's not a 'cure' so to speak, for that matter even if someone has no diagnosed illness, it helps to eliminate what
a person is allergic to, 'by definition', as the body uses up a lot of resources when exposed to food, drink, immunization, air-borne or other whatchacallums ... (long word for allergens?) wherever they may be .. .. .. :)

shalom in Yeshua forever !
Click to expand...
Thank you for the Christian concern Jeff. I have several environmental allergies and no noticeable food allergies. I do know that if I give up hot cakes, fresh out of the oven with out icing, biscuits, bread in all forms, I will live longer, God willing. On the other hand there are a limited number of food stuffs I genuinely enjoy and most of them have white flower in them and who wants to live without the joy of life.

That was not an attempt at being cute, it is my most sincere outlook on life. Having three tours of combat, I have viewed the worst life has to offer and today, I just want to enjoy the very best. My life is held in the hands of my Creator and I'll, willingly, go any moment He calls.

God bless.
 
We know that persecution, even to death is very real especially in other countries where many are being tortured and killed for their faith in Christ and I am sure will come to America in time. The question we need to be asking ourselves if we are truly being Christ-like in all we do and say is, are we going to endure and proclaim the name of Jesus with our dying breathe or are we going to turn from Him in order to save our own life or the life of our families. Something to think about as you read what Jesus went through for us and what others are going through for His sake.The world will always persecute that of what they have no knowledge in as in knowing Christ.

Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
 
th1b.taylor said:
Worthy post Jeff. The Christian Faith has, today, become several Christian Religions and this, by itself, magnifies all problems. I'm saying this, not to trouble your post but using your, correct, thoughts to build from.

This, silly, division has gone so far that I will propose the oft used form of writing Christian as christian can be correct. (So many directions to work this from and it is difficult to pick just one.) When we study the Bible as it is written, we learn many thoughts and paths that are not taught by the Ear Ticklers today. One, important to this issue, is, "The righteous will suffer with the sinners of this world." This is illustrated with the rain falling on both groups and there are many examples in both the New and the Old Testaments but can only be discovered by reading to meditate, to study.

It is true that the Believer and I am not speaking of the Religious, but the Faithful do not suffer as severely as the religious and other non believers. People tend to get upset with me because I speak from personal experience but I can only testify from what I know.

I am in the final stage of MS. I was told I would be dead over two years ago because of my heart and other complications with this silly disease and yet, here I am and I tell anyone I am bed ridden, much of the time and yet I do not suffer! Many, at this point, are on the legal form of Heroin and, just as my mom did, they push the button until the increasing dosage kills them.

I am, oft, offered Morphine to replace my Tramadol but the truth is that though I can, legally take six doses a day I am still only up to one in the AM, one midday and then two to sleep on, that's 4 a day. The Holy Spirit dwells with my spirit and keeps me from such a severe suffering that I might need the Heroin/Morphine to relieve my pain levels.

In addition to my faith instead of religion and as a result of that faith, people pray for me every day and when the Faithful pray, God moves and when He moves He moves the faithful to act in behalf of the ones they pray for. My Church Family knows my interests because of the closeness of Family Relationships and right now, there is a new book, in large print, about WW II, Unbroken, given to me by one of my Christian Sisters, ready for me to read as soon as I finish my Kindle copy of Killing Jesus.

I have the same disease millions of others suffer from but my suffering is lessened because I do all I can to walk with God. ut the question, 'Why?" God has given every one of us a mission and the religious have pushed that off, onto the clergy, whose mission is to study to teach the pure Word of God. The reason is compound but it can all be boiled down to one thing, God does not need sissy soldiers!

God bless.
Click to expand...

Your MS testimony reminds me of this verse,
Mat_26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

I have arthritis that has eaten up my joints as I have two knee replacements and one hip replaced and will have the other one done eventually. Also a lot of arthritis in my lower back. I can no longer work and it does get frustrating at times that I can not do the things I used to be able to. I use to question God all the time why I never received my healing as I saw others being healed and finally it dawned on me that this is only flesh and even though I have pain it doesn't have me and that I need to trust in God and put Him above the pain and be about my Fathers business.
 
for_his_glory said:
Your MS testimony reminds me of this verse,
Mat_26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

I have arthritis that has eaten up my joints as I have two knee replacements and one hip replaced and will have the other one done eventually. Also a lot of arthritis in my lower back. I can no longer work and it does get frustrating at times that I can not do the things I used to be able to. I use to question God all the time why I never received my healing as I saw others being healed and finally it dawned on me that this is only flesh and even though I have pain it doesn't have me and that I need to trust in God and put Him above the pain and be about my Fathers business.
Click to expand...
Mind set is critical, God bless brother.
 
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