Christian Suffering Is Biblical

There is a kind of Christian teachings out there that promotes the idea Christians must not suffer. That's a lie. A blatant lie! Christians suffer. Acts 14:22 says through much suffering we must enter the kingdom of God. We are no different from people who are persecuted and some even killed for their faith. Contrary to modern day, twenty first century, watered down, health and wealth, easy believismChristians are in fact no super humans. We get frustrated. We get stressed. We live with unfulfilled dreams and expectations. Our lives are in no way immune from the challenges of this world. We lose love ones. We lose jobs. We get sick.

World events must call many believers to rethink what gospel they have believed. Are you saved to be materially blessed and divinely healthy? You have believed a lie.

A cursory look at the Psalms–a great source of comfort and inspiration for believers—reveals the realities of pain and suffering in a believer’s life. Some of the Psalms contain expressions of David’s personal pain and sorrows: "I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping. My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows weak because of all my foes"(Ps 6:6). "Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?"(Ps 43:5). "Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer; from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I"(Ps 61:2). "Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins".(Ps 25:18).

In these words, we see “a man after God’s heart” expressing anguish in different circumstances of his life. David was not an exception. Many other characters in the Bible poured out their hearts in pain and anguish. As believers living in a fallen body in a fallen world, we are not immuned from the pain and suffering present in the world. In fact, suffering is ordained in the sovereign plan of God for the world and in the life of the believer. Job said “man is born to trouble”(Job 5:7). Suffering is the portion of every believer. We must all carry our cross and follow Him.

The biblical authors acknowledged what many today will deny in the name of Faith. They acknowledged the place of suffering in the believer's life. James said "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,"(James 2:1). Paul pointed out that "Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted"(2Timothy 3:12). The Lord Jesus Christ Himself painted no rosy picture of the Christian walk. He told the disciples, "In the world you will have tribulation."(John 16:33).

Suffering teaches us obedience. Writing about the high priestly role of Jesus, the writer of Hebrews tells us that, in His humanity, "Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered."(Hebrews 5:8). No where in the Bible are we guaranteed a life without suffering and pain. You dont even have to open the pages of the Bible to realise the reality of suffering in the world. The bad news, disease, brutal execution of Christians coupled with the suffering of people around us is enough evidence that a suffering proof christianity is a placebo. Paul describes the inescapable realities of suffering in the believers life. "...we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies”(Rom 8:23)


Though we are saved, we are not in possession of the full benefits of our redemption–the glorification of our bodies. We still live with the presence of sin, pain and suffering. We groan in pain in anticipation of our glorification in future. In all of these however, Christianity doesn't spell as gloom. In our suffering, we are not left on our own, we don’t grieve as people who have no hope(1Thess 4:13). We have the blessed Holy Spirit as a comforter and “present help in need”. What a privilege! In our weaknesses and suffering, we can turn to God through faith in Christ Jesus.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.(Heb 4:15-16).

Salvation By Grace Alone Through Faith Alone.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Ephesians.2:8-9ESV).

In a secular state with about 71% professing Christianity; many grow up in Christian homes with Christian discipline. Raised and groomed "christianly"; the Christian faith appears normal to many. Nothing peculiar! Church attendance is a given. Talk of morality, philanthropy, fighting the social cause---you might be actively engaged. You probably  have grown up believing you are a Christian. But there's a danger here. Growing up in a Christian home, regular church attendance, morality and philanthropy without saving faith in Christ still leaves you in a sinful state separated from God: "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"(Romans 3:23).

The whole world, without saving faith in Christ, lies dead in sin.(Eph 2). We are broken and sinful--totally depraved and needy of God's grace.The dispositions of our hearts are evil. We tend to believe we are good people. But no, Scripture describes us otherwise:  “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9).  If we are indeed dead in sins and our hearts desperately sick, how can we help ourselves? Human pride coupled with false religion suggests to us we can help ourselves. "We don't need God". Though many will not openly confess that, nonetheless they live that everyday. Truth is we can't help ourselves. But self-help sells. There are multitudes of them out there that promises you "your best life now".

However, salvation is strictly a work of God's grace in our hearts. Try as hard as we may, our best efforts in reforming ourselves will only produce "filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6). Our only hope of salvation is a divine work of grace that makes our hearts pliable to divine truth:

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules".(Ezekiel 36:25-27).

Here we see the regenerating power of God's grace in our lives. He first removes our "heart of stone"; cold dead to divine truth, disobedient and unyeilding to Him and replaces it with a "heart of flesh"; alive to divine truth, obedient and yeilding to Him. This regenerating power of God's Spirit in our heart leads us to repentance from sin and saving faith in Jesus Christ for remission of sins unto salvation. It is only then you can call yourself a christian and a member of God's family. No one is deserving of God's grace. That's why it is in fact called grace--unmerited, undeserved favour. We contributed nothing to it. It is a gift and rightly so, a gift must be accepted and received.

Now, try answering these questions: Are you a Christian? Is your heart regenerated? Are you born again? Have you come to saving faith putting your trust in Christ for the remission of sins? Be certain with your answer. No self-deception, lest in eternity future you hear Jesus saying to you; "I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’(Matthew 7:23).

Are We Prepared For Eternity?

For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s (Romans 14:8ESV).

I was scheduled to preach at a friend's fellowship at Kasoa on Sunday 7th June, 2015. I live at Kuntunse. It meant I will be driving about 3hours on a highway to get to my destination. A total of six hours journey.

Before leaving home, I did something I rarely do. Usually, I pray for travelling mercies. But this time, when I sat by the steering, with the recent disaster that hit our nation fresh in my memory, the reality dawn on me: this could be my last trip. I might not return. There was no guarantee I was going to return.

With fear in my heart and a teary eye, I bowed my head and prayed "Father, If this journey happens to be my last, please receive me home safely through faith in Christ".
Fact is, there is no guaranteed protection from all of lives dangers because you are a Christian. Over the past weeks, stories of people who survived the flood and fire has being circulating. Some assert to an unknown hand that saved them from the fire. Glory to God!

But, while we are sharing the testimonies about how God saved people from the fire and floods, let's not lose sight of the fact that there are, or might have been believers in that inferno who perished. Yes, they perished! The God they served didn't save them. They might have probably prayed in the morning for safety while leaving home; yet they didn't return. Has God abandoned them? Did their faith fail? No, death is inevitable. How we die has no bearing on our level of Faith. "... it is appointed for man to die once"(Hen 9:27). While celebrating the stories of "escape", let's be sensitive to those who lost lives and property. "Mourn with those who mourn", that's biblical.

Let us put away the easy believism where Christians suppose they have an entitlement to life, and God will always deliver them from danger. God doesn't  always deliver from danger including death. We will all die. Some by fire, some by floods, some by disease, some by natural causes. Whatever way we are taken home, one question is important. Are we prepared for eternity?

Hope For A Heavy Heart

The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.(Lamentations 3:24).

On what beliefs is your hopes built on? Beliefs - trust, faith, hope - have consequences. They shape our worldview and determines how we respond to life and its twists and turns. If your faith is not grounded on a solid foundation, the storms of life will leave you disillusioned. The words “The LORD is my portion...”, paints the picture of a life built on a firm foundation: it simply means "The LORD is sufficient for me". The writer of Lamentations--Jeremiah--seem to be saying, "regardless of my predicaments; God is sufficient". The words of Philip echoes: “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”(John 14:8).

Lamentations 3:24 are words of hope appearing in the center of a quagmire. Jerusalem lies in ruins, its inhabitants have been taken into captivity as a result of its rebellion against God. It was God Himself who was chastising and disciplining His children. The city has become a Ghost town: (Lamentations 1:1-5).

It is this gloom Jeremiah was mourning and lamenting over coupled with his own personal grief:

I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light; surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long. He has made my flesh and my skin waste away; he has broken my bones; he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation; he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago. He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy; though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer (3:1-5).

Poignant! However, in the dark nights of his soul, Jeremiah still found the strength to pen down words of hope. Words that have become the favourite of many. Jeremiah reminisces on the faithfulness of God in his intense moment of heaviness of heart and that brought hope to his heart:

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. "The LORD is my portion,”(vs 21-24a).

Hear David also:

Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee." (Psalms 73:25). 

It isn't a surprise then that David got the tag a man after God's own heart. His desire; the longings of his heart was towards God. Is your desire towards the Lord that intense?

"The LORD is my portion forever" says Jeremiah and David. Can you also, especially in the face of adversity, confess The LORD is my portion forever? If you are a believer, you should. Whatever engulfs your soul; God has promised never to leave us or forsake us.