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Author Charles C. West may have put it best when he said, "We turn to God
for help when our foundations are shaking only to learn that it is God
who is shaking them."
You cannot expect to live godly in Christ Jesus without suffering
persecution (II Tim. 3:12). But when our relationship with the Lord is
sweet and special to us, we can remain calm in the stormy sea of life.
It explains in great detail how God uses adversity, not primarily as
chastening, but rather as training. It is this training that should be
so coveted. For it is this learning process that not only gets us right
with Him, but keeps us right as well.
When we reject our adversity and embrace a lifestyle of Christian apathy,
we will not please God. We will seek to please others and ourselves
instead. In an effort to please others rather than Him, we will find
that we are unable to experience that transformation process that we so
desperately need to enjoy our positions as "peculiar people." Rather
than "conforming by transforming" we will find ourselves "conforming by
performing."
I believe a lot of us spend much of our time in prayer asking God to take
away the painful things in our life that are His gifts to us! We expect
our gain to be replaced with greater gain when we yield it to God.
Instead, we find it replaced with pain. That's the "fellowship of his
suffering."
Prior to His path leading to Calvary, Jesus earnestly prayed, asking His
Father for the cup to pass from Him. Did the cup pass? Why not? Didn't
the Father love the Son? Of course He did. But it was God's will-His
purpose and His plan-that Jesus should suffer. What Jesus experienced
was God-ordained adversity.
I have some news for you today. God has some adversity planned for you.
That adversity is not intended to drive you back into the world.
Instead, it is meant to drive you deeper into your relationship with
Jesus. It is meant to make you rely on Him more than ever before.
Through that suffering, we experience intimate familiarity with Jesus.
When you respond correctly to that adversity, your relationship with Him
will strengthen, and it will provide confirmation of your conformation!
If you pay attention to the definition of the words as you read the New
Testament, you will find some things that don't seem to belong together.
Next to words that describe great pain, suffering, distress and torture
we find words of joy and peace. Let me show you some examples of what I
mean.
1. Paul
said, "And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though
the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved" (II Cor.
12:15).
2. Paul
said, "Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of
your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all" (Phil. 2:17).
3. Paul
said, "And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received
the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost" (I Thess.
1:6).
4. Peter
said, "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which
is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But
rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that,
when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with
exceeding joy" (I Pet. 4:12-13).
5. Jesus
said, "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and
persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely,
for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is
your reward in heaven" (Matt. 5:11-12).
When (and only
when) we know the fellowship of His sufferings on a personal and intimate
level, we will come to know the power of His resurrection. When we begin
to experience that pain, we know that it is time to get up out of the
tomb. We are ready to walk in the Spirit, because we now know His
resurrection power.
Only after experiencing that resurrection power do we have His power to
face our battles. Many of us face our battles alone, relying on our own
strength and power. It's no wonder that so many Christians are living
defeated lives. If the archangel Michael needed God's power to defeat
Satan (Jude 9), what on earth makes us think we can defeat the enemy on
our own? Every battle we fight in His power brings victory; every battle
we fight on our own brings defeat.
How did you respond to the difficult circumstances He allowed to come
your way today? Are you conforming by performing? Or are you living the
victorious Christian life and conforming by transforming? When we get
reborn, don't be forlorn, forsake the temptation to perform and simply
warm to God's plan to transform. |
