One’s suffering changes others
So when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your benefit and salvation! For when God comforts us, it is so that we, in turn, can be an encouragement to you.
Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. (2 Cor. 1:6 NLT)
Hello Saints,
I am continually growing and learning how to walk out the word of God in my life. The more I do, the more I realize how much more I need to learn to walk out. Every so often God gives us experiences that make the word come alive – or should I say reveals how popular verses are truly applied in one’s life. I’m going to share an example I recently experienced this past Saturday.
I have a friend who has been battling cancer for 15 years now. It’s been a long difficult journey for him and his family as one cancer is treated with chemo or radiation and shortly after, another form springs up. He’s been in and out of hospitals, receiving treatments, feeling like a human “guinea pig” at the mercy of the doctors trying desperately to help him. Recently, after a new form of treatment he received bad news that the cancer had spread, so he was admitted back to the hospital. I understand that this is common for many cancer patients. Many, many people have been praying for him. He is surrounded by a large Christian community/family who has embarked on this journey with him and his family. He and his wife have really been through the ringer with major physical afflictions over the last twenty plus years. They are a beautiful Christian couple whose faith has been strong the whole way through, continually hanging on to God’s word and believing for breakthrough.
This week, I felt a strong sense to go visit him in the hospital – a nudge from Holy Spirit. On Saturday I saw him and got an update on his condition. He is a gentle, kind, soft-spoken man in his fifties who radiates Christ. The doctors and nursing staff have been journeying with him for fifteen years. They are completely invested into his care and healing and literally cry with him when they have to give him the bad news that the treatment didn’t work. After a 40-minute conversation, another friend of his arrived, and once we chatted a bit, it was time for prayer. The two of us visitors knelt on each side of the bed and held hands with our mutual friend. I cannot describe what happened other than with this verse, “For where two or three gather together because they are mine, I am there among them” (Matt. 18:20 NLT). Jesus was in the room! We began to weep for our brother who lay there helpless completely surrendered to the Lord’s will for his life. Whether he lived or died was not his priority. He was more concerned for the salvation of his children as this journey had really rocked their faith. He was concerned for his wife who had endured so much and wondered if this was the time she would lose him. We cried out to God for mercy, for deliverance, for healing! What else could we do? It was holy ground and we knew God was listening as He had been all along the fifteen-year journey.
I said my goodbyes with tears still in my eyes and returned home. A couple hours later my wife read me a Facebook post someone put on his page. It was thanking my friend and his wife for “welcoming all of us to take this journey with you”. It acknowledged how we have all been humbled by how this couple has continued to thank and praise God through all their suffering, and their willingness to submit to God’s will through prayerful guidance. She also acknowledged how “all of us have struggled alongside you trusting God in difficult circumstance” and how our own faith has been tested as we wrestled with “Why Lord?” as we pleaded on their behalf.
Last night I received an email from another beautiful Christian couple who are going through a similar journey. Sickness is no respecter of persons – it affects people of all ages and causes great anguish for all those involved. But God! When we “weep with those who weep” and “suffer with the other parts of the body of Christ”, carrying each other’s burdens and travailing in prayer for one another, the sickness is never in vain. Satan may think he is winning, but we know that “our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2Cor. 4:17). Dare I say it? But it must be said! “God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them” (Rom. 8:28). That experience changed me! My friend’s journey through this trial is changing people, increasing their faith, uniting a myriad of people together in a common purpose, driving people to their knees in intimate communion with the living God, developing perseverance, compassion, empathy and unity in the Spirit. The one we believe needs the ministry is actually ministering to all of us through his affliction – “it is for your benefit and salvation…so that we, in turn, can be an encouragement to you”. God uses the one who needs healing to bring healing to others. He is so awesome and worthy of praise. His ways are not our ways, but they are the only way to accomplish what needs to be done. Father knows best. I am sure you all have stories of how God is changing lives through the suffering of His children. Share them with each other!
He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. You can be sure that the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. So when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your benefit and salvation! For when God comforts us, it is so that we, in turn, can be an encouragement to you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. We are confident that as you share in suffering, you will also share God's comfort. I think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and completely overwhelmed, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we learned not to rely on ourselves, but on God who can raise the dead. (2Cor. 1:4-9)
Peace and Joy to you all!
"Advancing the Kingdom of God by releasing Spirit-filled followers to serve Jesus in freedom and joy."
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