Kind pastor offers reason for suffering

[teresa]

Dear friends in recovery,

Here is something a pastor recently shared with me:

What does the Bible say about cancer?

"However, cancer—like all disease—is a result of the curse of sin upon the world.

In Genesis 3:17 we read, “Cursed is the ground for thy sake.” The word translated “ground” is better translated “earth.”

The earth has been cursed because of sin and all men die—we all return to dust—and the method of death may be from disease that is a natural outcome of the curse upon the earth.

Diseases are not “punishment.”

They are a result of living in a fallen world and upon a cursed earth,

and believers and unbelievers alike develop cancer and other diseases that lead to death.

We need to remember that, in the life of the believer, God “works all things together for good” (Romans 8:28)—and “all things” includes cancer"----

or mental illness, right?!

I personally found this article helpful in that using scripture, I can see that all diseases, including brain illness, is due to the ground being cursed.

 

[Alicia Schout]

Dear friends in recovery,

Here is something a pastor recently shared with me:

What does the Bible say about cancer?

"However, cancer—like all disease—is a result of the curse of sin upon the world.

In Genesis 3:17 we read, “Cursed is the ground for thy sake.” The word translated “ground” is better translated “earth.”

The earth has been cursed because of sin and all men die—we all return to dust—and the method of death may be from disease that is a natural outcome of the curse upon the earth.

Diseases are not “punishment.”

They are a result of living in a fallen world and upon a cursed earth,

and believers and unbelievers alike develop cancer and other diseases that lead to death.

We need to remember that, in the life of the believer, God “works all things together for good” (Romans 8:28)—and “all things” includes cancer"----

or mental illness, right?!

I personally found this article helpful in that using scripture, I can see that all diseases, including brain illness, is due to the ground being cursed.

Well, sickness and death is for everyone but God's kingdom comes when we
who are true believers can heal the sick and deliver those who are suffering through our prayers in the Name of our Saviour.
His word says:
Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you.
Exodus 23:25 | NIV | worship blessing health
Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.
James 5:14-15 | NIV | prayer faith healing
A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
Proverbs 17:22 | NIV | healing heart weakness
Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well.
3 John 1:2 | NIV | blessing prayer soul
He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.
Psalm 147:3 | NIV | healing heart health
Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
Isaiah 53:4 | NIV | suffering Jesus
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
Matthew 10:8 | NIV | healing giving receiving
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
James 5:16 | NIV | righteousness healing prayer

 

[Jeshu]

Isaiah 53
Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.


Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.


He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.



i reckon that suffering is not just bad, Jesus made sure of that, so that out of bad life He can make good life for us all. We must remember that we serve The Crucified God - crucifixion sums up suffering The Curse - so let us not forget that when we suffer then we hang there beside our Lord in real life and can join Him also in His Victory.

For i know that at least in my life my worst suffering - mindless though it often was has taught me more about how - things ought to be good and right - like anything else in my life has.

Suffering bad life to gain good life is what our focus therefore ought to be when we suffer mental illness. For example when we ask ourselves how can something good come out of it this bad time - then we look in the right direction.

If it was only learning not to go to the place of suffering as we so often do, all forlorn, lonely and cut off, for example, or agreeing with the negativity attacking and hurting us so badly - (that has been a bad one in my life, those self berating feelings squandering me good life right in front of my eyes.) i reckon when we keep our focus on Christ's suffering our anguish innocently and not our own suffering then the light begins to shine at the end of the tunnel soon enough.

i found that bad life has taught me more about good life than anything else in this wold has and i have learned to be thankful for that. For knowing Jesus in our lives is worth everything without a doubt even the worst suffering this rotten world can throw at us.

After all suffering life down here is short, perhaps just 80 odd years or so, but life with our Lord is forever.

i know that i have made my choices with regards to my bad life, each time bad life comes i try and gain good life out of it and thank Jesus for the lesson learned and the treasures gained at the end of my run with suffering. For suffering is only ever a time, and a time and half a time, but good life with Jesus is full time, we best be well aware of that when we are stuck in our pits with the oppressors pushing us down in our crap face first. Everything makes much more sense when we understand that the wicked bring us our torment when we are down the dumps but Jesus lifts us up and gives us ability to overcome - time and again.

Hallelujah - even mental illness cannot beat JESUS CHRIST in my life. i love Him so much for that unbelievable what a Lord we may serve.

Psalm 22:24
For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.