{"id":8790,"date":"2023-09-29T20:09:24","date_gmt":"2023-09-29T20:09:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=8790"},"modified":"2023-09-29T20:21:23","modified_gmt":"2023-09-29T20:21:23","slug":"suffering-according-to-the-power-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/?p=8790","title":{"rendered":"Suffering according to the power of God"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cTherefore\u00a0do not be ashamed of the\u00a0testimony of our Lord or of me\u00a0His prisoner, but join with\u00a0me\u00a0in\u00a0suffering for the\u00a0gospel according to the power of God<\/strong><\/em>\u201d 2 Timothy 1:8<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know how often I have read 2 Timothy, but this verse recently jumped out at me, as if for the first time. I come from a faith tradition that does not preach or teach much on suffering; I know some who do teach about this topic, but it makes sense to me why it’s not an extremely popular or sought after subject. Who wants to be reminded of suffering<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Here I go, anyway.<\/p>\n

This phrase in 2 Timothy 1:8 kept rumbling around inside of me\u2014suffering for the gospel according to the power of God<\/em>\u2014and then shortened to simply suffering\u2026according to the power of God<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I thought of the apostle who wrote this letter to Timothy and how his entire life as a believer in Jesus was punctuated with suffering.<\/p>\n

I love comfort. I told God that. But being a realist, I recognize that this life has its share of suffering, and no one is exempt. Whether the suffering comes in the form of rejection, mockery, lack, pain, illness, loneliness, or any number of other sources, it struck me that there is a way<\/em> to suffer according to the power of God. Therefore, if I am to undergo suffering of any kind, I choose to do so according to the power of God.<\/p>\n

Psalm 91:15 reveals an amazing statement from God. It declares, \u201cI will be with you in trouble<\/em>\u201d. If you are IN trouble of any sort, know this for certain: That is exactly<\/em> where the Living God is as well. He is WITH YOU. IN TROUBLE. He\u2019s not like so many whose instinct is to ditch you at the first whiff of difficulty. NO. He\u2019s right there with you in the middle of your trouble. Where you suffer. And if you dare to believe that, then you will be empowered to suffer according to the power of God, a suffering in which the Almighty bears the brunt of your pain and will turn it all around for your good. Why? Because HE\u2019S good.<\/p>\n

In August of 2003 I underwent bypass surgery to correct an anomalous right coronary artery. When I awoke in ICU, it felt like my chest had been crushed by an 18-wheeler. Immediately the Scripture came to me, \u201cHe was wounded for our transgressions. He was CRUSHED for our iniquities<\/em>\u201d (Isaiah 53:5a). And I experienced (as I was waking up from a 14 hour stretch of unconsciousness) the Lord\u2019s<\/em> crushing in place of mine. My pain was still there, but I was keenly aware of the intense pain He endured for all of us and mine became miniscule in comparison. Without being aware of 2 Timothy 1:8, I had entered into suffering according to the power of God.<\/p>\n

And today I was reading Hebrews 2. In verse 17 I read that He was made to be like all of us in all things (the Greek meaning of \u201cwas made to be\u201d is He \u201cwas obligated to be<\/em>\u201d. That means if He refused to be made like us in all things, then none of us would ever taste the freedom of being forgiven and cleansed or the joy of experiencing the love of God and eternal life with Him. For us to be fully accepted in Christ, He was obligated<\/em> to become human\u2026and hence, to suffer like we suffer\u2014and beyond.<\/p>\n

Hebrews 2:18 continues, \u201cFor since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is something about suffering that is readily linked to being tempted. Resisting temptation carries a form of suffering\u2014you refuse to pamper or give into whatever is luring you to disobey God. However, I saw something deeper here as well. Suffering of all varieties brings with it great temptation to be outraged at God and ditch HIM for all kinds of reasons. \u201cWhy did this happen? I PRAYED!\u201d \u201cWhy won\u2019t this go away? I don\u2019t get it! I did everything the Bible says to do and I still hurt (lack, feel depressed, am lonely, etc.)\u201d<\/p>\n

Jesus was tempted in the very things He<\/em> suffered. Don\u2019t think He wasn\u2019t tempted like we are when we suffer to scream, cry, yell, question God and tell Him off, slap faces, punch holes in the wall, kick the dog or cat, and throw an absolute hissy fit and a great big pity party! But He didn\u2019t. Why not? Because He suffered according to the power of God. And in that, He conquered temptation and never gave in to a bit of it.<\/p>\n

This verse goes on to say that as a result of His temptation in the things He suffered (and the inferred overcoming<\/em> of it all), He is ABLE\u2014He has the POWER\u2014to come to the aid of all those who are tempted. That includes you.<\/p>\n

Are you in the middle of some kind of suffering that is tempting you to question your faith and everything you know about God? Then you qualify to receive His ability and His power<\/em> to aid, assist, and support you right where you are, in whatever condition you find yourself.<\/p>\n

The victory is not<\/em> in avoiding suffering altogether (although He so often is gracious to cause us to bypass it), nor is the victory in how short<\/em> the suffering lasts (although He frequently brings about quick deliverances).<\/p>\n

The victory IS found by fixing our eyes on Jesus despite<\/em> whatever we may be suffering, and to know that the Greater One IS at work in our lives and that He will<\/em> turn this whole situation around for good. Press on despite it all. Victory IS yours.<\/p>\n

This is how you suffer according to the power of God.<\/p>\n

Dorothy<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2023, Dorothy Frick<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cTherefore\u00a0do not be ashamed of the\u00a0testimony of our Lord or of me\u00a0His prisoner, but join with\u00a0me\u00a0in\u00a0suffering for the\u00a0gospel according to the power of God\u201d 2 Timothy 1:8 I don\u2019t know how often I have read 2 Timothy, but this verse recently jumped out at me, as if for the first time. I come from a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-walk","category-prayerperspective"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8790"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8794,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8790\/revisions\/8794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}