JC Blog

Recently at work we’ve undergone major changes, over the past year we have lost a lot of people due to babies, moves, new jobs or layoffs. Only empty chairs occupy the desks where people I worked with for years, used to sit. Each person leaving has caused extreme sadness and a little heartache. But as the old adage says, “life goes on”... so the question becomes how we continue through life without letting these things affect us long term? In other words, how do we survive the heartaches and trials of this life?

Did you know that we have a promise of peace? In a world that functions on drama, we have promises in God’s word assuring us peace, His peace. Paul said in Philippians, “The peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” ( Philippians 4:7 nasb ). This promise is unlocked in the previous verses. The key, is to rejoice in all and every circumstance of life. Although it seems to be an arduous task at first thought when going through trials, the payoff, by far, outweighs the effort.

The Amplified Bible explains this magnificently, “And God's peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” ( Philippians 4:7 Amp ). God’s peace is what shields both mind and heart at all times. There is no turmoil in Him, only peace. And he has promised it to us simply because He loves us.

Our world operates in chaos, but through Christ, we are not of the world. If we do not experience this soul peace it is because we haven’t used the Biblical key to release it in our lives. In the previous verses, Paul starts out with instructions on how to experience the peace that transcends all understanding, His strategy is to Rejoice. “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” ( Philippians 4:4-7 nasb ). Rejoicing overcomes worry and anxiety and releases God’s peace into your life.

The Bible gives us a great outline for rejoicing. First we are to rejoice in the Lord. Rejoicing can be defined as being glad, being well, thriving and joyful. We’ve all experience rejoicing in life, but Paul is describing a state of mind that can be manifested in our lives. Something that continually happens, not just situationally.

For this to happen we need to focus on the source of our joy, which is the Lord. The early church rejoiced in everything, if you search through scripture you will see they rejoiced in hearing the gospel, and witnessing it’s power ( Luke 10:20, Luke 19:6, Acts 13:48 ). They rejoiced when Jesus returned to the Father ( John 14:28 ). They rejoiced when they were beaten, publicly humiliated or killed ( Matthew 5:12, Luke 6:23, Acts 5:41, II Corinthians 6:10; 13:9, Philippians 2:17, Colossians 1:24, I Peter 4:13 ). They rejoiced in each other or when they heard good reports of other believers ( I Corinthians 16:17, Philippians 2:28; 4:10, Romans 12:15, II Corinthians 7:13; 16 ). The list goes on and on. So if the Greek word for rejoice is used for all of these circumstances, especially persecution, suffering, affliction, trials, there should be no excuse why we are not rejoicing in the Lord in any and every circumstance life throws our way! Paul even went so far as to say it again, so we would understand it’s importance...REJOICE!

Switching focus in the midst of situations gets our attention where it belongs, on the Lord and His kingdom. It allows His peace to operate in our lives and His voice to be heard in our hearts. The trials caused by living in this world have no hold on us when we experience the peace that God has promised us through rejoicing. Even though we still experience a little heartache now and again we are well equipped with the key to overcoming, so again I will say REJOICE!

It is easy to wrap temptation and suffering together into a nice little package because we experience both in this world, but they are very different. Temptation is the enticement to sin and suffering is a painful or distressing experience. Just as it is important to understand that God does not tempt us, God does not cause our suffering either. God is a good God; He loves us and sent Jesus to save us. So it is incompatible with His nature to imply that God allows or causes our suffering. But it still exists and as believers many times we suffer solely because we are Christians.

Believers are subjected to persecution and hatred because we bear the name of Christ. This should come as no surprise. Jesus told His disciples, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you" ( John 15:18-19 ). We are different, set apart and not of this world. So it is no surprise that Jesus told us that we would have trouble in this lifetime.

The good news in all of this is that good things can result trouble and persecution. Peter told us to rejoice in these circumstances ( I Peter 1:6-7 ) and James told us to consider them pure joy ( James 1:2-4 ). This is because they knew that God was able to bring these things around for our benefit. This is not to say that He causes them to happen in our lives, but when trouble and persecution comes our way, we can cling to the promise he made to Paul in such a circumstance, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" ( II Corinthians 12:9 ). We can trust in the goodness and grace of God to get us through these incidents just as we can rely on Him to bring good out of them.

"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed" ( I Peter 1:6-7 ). The trials of this life work as a refining fire to burn away dross. Not only will we come out on the other side unscathed but we will come out with a genuine and proven faith. This is worth very much in the sight of God and results in His praise, glory and honor.

James tells us that God is able to perfect us through suffering. "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything" ( James 1:2-4 ). The King James Bible says that we will be 'perfect and entire'. I cannot stress enough that God does not cause our suffering, but He is able to bring good from it. Our faith is developed, the character of perseverance is perfected and we are mature and not easily taken off course by the struggles and hardships of this life.

Through both temptation and testing in life we learn to learn to trust and rely on Jesus "Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted" ( Hebrews 2:18 ). He had the full human experience so He can sympathize with us in every circumstance. What a marvelous attribute in the High Priest who lives to make intercession for us. "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" ( Hebrews 4:14-16 ).

Tomorrow we look at Hebrews 3:1: Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus

God does not tempt us but God does test us, or a better way to put it is that He entrusts us. What's the difference? Temptation is being enticed or allured to sin. God will not tempt us with sin because He is good and no evil is found in Him ( James 1:13 ). Testing, on the other hand, is God trusting us to make the right choice. Look at Deuteronomy 30 for example, God gave the Israelites a choice, "This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live" ( Deuteronomy 30-19 ). He presented them with a choice, He wanted their buy-in, but He also gave them the answer, "now choose life, so that you and your children may live" then He gave them the reasons, "that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob" ( Deuteronomy 30:20 ). This is an incredible promise from him. He gave the Israelites full disclosure. He gave them a choice, gave them the answer and gave them the reasons for it. He wanted them to choose correctly and entrusted them to make the right choice.

In the same way, the Lord provides us with choices as believers wanting us to make the right decisions as well. This is not to say that if we don't choose wisely He will punish us. But He entrusts us with kingdom principals watching how we respond and act. Faithfulness in these tests are the road to promotion in His kingdom because He knows He can trust us to do what He has instructed. Money is a good example of this type of testing. Everything is from Him and He wants to trust us with it. So He watches how we use what we have to see if we are trustworthy. If we prove faithful in this area then He is more likely to give us more seed to sow ( II Corinthians 9:10 ). The reason is not to become rich, instead it is to have the means to be generous in every occasion, the result is bring glory and thanksgiving to God ( II Corinthians 9:11 ).

Peter told us, "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires: ( II Peter 1:3-4 ). God has given us instruction on everything so that we can live set apart lives in the midst of this world. He has been very clear in how we should live and entrusts us to choose wisely. The key to all of this is knowing God and walking after the Spirit because we will know who we are in Christ and we will be strong in the power of His might. It is the perfect solution.

So, when temptation comes, we can know we can resist and be free of it ( James 4:7 ). In the same way, when we are entrusted with the things of God we can find answers in His word ( II Peter 1:3-4, II Timothy 3:16-17 ). He has shown us His desires and gave us full instructions for life. Thankfully by knowing these wonderful truths, God has made this easy for us.

Tomorrow we look at Part 6: Suffering as a Believer for the Cause of Christ

I love being around optimistic people, perhaps because I am a ‘glass half full' kind of girl. I love when people can see the silver lining in the midst of situations despite circumstances or obstacles. But the more I know people, the more I realize that this characteristic is a precious commodity.

However, Paul reminds us, as Christians we can rejoice in the midst of any circumstance because of where our hope is placed. Hope is the highway that gets our faith from point A to point B. Hope is what keeps us moving and rejoicing through whatever circumstances life throws our way. So how do we have hope to see our faith realized?

We have hope when our faith is resting firmly in Jesus. Then it doesn't matter when suffering or persecution comes our way, because hope lets us rejoice in the midst of it. James chapter one says something similar, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." ( James 1:2-3 ). Both Paul and James knew that a byproduct of suffering at the hand of this world was perseverance.

The King James Bible interprets preservation as patience in both passages. Patience is a fruit of the Spirit and necessary for Christians. Unlike the world's definition of patience, it is not a passive word, but rather a strong active word. The heart of patience denotes endurance, consistency and perseverance no matter what happens.

Patience allows our faith to mature and produce hope. Hope gets us through to the end goal, which is the glory of God. As Christians we should always be optimistic looking forward to Jesus' return for us. Jesus said, "in this world, you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world." ( John 16:33 ) He knew the hope to which he was calling us, and this blessed hope is what we await patiently for enduring and conquering in his name until his return. Praise God that this kind of hope does not disappoint!