Those who follow Jesus Christ must be prepared for SUFFERING,
REJECTION, PERSECUTION
Because it is through what we SUFFER that we LEARN
I want to share my testimony with you
It was some years ago, when the Lord Jesus called me
and I got really serious with Him
that my life started falling to peaces
I lost my job
everything that I tried, did not work out
for a long period and I mean if it is for a year it is fine, two years, three years, three and a half years
I got to a point where I just said Lord everything I tried does not work out
and I get the idea that You HATE me
like Job
At one stage Job said: He said, Lord, he said, you have drawn a circle around my feet, I cannot move
I was at that point, where I felt that, maybe God has left me man
and one night I woke up
and I heard these Words, Romans 5:3, I heard the Words
and then I went and I open my Bible and I read these Words
and these Words spoke to me
I read it for you
And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;
:4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;
:5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us
Dear friends, when I read this, it was a consolation to me
but it didn't change my circumstances
and I said, yes Lord, I understand
but you know, I gained understanding
I came closer to Jesus, because through that time of deprivation
I got to know Jesus Christ
and the Lord speaks to us through these times of suffering
and pain and anguish
because when things go well
then we don't need Jesus, we forget about the Lord
Just very recently, my mother, who is 80 years old now
was diagnosed with cancer
and she had to go in for biopsie
colon cancer and we expected the worse
even my mother also
and we prayed, I said Lord, Your will be done in this situation
and you know it is, it is so wonderful
that my mother suffered a lot of pain
and she came through that operation, clean
They did not find cancer in her
She had a lot of pain and she went through a lot of anguish
and the first thing that she said to me, when she came out of the hospital was that
she is so glad that all of this happened
because it brought her closer to Jesus
She said that she had not prayed as much
in many years
she had come closer to Jesus and she would not exchange that experience for anything
because that was more important for her to come closer to Jesus
Is our Lord not wonderful, dear friends
He knows, exactly what we need
and we learn through suffering
We must TRUST JESUS and we must EMBRACE HIM
even in our darkest hour
because He is there
and nothing is impossible to God, absolutely NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE
but in all of that, in all our tribulation, in all our troubles
we must SEE JESUS
and then we will see that He is making all things work together for good
because He loves us
His intentions with us, are just good
We must embrace the suffering dear friend
because it is in those times
that we TRULY GET TO KNOW JESUS
Without suffering, we don't learn anything
May Jesus bless you.