“Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” (1 Peter 2:1-3 NKJV)
“Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.” (Hebrews 12:3-13 ESV)
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself but must remain in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; the one who remains in Me, and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:1-5 NASB)
It’s time to do an about face. While I personally believe that the vast majority of suffering in my life thus far has been needless, there is suffering that is beneficial. There is pain that is placed in my life for the purpose of growth and maturity. There is a form of suffering (pain) that comes FROM Christ, from my heavenly Father, that is necessary. This is the type of pain that every athlete understands. It is pain that is to be accepted, and even embraced. It is pain that is guided by a trainer and is willingly self inflicted. We have all heard the phrase…
…”No Pain, No Gain!
Only recently have I learned the significance of this type of pain. When my Daddy (heavenly Abba Father – Daddy Papa) revealed his promise of “renewed Youth” to me, he also challenged me to do my part and start disciplining my body. King James language tells me to “buffet my body” (beat it into submission, not smorgasbord it into obesity as I had been doing). With my investment in exercise equipment and a fitness club membership, came a new awareness of the benefit of pain.
It is critical that I fully recognize the difference between the “sufferings OF Christ” and the “sufferings FROM Christ.” While God will work all things together for my good, not all things are good. God will turn the harm meant by the enemy into good in my life. However, the harm itself is not to be accepted or embraced and does not come from God. Sufferings that come from the outside, inflicted on my body and mind, are not the “Sufferings FROM Christ.” GOD IS NOT BEHIND THE SUFFERING AND DEATH IN MY LIFE THAT HIS SON DIED TO FREE ME FROM! (Yes, I am yelling this at the top of my lungs.) However, he does limit the suffering that the enemy (or my own foolish thoughts, words, and actions) brings into my life.
The God of the Bible is not schizophrenic. Jesus does not heal someone just to watch his Father make them sick. He doesn’t deliver someone from mental illness or an emotional disorder just to turn his back and have his Father put them back in torment. Jesus doesn’t run around putting out his Father’s fires or fixing the mess his Father makes. Jesus is continually making intercession to the Father on my behalf. He is not interceding in order to get his Father to back off, he is interceding to team with the Father and Holy Spirit on my behalf against the enemy who is bent on stealing, killing, and destroying my life and ministry.
Jesus is the mirror image of his Father. He only does what he sees his Father doing, and only speaks what he hears his Father speaking. When he was here he said to his disciples (and is saying to us today) that when they looked at him they saw the Father. There is no division or contradiction within the godhead. Actually, Jesus is the face of God…
…“For in Him all the fullness of Deity (the Godhead) dwells in bodily form [completely expressing the divine essence of God].” (Colossians 2:9 AMP)
If it was the desire and design (will) of the Father to make people sick and inflict them with the very things that Jesus took to the cross, then Jesus would have done the same during his life and ministry on earth. To think otherwise, and justify it with Old Covenant examples, opens the door to the enemy and creates needless suffering, pain, bondage, and even death.
So, if there are “sufferings FROM Christ” that are beneficial then what are they?
My current understanding is that the “sufferings FROM Christ” fall into three categories…
…the pain of discipline;
…the pain of pruning; and…
…the pain of growth.
I am convinced that these areas of pain (sufferings) are primarily “spirit based.” It is my spirit that communicates with the Holy Spirit…
…”The spirit of a person is the lamp of the LORD, Searching all the innermost parts of his being.” (Proverbs 20:27 NASB);
…“The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” (Romans 8:16 BSB).
It is in my spirit that God produces discipline, pruning, and growth by way of the Holy Spirit and the Word. As this takes place, it is from my spirit that I partner with God to renew my mind (soul) and discipline my body. I grow from the inside out, not from the outside in.
I am a spirit (a new creation, God breathed, a new species of being that never before existed)…
…”And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7 NKJV)
I have a soul (mind, intellect, emotions, will)…
…”Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your entire spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23 BSB);
and I live in a body (the temple of the Holy Spirit, tabernacle, earth suit)…
……”Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself.” (1 Corinthians 6:19 NLT).
Again, it is in my spirit that the “sufferings FROM Christ” operate to achieve the gains of discipline, pruning, and growth.
Let’s stop here in order to digest this foundation to understanding the nature of the “sufferings FROM Christ” as they have begun to to be described by…
…Eric’s Life Lesson # 404: Discerned Suffering: Sufferings FROM Christ