The Purpose of His Sufferings

We know that the Lord has suffered once and for all for us. Don’t ever think that you are alone in those sufferings. The Lord suffered for you.

We will not immediately walk into a life without pain or into the life we ​​seek when we serve God. That is fiction and fantasy for me because that is not the plan of God. The plan of God is for us to pass through so many trials and hardships before we can enter into the Kingdom of God.

It is biblical and we will now look at Acts 14:22, which reads, “Confirming 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.”

God has purposes for our suffering. He said that so we could enter the kingdom of God and eventually know what God’s purposes really are.

John 16:33 says, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

The Lord did not say to this world, “You will have no more sufferings because you are with me.”

So for others who are preaching the Gospel of Ease, the Gospel of Pleasure that when you come to the Lord Jesus Christ, all of your problems are going to be dissolved, that is pure fantasy and that is not biblical because it was the Lord who said, “In this world, you shall have tribulation.”

But what else did He say? He said, “Do not be discouraged.” He said, “Be of good cheer.”

And then, we are given the promise when the Lord said, “I have overcome the world. I have conquered the world. ”

It means that no matter how great your trials, your hardships, and your sufferings are, these will not prevail against you because the Lord when He came here, had already overcome the tribulation that you are going through right now.

So do not be overcome by the sufferings you are experiencing because that will not prevail against you. All you have to do is be strong.

The Lord said that while you live in this world, the devil is the king of this world. He rules the world we live in and the Lord knows that. So He said, in this world, you will have tribulation.

There are only two things that He said that should strengthen our hearts. Be strong because no trials will win against you. Why? Because the Lord said, “I have overcome the world.”

Take courage because sufferings will pass

Those who follow Him will win. Why is it that sometimes when a child of God has sufferings, he is defeated? Because he is cowardly. When there are trials and tribulations that come into his life, he becomes discouraged and then he blames the Lord.

You should not do that. If in any part of your faith, you have tribulation, you have to stay.

Take courage for sufferings will only pass through your life. And one day you will find that you can prevail against any trials. What does Luke 8:13 say?  “They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.

When temptation comes into your life, you will suffer. You will have a hard time because temptation means you will be tempted in all things to get you out of your faith. Who will tempt you? The devil. You will be tested, and the devil will test you to get you out of the faith and return to the world.

But sometimes the temptation comes from God. Not so that you can backslide, not so that you can return to the world, but so that you can become more purified and strengthened in your faith in Him.

So it is inevitable that when we listen to the Word of God when we receive the Word of God, the temptation in our lives will come immediately, that is why let us wait for it.

And then stand firm, be strong, and say, “The Lord has overcome the world. Whatever temptation I go through, it will only disappear one day and the Lord will still reign in my life.”

Let’s look at what 1 Peter 4:1 says. “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind; for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin.”

Why Suffering is Necessary

The meaning of suffering in the flesh is that you no longer want to follow the request of your flesh. The desire of your flesh, not just sometimes, but many times, leads to sin.

Your flesh says, commit adultery. Your flesh says, do it, but it’s not God’s will. Most of the time, what our flesh says always deviates from the Will of God. But when we do not follow it, we suffer in the flesh.  We suffer so we stop sinning.

After we have entered the Kingdom of God we must stop sinning. For example, if you are a lesbian, and you have entered the Kingdom of God, your nature as a lesbian is still rooted there.

But God said, get rid of your lesbianism so you will suffer in the flesh and you will suffer and many temptations will come to you. Those lesbian friends of yours back then are going to tempt you and persecute you. They will do everything to deviate you from the path of God and bring you back to sin and to the world. You need to take courage because the Lord is in you.

You want to change and you’re gay.  Go on, brother, because the Lord has overcome the world and you who are suffering in the flesh have stopped your sin. The flesh must suffer, the flesh must be crucified because the one who has suffered in the flesh has stopped his sin.

What does John 3:30 say? It says, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

When the Lord comes into our lives, our lives should no longer be seen. What should be seen is the Lord. What did He say?  What we need to see is Jesus Christ. We disappear every day.

Before, what can be seen is you. What was your reputation? You were arrogant, boastful, a womanizer, a gambler.  When the Lord came into your life, one by one, all of that disappeared.

And what is seen now is no longer you. Humility, holiness, and righteousness can now be seen in your life. Who is that? Jesus Christ.

So you set aside the flesh, you set aside yourself. You are suffering because God is letting the flesh suffer. So you suffered but you accept it as God’s will because you don’t want to be the one to be seen now. What you want to be seen in your life is Jesus Christ.

Suffering teaches us Humility

A child of God experiences so much tribulation and it is meant to bring him down. To make him low. It is so he can humble himself. Why? For Jesus Christ to be seen in him.

Remember this: When someone comes to the Lord and he is still seen, he must be crucified. He must go through tribulation, his old self must die and Jesus Christ must be seen in him.

What does John 15: 2 say? If we look again at the Scriptures it says,

Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

All the branches in us that are without fruit are cut off. It’s called pruning. So the body of Christ, as branches of His true body, must undergo pruning.

I used to be a farmer. Every three months, there is pruning happening on our coffee farm. What we use is a sharp bolo to cut off those worthless branches and then throw them away so that the trunk will become cleaner and more fruitful.

Maybe if the coffee tree could just speak, it would have said, “Ouch!” Do you sometimes get hurt when preaching the Word of God? Does your pride hurt? When your pride is hurt, your pride is cut off.

In the Lord, there is no worldly pride.  So in the Kingdom, you may have doctors or lawyers next to you, but you don’t know them as doctors or lawyers because you don’t see them as such. What you see in them is Jesus Christ.

The soul has no degree before God. Before God, we all are equally in need of salvation.  We all need salvation. We are all equal before the Lord so in the body of Christ, those who do not have fruits in our ministry are cut off.

Cutting off hurts but it is needed. That is why when we go through sufferings.  Everything that is not good in us is cut off.

God trains us to call on Him through suffering

For example, if you are experiencing suffering now, God is training you to call on Him more because you did not know how to call on Him back then. When you have a need back then, who do you call? The devil. Curses come out of your mouth.

God does not want that now so you are sent through sufferings and need again so that now, you will kneel.

And God meant for it that whoever you go to is no answer as long as you are facing a person. You go to your neighbor, nothing. You go to your neighbor, your friend, your relatives, nothing. What does that mean, Child of God?

That means you must go into your room. “Kneel down unto Me and call Me,” the Lord said. Now you see you’re a child of God. You can no longer curse, you can’t speak defiantly against God’s will. You’re preventing yourself from coming back to your old self.

What does the Lord mean by the tribulation that has come into your life? He trains you to kneel. “Starting today,”  He says, “you should call Me. You should only believe in Me. You’ll only worship Me.”

After you kneeled, you had faith in Him, He gave you what you needed. What does the Lord mean? From now on that’s what you’re going to do.

This is what he is telling you, “I’m your Father, if you need something, Come here my child. Lean on Me. The pain you are experiencing is good for you.”

Do you know that there are sufferings that are good? And some sufferings are unpleasant?

Some struggles are good. For a child of God, the sufferings are good because they kneel more, and the more they will cry and call the Lord. The Lord loves that very much.

So when you are on your knees, and you are praying because you have a need or you are being insulted, the Lord said, don’t retaliate. Don’t say, “May the lightning strike you.” Is it God’s command that when you have an enemy, you would say, “You will be blinded?” You are not with the Lord when you say that. That is the work of the devil.

When you obey the Lord, restrain and endure in the flesh.  Kneel and the Lord says, don’t just pray for him, bless him.

When you are persecuted, and you are a child of God, He teaches you to obey His Will. You must kneel down. You haven’t done it before, but now you will.

Before, you cursed your enemy.  You even wanted to kill, but now, the Lord says that you are already for me.  Your pride has endured; your flesh has endured so you knelt down. You haven’t done it before but you pray for him to change his life.

Your Pastor has been called many names: “You are the devil! You are the son of Satan! You are worse than the NPA!”

I have been told that many times but, what did your Pastor do? I obeyed the command of our Lord.  My pride is gone, it’s dead.  Pastor Quiboloy will no longer retaliate word for word.

We seek truth and justice, but we follow the Will of God.  

And many of our enemies are now with us in faith because Lord said “Pray for them.” Because those who went against us and did not change, even though the Lord pleaded with them. After the Spirit of the Lord listened to us, the Lord went to him and then pleaded with him through many circumstances in his life. The Lord begged, yet he did not listen to the Lord. Their destination is pitiful.

What does the Lord say here in Romans for these kinds of works? Let’s read what Romans chapter 2:1-3 reads:

“Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things

But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them who commit such things.

And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;”

Let me repeat what He said, “thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.”

You judge and then said, be blind, be deaf, be crippled. Now the judgment went back to you, and your only child was taken.

I will say to you, it is the Will of God, but that is a judgment against those who are judgemental to their own selves. So don’t judge. What do we do to those who oppress us? We kneel and say, “Lord, enlighten his mind.”

Jesus Christ learned obedience through suffering

Even the Lord Jesus Christ learned obedience through the things that He suffered.

Let’s look at Hebrews 5:8, which says, “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;”

Are you suffering now? Don’t lose hope, don’t lose patience, and don’t lose your smile.

Are you suffering because you feel suffocated? Because you’re being persecuted? Because those who persecute you are your own household?

Be patient. Don’t be discouraged. Be strong. In this world, you will have sufferings and you will have sorrow, but know that is for your own good.

The Best Years in this Ministry

I have served the seed of faith, I will praise only Jesus Christ, and I will only follow Jesus Christ.

We were oppressed, we were persecuted left and right. And my companions and I ate bananas for years. Bananas in the morning, at noon, and in the evening.  We endured it, but we didn’t blame the Lord.

When I wasn’t in the seed of faith yet, many times I ate steak, and I ate delicious food in hotels. But when I began to serve Him, imagine, for years, bananas. I still loved it, because I knew my faith was in Him.

When we were made to suffer by the Lord like that, I did not go to my neighbors and say, “I surrender. Persecutors, forgive me, I have made a mistake in following the Lord. Lend me some rice. ”

I did not look up to heaven and blame the Lord, and say, “Lord, look because of you I only eat bananas now.” What did I do? If was happy back then that I ate steak, I was even happier now that I was eating bananas because I knew I was in the Perfect Will of the Lord.

There are no better years in this ministry than those years that the Lord was with us, though we were oppressed, persecuted, and ate only bananas. I thank God for that training. For then the Lord sent me, saying, “Son, you do not know My children, they do not know you too. But I will introduce them to you, there are many here in the Philippines.”

Tribulation and Suffering brought David back to God

Are you enduring financial hardship? Do you suffer from a lack of money? Be happy. What you should do when there is no food on your table? Go into your room and face God’s table and give thanks and cry and say, “Praise God. Lord, thank you because I am in fellowship with Your sufferings.”

What, does Psalms 119:67 say? “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep thy word.”

David went astray from the path of God. He was so happy in sin, there was no God in his mind. He even committed adultery with Bathsheba.

He no longer paid attention to God. He was given suffering. His son died, then his other son, Absalom, usurped his throne and took all his property. And He was now being chased by the king of Israel. He ran to the mountains.

But tribulation and sufferings are what brought him back to God’s path and he repented. “Lord, I repent, I will return to Your path.”

You who are now lost in the path of God have so much suffering. You may be cold in your faith and now you are in sickness. Be thankful for that sickness of yours because that will bring you before God so that you can serve Him again.

Did persecution and poverty urge you to serve the Lord again? Thank that persecution, thank that poverty. That’s God’s Will.

God wants us to reign with Him

God wants you to reign with Him. Let’s look at what 2 Timothy 2:12 says, “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:”

If we are not faithful, He will remain faithful because He cannot deny Himself.

Now, if you’re suffering because of your service to the Lord, one day you’ll reign with Him. Here on earth and in heaven, you will reign with Him.

The first thing the Lord will do to you is give you financial sufferings. When you say, “Lord, I want financial blessings,” everything will be taken away. Why?

God will see your reaction if you don’t have money, so he can see if you can be trusted with what you ask for or not.

When you don’t have money, you get irritable. The joy of the Lord is gone from you. You start swearing, even your child got affected, and you start beating him though he’s not at fault.

How you react when you ran out of money is God’s guide whether you will be blessed or not.

But about those who blame God, the Lord will say to the angels, “Don’t go to that house. Do not bring blessings there. That’s not worth it. He’s only good when he has money.”

But if you go to church like you still have a lot of money, the Lord will say,” He, must be blessed.” That is worthy of blessings.  God will tell the angels, “That’s where you should go because he stays with me even if he can only eat bananas. That’s righteousness for me. He deserves a blessing.”

God will not separate us from His blessings if we are righteous before Him. If we are suffering with Him for the sake of service, for the sake of the Lord, do not be surprised one day if the blessing does not leave your home because you will reign with Him.

In 2 Corinthians 4:17, we read, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;”

Paul called his service a light affliction. What did Paul go through? He got ship-wrecked, three times, and he floated in the ocean.

What sufferings did Paul speak of? They were stoned together with Barnabas and Silas, and there were only a few of them that were left. He was imprisoned three times. He died for the sake of Christ.

He equaled it to eternal glory. Imagine, you will be raptured. This body of yours will be replaced by a body that will never die. Even here, God will do that.

What you should see is the glory waiting for you. All you have to do now is endure and thank God for the sufferings you are enduring.

What does Deuteronomy 8:2-3 say?

“And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or no.”

And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord.”

In verse 2, He said to the Israelites, “Remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee, forty years in the wilderness, that He might humble thee.”

The Lord tested them in order for Him to know what was in their hearts. Whether they would still follow the Lord or not.

Will you pass or not? Those who did not pass are those who complained. They blamed the Lord, forgot the Lord, and wavered in their faith.

In times of suffering, let us be with Him. That is when we should hold on stronger to the Lord and the fruits of the Spirit will grow stronger. He will look at you and say, “You are worthy of the blessing I will give.”

That is the purpose of suffering. When you serve God, the first thing you need to know is your friend, Mr. Suffering. Second, Ms. Endurance. And third, Mr. Persecution. Don’t drive them away. They’re your friends. They will help you in all your walks as a child of God.