What does suffering mean to a believer?

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What does suffering mean to a believer?

1 Peter 3: 15-17 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for evil.

Be sure of yourself when you say, “I am suffering for Christ.” Some say that when they are going through sickness or disease, or when they are being hospitalized, that they are suffering for God. Do not be mistaken about this and think God has given you an ailment. You can and will meet people everyday that you can witness to. If you are in the hospital or out, you as a believer can witness to whoever you come into contact with. You can go to the hospital and witness and be a visitor. But I will assure you that God did not make you sick to direct you to the hospital. You must be sure of that, or satan will have you sick everyday, and you will think you are sick for God. If you are, then Jesus Christ was redirecting a lot of God’s people when He walked the earth. He healed all that believed in Him. Not one time did he say; God wants you to stay sick just a little longer He has a plan for you.

If you become sick, you need to fight that with everything you have. You need to pray for healing, you need to not be afraid, never let fear enter your thoughts, think on all things good, you need to find out how to get healed. You may need to see a doctor. God has made doctors for us. It is in line with His will for us to be well and our desire can and should be to walk in divine health. The devil comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. Resist him with all God has given you through His Son. When you conquer a sickness you have a mighty testimony. If it takes your life from you, you go to be with the Lord. The believer that is sick unto death is healed instantly at the time of passing. The believers that are left are broken hearted. Never let satan break your heart, and then say, “That is God’s will.”

We as Christians have seen our love ones pass away, and it appears to be God’s will. But it is not in line with what the Bible says. We say certain things that happen before, in the Bible are not the same today. The Bible says God and His Son Jesus, are the same always, and never change. We walk on very dangerous ground when we wrongly divide the Word to fit our lives. God’s word is the same and never changes. We must make our lives fit the Bible. Every time, suffering for Christ, or suffering according to God’s will, comes up in scripture, it is about being persecuted, or wrongly accused about your faith. This is suffering for Christ, and what we should count as all glory. I have not found where suffering in sickness and disease is from God. We need to know that Jesus bore all sickness and disease on the cross. There are many factors involved when sickness and disease, takes our loved ones, and we must never change the Word of God, and never let it be said that it must be God’s will because it happened.

If we go through scripture we will see that God’s will is for everyone to accept Jesus as their savior, to repent and turn toward God. Not everyone does. God’s will is still the same. God will never change your will to obtain His own will. Each person’s will is always going to be their own. We can never take anyone’s life that has passed away from illness and say, “It must be God’s will.” We will always have to rightly divide the word and see where we went wrong, and correct ourselves.

As we live this life and suffer according to God’s will, we must know that suffering, is Christ’s kind of suffering, not sickness and disease, and if we study the scriptures we will see, Christ suffered persecution for His belief. Not one case of sickness did He suffer. He healed all that were sick that believed in Him. He bore sickness and diseases on the cross. We are to use Him as our guide that is one of the reasons He came to walk on the earth.

If you are suffering for Christ be sure it is not sickness and disease. You do NOT have to accept sickness and disease.

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