Christianity Oasis Forum

[saint701]

Hello All,


Blessings!

During this time of joblessness here and all over the country we thought it best we review what The Word of God has to say about the sufferings of this time. The Word of God answers many questions about suffering and is a great comfort when we find ourselves immersed in that state of being. It teaches us that our sufferings are pretty much the same as during the time of the Apostles, and that all the apostles were immersed in such, especially the Apostle Paul. It teaches us that we fight the same battles, face the same type of sinful planet, and endure the same shame being rejected by an idolatress world. It teaches us that some in the world today face the same horrendous persecutions our forefathers did, and that even the United States of America is headed in that direction should we fail to take back our country by the hand of God. Indeed, we see that sufferings are a large part of our high calling in Christ Jesus and a necessary evil in our advancement as Christians.
Of course sufferings are agonizing to endure, may last long, and cause us to experience a great deal of grief. We feel as though we are being tortured, that our lives have been plucked from our hands and that everything is spiraling out of our control. Desperation sets in. We are beside ourselves with many unanswered questions and feel as though we have no one we can turn to for help.
What must we do to find peace? There is no end to our sleepless nights. The unpaid bills haunt us. We are on the brink of losing everything. We are exhausted from worry, and we can't eat. Shame is our constant companion. We have failed. There is no hope. We are a failure. We are at the end of our rope. We have hit bottom. It is the end!
Ha! We can't see our Lord smiling, but He is. We have been a stranger to Him. We have not made Him the Lord of our life as truly there has only been one, that being us. We haven't read His Word enough to view Him as our only source of strength in our time of trouble. We can scarce believe that He is waiting for us with open arms. But He is. We realize that without Him we are truly nothing, helpless creatures that can do nothing without Him, that He, not ourselves, is our only source of hope. We must find Him again. We must read His Word.
We find Him there. He is represented in the lives of many, failures in their own right before coming to Him. We take comfort in discovering suffering places us in good company, that such is the pathway to glory. Peace comes. Our possessions become meaningless. Jesus has become our treasure. He is our all, our everything. We find our rest in Him.


Blessings!
Love, In Christ Jesus, Dennis.