THE PERFECTING POWER OF PAIN
BREAD
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4 (NIV)
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV)
8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope. 2 Corinthians 1:8-10 (NIV)
And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Romans 5:2-5 (NIV)
21 To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 22 “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” 23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 1 Peter 2:21-23 (NIV)
67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word. 68 You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees. Psalms 119:67-68 (NIV)
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 (NIV)
17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs–heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. 18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. Romans 8:17-18 (NIV)
29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, Philippians 1:29 (NIV)
12 if we endure, we will also reign with him. 2 Timothy 2:12 (NIV)
BUTTER
“Tribulation is necessary for the decentralization of self and the development of deep dimensions of agape love, this love can be developed only in the school of suffering. It grows and develops only by exercise and testing. This may explain the relationship between sainthood and suffering by showing why there is no sainthood without suffering. It may also show why the greatest saints are often the greatest suffers.” Paul E. Billheimer
“Every affliction comes with a message from the heart of God.” Alexander Maclaren
“Whole, unbruised, unbroken men are of little use to God.” J. R. Miller
“Do not be afraid to suffer. Do not be afraid to be overthrown. It is by being cast down and not destroyed; it is by being shaken to pieces, and the pieces torn to shreds, that men become men of might, and that one a host.” Henry Ward Beecher
“Measure thy life by loss and not by gain Not by the wine drunk, but by the wine poured forth. For love’s strength standeth in love’s sacrifice, And he who suffers most has most to give.” Harriet Eleanor Hamilton-King
“That one’s sorrows are actually working for the faithful believer is predicated upon the faith that the unseen is the ultimate and supreme reality and that the present and visible are only relative and ephemeral…..‘Our light affliction,’ properly accepted, is actually creating or producing for us an ‘eternal weight of glory’ far beyond all proportion to the pain of the affliction. Therefore it should be cherished and not wasted by resistance and rebellion.” Paul E. Billheimer
“It is in the quiet crucible of our personal private sufferings that our noblest dreams are born and God’s greatest gifts are given; often given in compensation for what we have been through.” Wintley Phipps
“God suffers my happiness here to be imperfect, that so I may be pressing on to that place where I shall be perfectly happy forever.” K. H. Von Bogatzky
“By suffering the Father would lead us to enter more deeply into the love of Christ.” Andrew Murray
HEART SAVOR
• Suffering under God’s mighty hand is for my good and His glory – never one surpassing the other.
• Suffering produces hope and hope does not disappoint.
• My suffering works for me and not against me if I do not waste it by complaining, resisting and rebelling against it.
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