All Things For The Good Of Them That Love God - Submitting In Every Condition
Writer Author Ilona Henry Afamefuna
Christian Article
:
Bible Teaching
- Fiction No
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
All Things For The Good Of Them That Love God
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
Some Christians find it so hard to believe that the current situation in their lives was appointed by God himself, which will at the end bring forth the peaceable fruit of righteousness & divine blessings. I believe, that this is due to the erroneous and unbalanced teachings we do hear today from these modern day preachers, who suppress the truth in hypocrisy, using religion as means of profit making. These preachers openly kick against God’s divine providence. They fail to know that God is the author of it all, that nothing happens in a man’s life without his divine appointment.
We saw such example in the life of righteous Job, ask yourself this question, “what has Job committed that God should allow such untold sorrows and suffering befell this godly man?” Why should God allow the Devil to tempt Job in the first place, doesn’t he (God) knew that Job loves him with all his heart, or is God becoming a tyrant who derives joy in afflicting his creatures?
Due to the inadequate knowledge of God’s characters and dealings with man, people have been discouraged from believing in a personal God who loves and cares much for them. Let me tell you, every affliction that God brings in your life is to accomplish his good will in you, without which you will not be fit to partake of His divine nature. If we can look back, was there any of those who walked with God, that was not afflicted, today we celebrate them as heroes of faith, and we are aspiring to be like them, but do not want to undergo the same training by which they were trained to achieve perfection. When the bible says, “all things”, it means both good and bad, there is no exceptionalism in this matter, for you to be a champion for God, you must be given the champions training and education. This is the area where many people will not agree with me, but that is what the bible said, and everyone who wants to walk with God must undertake the course, whether he likes it or not. That you pray much than others will not stop you from undergoing God’s school, except you want to remain a spiritual bastard, and we know that God has nothing to do with a person who does not want this training to take place in his life.
For those of you who are passing through the valley of the shadow of dead, I have good news for you, the good news is that, after it all, a great blessing and joy awaits you. God can never bring anything to your life that will not glorify his name at last, that is why the bible says all his works are perfect and just. Though, it is true that at times we question the goodness of God when things go beyond more than expected, but that does not mean that God is no more in charge. I want us to do some shopping from great Christian leaders whose lives and examples should be a great lesson to us. Do not even such things as are most bitter to the flesh, tend to awaken Christians to faith and prayer, to a sight of the emptiness of this world, and the fadingness of the best it yield? Doth not God by these things (ofttimes) call our sins to remembrance, and provoke us to amendment of life? How then can we be offended at things by which we reap so much good?.... Therefore if mine enemy hunger, let me feed him; if he thirst, let me give him drink. Now in order to do this,
(1) We must see good in that, in which other men can see none.
(2) We must pass by those injuries that other men would revenge.
(3) We must show we have grace, and that we are made to bear what other men are not acquainted with.
(4) Many of our graces are kept alive, by those very things that are the death of other men's souls.... The devil, (they say) is good when he is pleased; but Christ and His saints, when displeased. —John Bunyan
Please, I want you to notice something from the above quote, is there not a great difference between them and the preachers of today? Could you see that the old days preachers saw suffering and afflictions as doors of opportunity that bring glory to God and his Christ? From the above quote, you will discover, if carefully studied, submission to divine providence, there is no prayer of die, die, fall from your root, but rather the author saw his circumstances as a divine providence brought upon him by God, not to harm, but to prepare his soul for eternal rest and glory with God in heaven. The problem many could not go farther in their Christian lives, is because they failed to submit to the affliction that came upon them, but rather they rebelled and refused to submit, of which today they are paying the price at a high cost. Let us learn to submit to whatever condition that God permitted to come upon us, for they are for our good which will lead us to victory if we will have patience and endure unto the end, as did they that have gone ahead of us, who through patience and endurance have entered into rest and glory. Let’s continue our shopping, we have shopped from John Bunyan, the next person we will do shopping from is Abraham Wright, his quote touched my heart that I decided we shop from him, here is what he had left for us to ponder:
I am mended by my sickness, enriched by my poverty, and strengthened by my weakness.... Thus was it with.... Manasseh, when he was in affliction, "He besought the Lord his God": even that king's iron was more precious to him than his gold, his jail a more happy lodging than his palace, Babylon a better school than Jerusalem. What fools are we, then, to frown upon our afflictions! These, how crabbed soever, are our best friends. They are not indeed for our pleasure, they are for our profit. —Abraham Wright
My goodness, can these modern day preachers kindly stand up and defend their teachings from the arrows and spears that these old time saints are throwing at them and their unbalanced teachings? How can God use sickness to amend his children, poverty to enrich them, is God trying to communicate something to us? Are some of the prayers we do make a proof of faith, or a show of stubbornness and rebelliousness against God and his will for us?
I could remember days back in my life, when I newly answered the call to be a full time minister, had it not been the Lord who strengthened me, these false brethren, whose only vision and goal is nothing but material and earthly blessings would have discouraged me from accomplishing my ministry. I heard all sort of rubbish, it came to a point that I began to wonder and asked myself, does it mean that anyone who is not making it in the Christian life is nothing but a load fool? Is Christianity all about money making, has God changed in his characters, am I really called by God to do this work? Until I entered into research and studies, that I discovered that no crown, no glory; no valley, no exaltation, I also found out that God was using my suffering to prepare me for what I am doing today. Oh, thank God for those dark days, they are really a treasure, because through it all, I have come to be an encouragement and blessing to my generation, without which, I don’t know what I would have given to people around me who are passing through the same valley today. The time has come for God’s remnant few to leave the comfort zone.
Okay, let’s continue our shopping, but I hope you are enjoying the commodities yourself, as for me, I want to buy more. I am going to quote from Charles Huddon Spurgeon, one of the greatest18th century bible preachers, here is what he said:
The highest honor that God can confer upon his children is the blood-red crown of martyrdom. The jewels of a Christian are his afflictions. The regalia of the kings that God has made, are their troubles, their sorrows, and their griefs. Griefs exalt us, and troubles lift us. —Charles Spurgeon
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
All Things For The Good Of Them That Love God
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
Some Christians find it so hard to believe that the current situation in their lives was appointed by God himself, which will at the end bring forth the peaceable fruit of righteousness & divine blessings. I believe, that this is due to the erroneous and unbalanced teachings we do hear today from these modern day preachers, who suppress the truth in hypocrisy, using religion as means of profit making. These preachers openly kick against God’s divine providence. They fail to know that God is the author of it all, that nothing happens in a man’s life without his divine appointment. We saw such example in the life of righteous Job, ask yourself this question, “what has Job committed that God should allow such untold sorrows and suffering befell this godly man?” Why should God allow the Devil to tempt Job in the first place, doesn’t he (God) knew that Job loves him with all his heart, or is God becoming a tyrant who derives joy in afflicting his creatures? Due to the inadequate knowledge of God’s characters and dealings with man, people have been discouraged from believing in a personal God who loves and cares much for them. Let me tell you, every affliction that God brings in your life is to accomplish his good will in you, without which you will not be fit to partake of His divine nature. If we can look back, was there any of those who walked with God, that was not afflicted, today we celebrate them as heroes of faith, and we are aspiring to be like them, but do not want to undergo the same training by which they were trained to achieve perfection. When the bible says, “all things”, it means both good and bad, there is no exceptionalism in this matter, for you to be a champion for God, you must be given the champions training and education. This is the area where many people will not agree with me, but that is what the bible said, and everyone who wants to walk with God must undertake the course, whether he likes it or not. That you pray much than others will not stop you from undergoing God’s school, except you want to remain a spiritual bastard, and we know that God has nothing to do with a person who does not want this training to take place in his life. For those of you who are passing through the valley of the shadow of dead, I have good news for you, the good news is that, after it all, a great blessing and joy awaits you. God can never bring anything to your life that will not glorify his name at last, that is why the bible says all his works are perfect and just. Though, it is true that at times we question the goodness of God when things go beyond more than expected, but that does not mean that God is no more in charge. I want us to do some shopping from great Christian leaders whose lives and examples should be a great lesson to us.
Do not even such things as are most bitter to the flesh, tend to awaken Christians to faith and prayer, to a sight of the emptiness of this world, and the fadingness of the best it yield? Doth not God by these things (ofttimes) call our sins to remembrance, and provoke us to amendment of life? How then can we be offended at things by which we reap so much good?.... Therefore if mine enemy hunger, let me feed him; if he thirst, let me give him drink. Now in order to do this,
We must see good in that, in which other men can see none.
We must pass by those injuries that other men would revenge.
We must show we have grace, and that we are made to bear what other men are not acquainted with.
Many of our graces are kept alive, by those very things that are the death of other men's souls.... The devil, (they say) is good when he is pleased; but Christ and His saints, when displeased. —John Bunyan
Please, I want you to notice something from the above quote, is there not a great difference between them and the preachers of today? Could you see that the old days preachers saw suffering and afflictions as doors of opportunity that bring glory to God and his Christ? From the above quote, you will discover, if carefully studied, submission to divine providence, there is no prayer of die, die, fall from your root, but rather the author saw his circumstances as a divine providence brought upon him by God, not to harm, but to prepare his soul for eternal rest and glory with God in heaven. The problem many could not go farther in their Christian lives, is because they failed to submit to the affliction that came upon them, but rather they rebelled and refused to submit, of which today they are paying the price at a high cost. Let us learn to submit to whatever condition that God permitted to come upon us, for they are for our good which will lead us to victory if we will have patience and endure unto the end, as did they that have gone ahead of us, who through patience and endurance have entered into rest and glory.
Let’s continue our shopping, we have shopped from John Bunyan, the next person we will do shopping from is Abraham Wright, his quote touched my heart that I decided we shop from him, here is what he had left for us to ponder:
I am mended by my sickness, enriched by my poverty, and strengthened by my weakness.... Thus was it with.... Manasseh, when he was in affliction, "He besought the Lord his God": even that king's iron was more precious to him than his gold, his jail a more happy lodging than his palace, Babylon a better school than Jerusalem. What fools are we, then, to frown upon our afflictions! These, how crabbed soever, are our best friends. They are not indeed for our pleasure, they are for our profit. —Abraham Wright
My goodness, can these modern day preachers kindly stand up and defend their teachings from the arrows and spears that these old time saints are throwing at them and their unbalanced teachings? How can God use sickness to amend his children, poverty to enrich them, is God trying to communicate something to us? Are some of the prayers we do make a proof of faith, or a show of stubbornness and rebelliousness against God and his will for us?
I could remember days back in my life, when I newly answered the call to be a full time minister, had it not been the Lord who strengthened me, these false brethren, whose only vision and goal is nothing but material and earthly blessings would have discouraged me from accomplishing my ministry. I heard all sort of rubbish, it came to a point that I began to wonder and asked myself, does it mean that anyone who is not making it in the Christian life is nothing but a load fool? Is Christianity all about money making, has God changed in his characters, am I really called by God to do this work? Until I entered into research and studies, that I discovered that no crown, no glory; no valley, no exaltation, I also found out that God was using my suffering to prepare me for what I am doing today. Oh, thank God for those dark days, they are really a treasure, because through it all, I have come to be an encouragement and blessing to my generation, without which, I don’t know what I would have given to people around me who are passing through the same valley today. The time has come for God’s remnant few to leave the comfort zone.
Okay, let’s continue our shopping, but I hope you are enjoying the commodities yourself, as for me, I want to buy more. I am going to quote from Charles Huddon Spurgeon, one of the greatest18th century bible preachers, here is what he said:
The highest honor that God can confer upon his children is the blood-red crown of martyrdom. The jewels of a Christian are his afflictions. The regalia of the kings that God has made, are their troubles, their sorrows, and their griefs. Griefs exalt us, and troubles lift us. —Charles Spurgeon
Dear friend, are you not seeing something different from the type of messages we are hearing today? May God help us. If we should see our suffering, troubles and afflictions as doors of opportunities which God has created to bless us, we will have no fear of dead or whatever the Devil and the world have programmed against us, but we will always see them as a road to victory & honor. Let’s do one more shopping and then I will stop. Another person we will go to his supermarket is Thomas Watson, I do not know much about him, but his quote is thought provoking:
To know that nothing hurts the godly, is a matter of comfort; but to be assured that all things which fall out shall co-operate for their good, that their crosses shall be turned into blessings, that showers of affliction water the withering root of their grace and make it flourish more; this may fill their hearts with joy till they run over. —Thomas Watson
Dear friend, do I need to tell you more to know that your suffering as a Christian is of a great value and blessing to you at the end? Stop believing the lies that you are hearing nowadays, Christians are not meant to suffer, who told you so, where on earth is that written? I want us to consider the following from the bible:
1 Peter 5:10, “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.”
The bible did not say, “after ye have enjoyed and pleasured for a while”, why should you suffer for a while, it is to make you perfect. The goal of every affliction is perfection, after which you will enter in and possess your possession and begin to walk in sonship.
“In conclusion, the apostle prays to God for them, as the God of all grace. Perfect implies their progress towards perfection. Stablish imports the curing of our natural lightness and inconstancy. Strengthen has respect to the growth of graces, especially where weakest and lowest. Settle signifies to fix upon a sure foundation, and may refer to Him who is the Foundation and Strength of believers. These expressions show that perseverance and progress in grace are first to be sought after by every Christian. The power of these doctrines on the hearts, and the fruits in the lives, showed who are partakers of the grace of God.”
Jesus also was our perfect example of submission in affliction, here is what the bible said about Jesus submitting:
Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him (Hebrews 5:7-9).
In conclusion, I want you to mediate on this common fact:
Christ has left us an example that we should learn humble obedience to the will of God, by all our afflictions. We need affliction, to teach us submission. His obedience in our nature encourages our attempts to obey, and for us to expect support and comfort under all.
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