Thoughts about Suffering?

AubreyM said:

Hello you and welcome.

Some friendly questions to ask :

What are your thoughts about suffering for the sake of Christ Yeshua?

What are some of your tribulations that you have made it through when suffering for the sake of Christ Yeshua?

When was a moment in your life suffering for the Lord, make a difference? For you, or someone else?

Here are some scriptures that are in the bible that do talk about suffering for the sake of the Lord, did you know they existed?

How has suffering for Christ Yeshua impacted your life?

1 Peter 5:10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

2 Corinthians 1: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

Romans 5:3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.

Psalm 34:19 The (believer in the faith of the Lord Yeshua) righteous person may have many troubles,
but the Lord delivers him from them all.

1 Peter 4:1 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin.

1 Peter 3:14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.”

Philippians 1: 29 For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him

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I'll add a few to yours, good post

Isaiah 30:20 And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers

1Thes 1:6 And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost

2Cr 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory

1Thes 3:3 That no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto.

2Ti 1:8 Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;

Here are a few others coming in at it this way,

Luke 22:31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour

Luke 22:32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

1 Peter 5:9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world

Which come as "trial of your faith" (1Peter 1:7). Jesus (who is also"the power of God") prays for Simon's faith, and is an example of one kept by "the power of God" through faith (1Peter 1:5) Jesus tells him when he is converted to strengthen his brethren which is exactly what you see Peter doing.

You see that elsewhere with Paul when strengthening the disciples

Acts 14:22 Confirming (or strengthening) the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

So that they arm themselves with the correct attitude towards it.

1Peter 1:6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season,
if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

1Peter 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold
that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory
at the appearing of Jesus Christ

Tried with fire

Zech 13:5 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried

Job knew about trials

Job 23:10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Likewise James writes about what the trying of your faith works

James 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

And in the same context of the trying of ones faith he brings in Jobs patience

James 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job.

Satans desire expressed to God concerning Job reminds me of a "temptation in his flesh" a temptation to curse God by nailing Job with a physical thing to get him to do so.

The expressed desire of sin God speaks about to Cain (where its the first time you see sin personified reflects in the same conversation Jesus has with Simon

For example

God with Cain about sin's desire unto him here, sin is personified (his desire)

Gen 4:7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?
and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

Then with Jesus

Luke 22:31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:

AubreyM said:

Thank you so much 2Behold for sharing those scriptures.

Desired to go ahead and answer my own questions so maybe people get a grip and really understand what the suffering is about now.

Suffering doesn't sound to fun does it.


So suffering in my life has been made know to me on the partaking of belief and trusting God and the Lord Jesus Christ.


Sometimes, just desire people to feel that love of the Lord Jesus Christ in their life, and it does a lot to you. (breaks you down)


Having to be patient with other people, having to keep your mouth shut living by the spirit when you wanna lash out, holding in things that people say about other people that you know is wrong yet you let it be - if it is dangerous of course then you might need to tell the police or higher ups.


Having to have mercy, having to have forgiveness, having to not the desire to have your flesh be jealous with Gods help, holding on to hope when you are in distress but continue to hold on to God and His Son.



Suffering is not fun. The eternal value of living as a Christian is that of looking to the things that are eternal, not the temporary of the flesh. The flesh is temporary, and everyone has flaws, God can help us through the flaws up and downs.


There are even test in our faith whether or not you are going to decide to cave-in or give up, and walk away from God.


Suffering is tough.

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Hard is the way for sure, Jesus certainly did not promise us all fun and games. We all suffer in this life one way or another and in many things (whether we believe or not) we all suffer through alot of the same things "stuff happens" to us all. I can often suffer for being me/chosing wrongly (and deserve his chastening, that can be grievous enough) or just suffer for His sake in something (or with another) and I havent found many sufferings that are easy but hard.

There's no safe space from God your Father, but we really wouldnt want it any other way if we are meant to yeild the peacable fruits of righteousness by being exercised thereby. These things are meant to be life to us. Did I put that right? I am a bit rusty.

I appreciate the way you set up your post, oftentimes the threads begin with some sort of twisty thing in it and you think, "sheesh I am not going there". I prefer ones that invite examples of this or that already shown in scripture (as you laid out) in respects to suffering and invites to add more (to add to peoples learning). Like, how many angles can we see this? What examples can be shown in respects to the purpose and so on and so forth. I prefer threads like that.

Beth Moore mentioned this in a series I posted on my Daily Bread thread. She acknowledged the culture and the difficulty Christians have with suffering. She said we don’t know how to suffer. We’ve grown accustomed to comfort.

~bella

For many years, I experienced and believed Christianity had no real down side. It was a happy, easy and rewarding life, everyone should jump in.

I use to teach “we (Christians) all sin lots of times and cannot keep from it, but we are constantly being washed by the blood of Christ, so we are without sin in that case.” That was before I met a group of Christians that risked death for themselves and others by sinning, just any sign of not doing what Christ would be doing in that moment. Here is what happened:

I got thrown into (volunteering if needed) with the youth (13-21 age) prisoners program teaching Bible (one hour on Sunday morning to a group of 14 with three other Christians teaching groups of 14) and I was teaching three groups of “Christians”. The first group were guys (going to school it is called) that start out causing trouble and getting thrown in the tank. Then they start increasingly attending the Bible services, carrying their Bible, being nice, eventually being baptized and saying they are Christian. By the time the parole board meets they have this glowing report showing continued improvement tied to their increased spirituality and are released and they were fun to teach. These guys still carry weapons, are members of a gang, and every prisoner knows they just “went to school” to get out. The second group were converted before they went to prison (grandma conversions), but on the first day they are seen watching raunchy TV, hanging with a loss group, laughing at off colored jokes, were not always talking about Jesus and were not trying to convert others. Their first day in prison the snitches see this, the snitches talk to the Bulls who then approach these “Christians” saying you are not a Christian (doing everything Christ would do) and make them a slave (often sexual) or at best a gang member. They still come to Bible study on Sunday, good students, so they can tell Granny (who visits them Sunday afternoon) what they learned, but they are slaves (sometimes sexually) to some bull. The third group is fanatical, they stick close to each other, they: study, pray, witness to everyone, and avoid even a hint of insincerity that the snitches could see. They carry no weapons, but step between those that are being beaten especially persecuted. This group had grown over the last 3 years from just a couple of guys to now 42, but it came at a high price. Each convert had on the day he was baptized given up the protection of his gang membership, turned over his weapons along with all his possessions (the gang owns everything including them), they were beaten if not by the gang they left, then by other gangs looking for payback and then they were watched constantly looking for any sign the snitches might interpret as weakness (anything less than what Christ would do in the situation, would result in a beating and it could be to death). There is absolutely no privacy and these Christians never wanted to be found alone. They slept in barracks where at least one stayed awake all night praying over the others, so they could sleep without the fear of being smashed in the head in the middle of the night. These guys believed and counted on power from the Holy Spirit, I did not know existed. They come battered and bruised each week hungry for some real meaningful Christ like lesson that goes beyond their group study of 40+hours that week on the same subject, which I could not provide. They mostly helped me with my poor example of Christianity and lack of knowledge and lack of wisdom. They mentored me even though they were only Christian for a few months, but I was a poor disciple and could not keep up with them.

I had many hard nights praying over those young men. I Loved them and empathetically to some degree suffered with them.

Great thread.
Been counting it all joy myself, in between crying jags
Persecution "for righteousness' sake" is a thing, but Jesus always shows up in the fire.
Good to see some familiar faces!!
Grace and Peace be multiplied to 'you' through the knowledge of God and Jesus, our Lord!

Suffering is necessary sometimes. Don’t shy away from it. Some of us do it regularly. If you have an affliction then you get to suffer. Lots of times I don’t see one good thing in it. But God says he will strengthen us and restore us as above.

I go through mental stretching. How long can you tread water!’
Can you continue your calm exterior while your world has slipped thereby not stressing out the night for everyone else. There is nothing anyone can do. Watching the tube helps with a considerate nonjudgmental person.

My conscience wants to chastise me for every perceived wrong with distortion and lies, draining me with fear and guilt. I suffer for a time it is enough. I did not choose it, it is thrust upon me. See if you can stay righteous in Gods eyes. If not it leads to repentance and not judgment. I am learning about Gods mercy and His payment for our sins.

there is a normal side of it a loved one dies, break ups, violence. There is a spiritual side to it, attacks of the enemy, chronic pain, rejection, deep guilt. These things heal with time or don’t heal but persist. I want to endure to the end. Some promises and words of wisdom become real through suffering. God works on every level. Read your bible take comfort in Gods wisdom, read a commentary. Trust God in suffering, don’t be distraught all the time. I’ve gone through it so often, you can’t help but learn what to do.

Paul suffered, God wouldn’t take it. We fulfill the sufferings of Christ a little. We are not unreachable by God. I can barely handle it, but never been given too much. I live a normal life serving the Lord, but I often take these breaks.

sunlover1 said:

Great thread.
Been counting it all joy myself, in between crying jags
Persecution "for righteousness' sake" is a thing, but Jesus always shows up in the fire.
Good to see some familiar faces!!
Grace and Peace be multiplied to 'you' through the knowledge of God and Jesus, our Lord!

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Hey sunlover! Good to see you too, goodness it been years! I hope you are well. We have to catch up sometime. I think I need to follow you to contact, I'll do that.

Grace and peace to you too Sis!

AubreyM said:

What was the biggest thing you learned from your experience there?​

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I had taught High School kids before and this group were mostly High School drop outs, so I started out thinking: “How am I going to get them the speak up.”

They had worked up answers through the previous week studying of the same subject in groups for as much as 40 hours. What they could not answer was how Christians applied these scriptures on the other side of the wall. So, the questions were what do you and other Christians do?

We had Old Testament Sunday School books with fill in the missing word in each verse and we were supposed to stick with the Old Testament, but could answer any questions.

My first lesson 2 Samuel 11 “David and Bathsheba”, you and I know the story, right?

They knew how they keep from sinning on their side of the wall, so how do you keep from sinning on your side of the wall? (I was a disaster at not sinning.)

What if you pass a sporty convertible with the keys left in it, what keeps you from taking a joy ride? I might get caught, what if some friends saw me, the owner would be upset, I could have a reck and so on. (all the same reason an atheist would not take the car.) They pointed out: only jerks get caught, their friends would want to join them, the owner left the keys for you to take, if recked he is insured, and so on.

I did mention secret sins, which is something they had not discussed and did not know about. I said these are private sins, done privately, and are just between you and God. They asked me: Had I gone through any solid doors while here, do I see any curtains on the windows, where are these closets to hide in, for them to be alone even in the restroom was dangerous and they slept in barracks with at least one Christian standing guard praying over them all night.

The big question was: “How do I successfully handle these “private sins” to avoid repeating them?” This is when I started lying to them, about the success I was having. Another thing I learned: “An amateur cannot lie to professional liars.” One just flat out asked: “Why are you lying to us?” It went down hill from there and I tried lying some more which they caught.

It was all very, life and death, serious for them.

That was the longest hour of my life.