SUFFERING, A PRIVILEGE FOR BELIEVERS

henryyeboah (50)in #steemchurch • 7 years ago

People sometimes think that once a person becomes a child of God, he/she is free from predicaments, problems or troubles, but that is a wrong mind set.
As a believer, you are not exempted from pain and suffering just as you are not exempted from riches and good things.

In a post written by our leader @sirknight entitled "if we can't see or hear God, how do we know He exists"?

https://steemit.com/steemchurch/@sirknight/steemchurch-if-we-can-t-see-or-hear-god-how-do-we-know-he-exists

He made a statement that confused certain people a bit whiles others too disagreed with him. But I think that to some extent the Knight was right.

He wrote;

"This Knight sees God as an omnipresence (present everywhere) and omniscience (all-knowing), but not an omnipotent (all-powerful) spirit. There is enough evidence in the Bible to say that God cannot (perhaps will not), directly impact upon humanity.
Perhaps the mice are right in their theory. If God was to focus all of his power directly on Earth at any given moment, the outcome for the Earth and maybe the rest of the Universe might be catastrophic".

If God is to exhibit His full omnipotent ability on earth, there would be a catastrophe just as @sirknight predicted in this very post.

So I would like to say that the omnipotence of God is limited on earth but in heaven it is made manifest in full.

Also if God's omnipotence is manifested in full on earth, going to heaven would have been irrelevant and there would have no heaven in the first place.

This is because there are no pain, disaster, sickness, death, sufferings, troubles etc in heaven and this possible because God's power overrides them all in heaven but not on earth. So I think that if God is to exhibit his full strength over all these things on earth just as it is done in heaven, then we would have been content here on earth.

And so just as our knight wrote in his post, God cannot and will not because his power on earth is limited to some extent.
Thank you @sirknight for that deep spiritual truth.

So if you are a believer, you are subjected to the bad and negative things that nature brings and one of those bad things is Suffering.

Philippians 2:29
New Living Translation

"For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him".

Beloved, as part of our privileges in Christ, suffering is included.
The power of God does not protect his children from suffering, pain and persecution.
This is a fact that believers must accept.

So if you are wondering why we suffer as believers to the point of death, then I would like you to know that it is a privilege.

If you are a true child of God you must suffer and this can come in any area of our life - financial, marriage, physical, health etc.

Believers complain too much when we suffer but today the scripture is telling us that it is a privilege so instead of complaining, we have to rejoice.

James 1:2 (NLT)

"Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy".

It is therefore an advantage for believers to suffer and that is why james wants us to consider it as a joy because in the end there is a great reward awaiting us in heaven.

Suffering is an advantage to believers because the pain, sorrow, bitterness that we go true as a result of suffering, would not be invain.

Matthew 5:11-12 (NLT)

"God bless you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers.
Be happy about it. Be very glad. For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.

There is a great reward waiting for us in heaven and one thing that we can use as a bid in exchange for that reward is suffering.
That is why Paul told the Philippians that it was a privilege for them to suffer.

Beloved, I do not know the kind of suffering you are going through that you feel like giving up or committing suicide but I do know one thing that all the suffering is to your advantage, so hold on to the end.

Don't let financial suffering lead you to the devil to exchange your soul for money, because in the end when you die you are going to face eternal suffering.