The Lord has been speaking to my heart that I am now entering into a new phase of ministry…
Starting several months into next year, God is going to be expanding the outreach of my testimony, and this for His glory. However, He has also been warning me, and it has already begun, that I am going to suffer. This suffering will be of the mental and emotional kind rather than physical.
Even some Christians, whom I have known for many years, will be turning against me for no logical reasons. Inexplicable things will happen. Many spiritual struggles lay ahead. But after a long season of these struggles and conflicts, huge victories will be achieved. God's work will be advanced.
Godly men and women of old have undergone such trials. So have many saints today. I am no exception. Therefore, the “Son of Hope” may, for a season, have to become the
“Son of Suffering.”
This is not something I want, nor am I looking forward to more hardships. It is simply the cost of following the Lord Jesus, who was the greatest Sufferer of us all. He was a “man of sorrows” who was well acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3). After all, what is my life to be but a “living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1). And God is faithful. He will not allow me to handle more than I could bear.
Besides, I cannot tell God what to do or not to do. He is the Potter, and I am merely the clay in His hands (Isaiah 64:8). Thus, I am learning, too, to accept everything that comes my way as His will. I know that, ultimately, good will result.
D.B.
Even some Christians, whom I have known for many years, will be turning against me for no logical reasons. Inexplicable things will happen. Many spiritual struggles lay ahead. But after a long season of these struggles and conflicts, huge victories will be achieved. God's work will be advanced.
Godly men and women of old have undergone such trials. So have many saints today. I am no exception. Therefore, the “Son of Hope” may, for a season, have to become the
“Son of Suffering.”
This is not something I want, nor am I looking forward to more hardships. It is simply the cost of following the Lord Jesus, who was the greatest Sufferer of us all. He was a “man of sorrows” who was well acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3). After all, what is my life to be but a “living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1). And God is faithful. He will not allow me to handle more than I could bear.
Besides, I cannot tell God what to do or not to do. He is the Potter, and I am merely the clay in His hands (Isaiah 64:8). Thus, I am learning, too, to accept everything that comes my way as His will. I know that, ultimately, good will result.
D.B.