He saved you He saved me What about others?

The transformative rejection

It's always hard to see through the walls of pain, rejection and some sort of suffering. I think most of us hate suffering. I am not sure there is a single human being that loves to be in pain. I for one, hate to be in any kind of inconvenience. Some issues remind us of what we might have been able to escape, but sometimes it seems life tightens its grip and we cannot evade its grasp.

Sometimes we are accepted, most times we are rejected. I wish being Christian was easy and without pain and suffering. I used to think if you were the best Christian, you'd go all your life without any kind of pain whatsoever. Regardless of the great strides we might be making towards expanding the kingdom of God, none of us deserve anything from God. We receive in humility and in mercy.

  If Christ endured the cross, why do we have to suffer the loss of losing loved ones and why do we have to bear the pain of losing the most significant things in our lives?

 Lu 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

(KJV)

I like that there's a cross one must bear every day. It's not a general cross. Every one of us have something we need to sacrifice. It might be sacrificing toxic relationships; might be sacrificing addictions. There's a cross to take up every day and that in itself makes us stronger in God.

 Eph 6:10 ¶ Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

(KJV)

The scripture above emphasizes on our need to be strong. While we depend on God for strength, we need to have a certain amount of strength. Enduring through hardship enables us to become strong. Challenges make us strong and they make us minimize every other voice that seems to shut out the voice of God.

 It's not easy to hear the voice of God. So many things fight us. Every morning I have to battle with my flesh in order to spend some time with God. It's a personal struggle. Perhaps there's many that don't have such a challenge, and I want to get to such a place. So every day, I pray, in spite of my challenges to stay awake.

  Mr 14:38 Watch ye and pray, lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.

(KJV)

The flesh is truly weak but the spirit is always ready. The problem we have as people is that of an undisciplined flesh. That is our main problem. A lot of times we contend with the devil on issues that are really issues of the flesh. Not everything is Satan-related in spite of the devil being the main enemy. 

1Co 9:27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

(KJV)

Paul had a problem with his flesh. This particular issue was not a devil-related conflict. Paul had a problem with his flesh just like most of us do. He realized if he didn't do anything about his flesh, he could get humiliated by it. 

In my former years as a recent convert, my flesh disappointed me in so many ways. Now you'd think Paul, as mighty as he was must have mastered the art of dealing appropriately with his flesh, but no, he also had to deal with it cautiously.  

James 5:17 Amplified Bible (AMP)

17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours [with the same physical, mental, and spiritual limitations and shortcomings], and he prayed [a]intensely for it not to rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.

Elijah had weaknesses and limitations. Weaknesses and failing turn us away from doing the things of God, and it brings discouragement. God knows that He sent weak men on the field. We need supernatural power to help us in fulfilling all that God has called us to be.