It is critical that we correctly diagnose the cause of our suffering so that we can respond appropriately. In this message, we’ll look at the four primary causes of suffering in the life of the believer, and how we should respond in each instance.
Transcription (automatically-generated):
So, as I mentioned last week, we're taking a break from our study through the Book of Acts to talk about the subject of suffering. We have a much higher percentage per capita than most churches do of people in our church who are suffering in some way with a trial, emotional, mental, physical, infirmity, something like that. And so, we wanted to tackle the question, what should suffer? Suffering loved like in the life of a Christian? And last week we learned that humanity's collective sin is why pain, suffering, and evil exist in our broken world.
And we were reminded just how good God is, because instead of leaving us in the mess that we had made, he entered our suffering, laid down his life to provide hope, restore our relationship with Him, and offer a gloriously different eternity from the death that we were destined for. Next week, we're going to talk about some practical steps we can take as individuals to endure a season of suffering. Well, as a follower of Jesus, but also as part of a local church, this week we're going to talk about diagnosing the cause of our sufferings. And while talking about remedies and solutions for suffering is good, any doctor will tell you it's vital to first diagnose the problem before you begin to treat it. Otherwise, you may end up taking cough drops for a headache or a sleep aid for tendinitis in the same way.
And this is going to be your first fill-in. When we are suffering, it is wise to identify the specific cause of our suffering. When we are suffering, it is wise to identify the specific cause of our suffering. Last week, we talked about why suffering exists at all. This week, we want to talk about identifying the specific cause of our individual sufferings.
Because how we need to respond to our suffering depends entirely upon the cause of our suffering. And I want to suggest today there are four primary causes of suffering in the believer's life. First, suffering can be caused by living in a fallen world. If you missed last week's message, I hope you'll go online and listen to it, because it's important we live in a fallen world. And because we do, things like cancer exist, car crashes happen, people do evil things to other people, spouses cheat and walk out on each other. Hardworking people lose their jobs. Stuff breaks down. I've seen many Christians experience angst as they try to understand why something bad has happened in their lives when sometimes the answer is just that we live in a fallen world where bad things happen. And there's nothing more to it than that Christian. We must understand that this is not heaven.
This is not heaven. We should not expect this to be the place where everything is right and good and goes the way it should. It's not. We're not there yet. Praise God.
One day we will be in that place and that's why for 2000 years heaven has filled the heart of the believer with hope. For those who belong to Christ, this life is not the end. And so, when things don't work out great down here, that's okay. That's okay because we know where we're going. There's a reason that slaves who loved the Lord didn't write songs about overcoming in this life.
They wrote I'll fly away, O glory, I'll fly away when I die, hallelujah. By and by I'll fly away. Many Christians also don't realize that the Bible does not teach that everything happens for a reason. Do you know this? The Bible doesn't say that.
And if we think it does, then we will be horribly confused when certain bad things happen in our lives. Because we will think, why would God make this happen? The Bible doesn't teach that everything happens for a reason. But praise God. The Bible does teach that God does something good in every circumstance of a believer's life.
In Romans 8:28, our brother Paul tells us that all things work together for the ultimate good of those who love God. In other words, whether we're going through a good time or the worst time of our lives, God can and does do something good practically, spiritually, emotionally, in your life, or in the life of someone around you. God will do something good even when things are bad. And that's profound because it's a promise from God that the believer's suffering is never meaningless, never meaningless. Nothing is wasted.
The non-believer has no such promise. And unless their suffering leads them to Christ, their suffering is meaningless. It's meaningless. When we suffer from living in a fallen world, we should take heart that God is working something good in every circumstance. We should rejoice in the hope of heaven and follow the counsel of our brother Peter to cast all our cares upon Jesus because he cares for us.
Our God is as Paul described him, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.
Secondly, suffering can be caused - write this down - suffering can be caused by the natural consequences of our actions. Ouch. Suffering can be caused by the natural consequences of our actions. The Bible talks about the principle of loving and reaping. This is what Paul told the Galatians: "Don't be deceived. God is not mocked for whatever a person, sows he will also reap." This is a law that God has established in the universe. Our actions have consequences for better or worse. The Bible teaches that sin leads to death. And not only does sin lead to death eternally for those who reject Christ, but sin produces death in any area of our life where we allow it to reign any area of our life where we allow sin to call the shots. Even if we're a Christian.
If we're experiencing suffering and pain in any area of our life, we must honestly examine ourselves and ask questions like, "Am I obeying the Lord in this area of my life? Is there sin in this area of my life that I need to repent and turn away from?" If we're not obeying the Lord in that area of life, if we need to repent, we're fooling ourselves by looking for an alternative explanation for our suffering. Because the truth is, we're just looking for a way to have the suffering end where we still get to hold on to our precious sin. That's what I'm really looking for. A second opinion? Yeah. Is there a version of this where I can just keep loving this sin, but also have the suffering it's causing stop. That's what I'm really looking for. Because if our sin is the cause of our suffering, then only dealing with that sin will alleviate our suffering.
If we're suffering because we are experiencing the natural consequences of our sin, we need to repent. It's that simple. Don't grab someone and say, "Oh, can you pray for me, brother or sister, that the suffering would end?" Don't do that when you know the reason it's happening is because you're sinning. The solution is to repent and turn away from it.
Sometimes we have repented of that sin. We have turned away from it. But those natural consequences don't just vanish when we repent. Wouldn't that be great if they did? Right?
But they don't. Repentance brings rest and peace to our souls and comfort to our minds. It draws us closer to the God who comforts us. It prevents there being this barrier of sin between us and God. But oftentimes the natural consequences of our sins are felt for a long time, sometimes even the rest of our lives.
In those situations, I think we need to allow ourselves to be broken over the pain that sin causes. When we're reminded by the consequences of our old sins, the devastating effect that sin has on our lives, that should make us grieve over how prevalent sin is in our world. It should make us hate the sin that is inside of us and want to do everything we can to not be ruled or led by it in our lives. We want to learn from experiencing the fallout of rejecting God's ways in favor of our own. And when we allow the pain caused by the consequences of our sin to break us, it stirs our love for Christ because we grow in our appreciation that he died to set us free from the power of sin.
He died so that we could have the option to not just fall into it over and over and over again and have our lives destroyed by it. And he died to lead us into an eternity where we will be completely free from it. So, if you're suffering from the natural consequences of sins that you've already repented for, you've already turned away from, let that suffering remind you of the devastating effects of sin. Let it cause you to hate sin in your life and grow in your love for Jesus, who sets you free from the power of sin to control your life and let it grow. Your longing for the time and the place where you will be completely free from sin.
Now, other times, the issue isn't sin, it's just foolishness. We just make dumb decisions sometimes. And those dumb decisions, bad decisions that aren't necessarily sinful, well, they also have natural consequences. If the check engine light comes on in your car and you ignore it for nine months, we've got no business questioning God when the mechanic says, yeah, this is really bad. If you had brought it in when the light first came on, it would have been a much smaller repair.
Oh, Lord. Why me? The Lord has a word for you. It's maintenance. That's the word.
Okay? If you get fired from your job because you're late 80% of the time, you're not a victim of living in a fallen world. You shouldn't look up to the heavens and say, "Why me, God? Is it because I'm a Christian?" You're just a bad employee.
That's why you got fired. Okay? If you're suffering because you keep making foolish and bad decisions, then stop doing that. Stop hanging around with people who help you make bad decisions. Stop going to places where it's easy to make bad decisions.
Stop listening to people who give bad advice. Become wise. And how does one become wise? Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived other than Jesus wrote, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and discipline."
Wisdom begins by submitting your life to Christ as Lord, meaning that what he says goes. David, whom the Bible calls a man after God's own heart, wrote, "The instruction of the Lord is perfect. Renewing one's life. The testimony of the Lord is trustworthy. Making the inexperienced wise..." I love that.
Making the inexperienced wise. Here's what that means. It doesn't matter if you're ten years old. Wisdom is found in the word of God. It doesn't matter if you were raised with parents who weren't all that great, people in your life who didn't set a good example.
Read the word, study the word, learn it, know it, understand it, apply it to your life, and you will become wise. God promises it. And our brother James wrote, if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given to him. Ask the Lord for wisdom. If you desire to please and obey the Lord and walk in his ways, and you ask Him for wisdom so that you can do that, he'll give it to you.
He will give it to you. Now. Thirdly, suffering can be caused - write this down - by the will of God. Suffering can be caused by the will of God. While we may not like it, God will sometimes use suffering as a tool.
As we talked about last week, we know from Scripture, we know from the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. We know from his work in our lives that God is good. And when he uses suffering as a tool in our lives, he does so for a good reason. That is what Paul called in Romans 828, our ultimate good. Remember, this is huge if you don't know this.
God's greatest concern is not our comfort. It's making us more like Christ. God's greatest concern is not our comfort. It's making us more like Christ. And that process is called sanctification.
And sanctification is good for us. Being made more like Jesus is good for us because becoming more like Jesus means more joy, more peace, and more love in my life. Scripture says that Jesus, when he was on the earth, was anointed with the oil of gladness more than all his fellows. He's the happiest man who ever lived. It's the path to the most fulfilled life you can have on the earth.
Becoming more like Jesus - sanctification - means you'll live more profitably. You'll live with greater purpose because you'll be serving God, storing up treasure in heaven, devoting your life to things that will matter for eternity. And becoming more like Jesus means that God will entrust you with greater responsibilities when you reign with Him in the ages to come. Now, God may cause us to experience suffering for the purpose of purification. We know that God wants us to become more like Jesus.
But how do we actually know if we're becoming more like Jesus? You've probably heard the old illustration that we're all like a tube of toothpaste. When the squeeze is on, what comes out? Whatever is inside the tube. And I have to just ask here just to know if I'm the only one. Does anybody else go to war with their spouse over getting the last bit of toothpaste out the tube so that you're not the one who has to get the new tube?
Or is this only me and my wife? It's just us. Okay, I'll let you know. It's serious in our house. Like, you will hear, like, grunting from the bathroom, because the winner is the person who forces the other person to get the new tube of toothpaste.
So... We really are that cheap? Yes. But when the squeeze is on whatever is in the tube, that's what comes out. And so too, for us, when we are placed under pressure and under stress in life, whatever comes out of us in those circumstances reveals what's really inside of us. The Bible talks about this process being like gold.
That is purified. And the way gold was traditionally purified is by being passed through a fire heated up to incredible temperatures where the impurities, called "the dross", they rise to the surface as the gold melted, and then the goldsmith can just skim them off, loving only purified gold. We need seasons in life where it is revealed whether we truly believe what we claim to believe. And those seasons come when the squeeze is on.
And these are not tests from God so that he can learn where our faith is really at. He's God. He knows. These are tests to allow us to see ourselves clearly, to take stock of where our faith really is, to find out what we truly believe. I've had trials in my life that I've handled well.
I've walked by faith unwaveringly and I've seen God inevitably come through, and I treasure those experiences. But I've also had trials that I had to look back on with shame and embarrassment because I had little faith. And I allowed myself to be overwhelmed with worry and anxiety. But those times built in me, and they can build in you a determination to walk through the next trial with faith. Those failures put a resolve in me because I didn't want to be a man of weak faith the next time.
And I always tell people, if you struggle with trusting God in difficult circumstances, if you're paying any attention, sooner or later you'll get tired of putting your foot in your mouth. Sooner or later, you'll get tired of saying, "This is it. I'm going under. This is the time God doesn't come through," when every single time he's faithful. And eventually, you get to the point of saying, "I'm just tired of being wrong. So, I'm just going to call it this time. God's going to come through." And He will. He always, always will.
Before Jesus was arrested, he told Peter, "Look out. Satan has asked to sift you like wheat." And the implication was that permission had been granted by God Lord. Peter told him, "I'm ready to go with you both to prison and to death." Peter would soon learn that wasn't true. The Lord allowed Peter to be squeezed so that Peter could get a reality check of where his faith really was.
And you know, Peter would deny even knowing Jesus three times at the time when Jesus was most alone. After his resurrection, Jesus forgives and restores Peter. But how did Peter get over the shame and embarrassment of that failure? By knowing there would be another chance, there's going to be another trial, another test in the future. And Peter determined that next time he would be faithful to Jesus to the very end, whatever it cost.
And he was. He was. Church tradition holds that Peter died by being crucified for refusing to disown Jesus, except that Peter asked to be crucified upside down because he didn't consider himself worthy of dying in the same manner as his Savior. God will use suffering to remove impurities from our lives and from our character. Write this down.
God may use suffering for the purpose of preparation. Preparation. When Jesus told Peter that Satan had been permitted to sift him like wheat, Jesus also told Peter, "But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail and you, when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers." Jesus told Peter he was about to go through a difficult trial, but he would come through it in the end. And when he did, he would have learned something.
He would have been changed in a profound way that would enable him to strengthen and encourage his brothers in a way that he couldn't before his trial. As Peter learned more about his own weakness, he would become more gracious in dealing with others in their weaknesses. And as he experienced the grace and forgiveness of God after a spectacular failure, he would be able to encourage others with the grace and forgiveness offered by God. Peter was being prepared through a trial. In 2 Corinthians 1, Paul writes, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.
He comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction through the comfort we ourselves receive from God. God will use suffering to prepare us for future ministry. God may cause us to experience suffering. For discipline. For discipline.
You know, when I take my kids to the park, I don't step in and discipline somebody else's kids. I really want to sometimes, but I don't. I might think, really?
Okay, but I don't. You know why? They're not my kids. They're not my kids. But if one of my kids is being unkind or having a bad attitude, I'm going to step in and discipline them.
Why? Because I care about who they are becoming. I want them to have healthy, fulfilling friendships and relationships in life. And so, I want them to know how to treat people the right way, so they sow good things and then reap good things. A loving parent disciplines their children for the good of their children.
And God does the same thing with us if we're rebelling against Him, if we're rejecting what his word says, he knows that we're sowing destruction that we're going to reap in our lives. And he doesn't want that for us, so he will lovingly discipline us. Solomon gave his son this counsel in Proverbs Three do not despise the Lord's instruction, my son. Do not loathe his discipline, for the Lord disciplines the one he loves, just as a father disciplines the Son in whom he delights. The new living translation puts it like this: "My child, don't make light of the Lord's discipline, and don't give up when he corrects you. For the Lord disciplines those he loves and he punishes each one that he accepts as his child." If you know that you're living in disobedience to God in an area of your life and you find yourself suffering, you should not be racking your brain for answers and seeking counsel from other people for insights. It's not rocket science. You just need to repent. You need to get right with God before you do anything else.
Because even though you're probably loving, it's not that sin issue. Even though you're probably working really hard to convince yourself it's not that sin issue, it's that sin issue. That's what it is. And know this a good parent doesn't drop the issue when they know it's bringing destruction into their child's life. God is the perfect father, and so he's not going to drop the issue either.
He's not going to just move on if you choose to be stubborn in your sin, and he's not going to run out of energy. He's not he can do it all day. So, if you're experiencing suffering because the Lord is disciplining you, welcome His correction. Receive it, repent, and change where he's calling you to change. As I mentioned earlier, becoming more like Jesus means you'll be entrusted with greater responsibilities when you reign with Christ in eternity.
And God is working now to purify and prepare us for those responsibilities that await us in 2 Timothy, it says, "If we died with Him, we will also live with Him. If we endure, we will also reign with Him." Church, we really are going to reign with Christ. It's really going to happen. First, we will reign on the Earth for a thousand years when Jesus rules as King, and then we will reign with Him into eternity in a way more glorious than we can imagine.
We all understand the reality and necessity of temporary pain for the sake of greater benefit. Later examples abound in our lives. The temporary pain of exercising for greater health. The temporary pain of loving for retirement to have a financially secure future. The temporary pain of a burn on a child's finger, a small one, so that they learn that fire is serious and dangerous.
We all understand that not all pain is bad. Sometimes pain is necessary and important. It's for our benefit. And yet we also understand none of that makes the pain any less real in the moment. It's just that we recognize the future benefits of that temporary pain make it worthwhile.
And our earthly loves are like a grain of sand compared to the beach of eternity. And knowing that, let me ask you would a genuinely good God prioritize our earthly present or our infinite eternity? What would he do? If he wants the best for us, the answer is obvious. In the same way, a good parent raises their child with adulthood in mind.
Our perfect and loving Heavenly Father parents, his children, you and me, with our spiritual adulthood, our eternal destiny in mind. And when the Lord parents us with eternity in mind, my prayer is that our response would be, do it, Lord. Do it. Because I would rather benefit in eternity than this earthly temporary life. I would rather be great in Your kingdom than here on the earth.
Jeremiah was a mighty prophet of the Lord, and his story is described in the Old Testament book that bears his name. His name means God exalts, which was appropriate because no man ever exalted or honored Jeremiah during his life or ministry. He was also known as the weeping prophet. And I'll tell you why. Israel had been wicked for a long time, and God was going to send judgment upon them through a famine, and then by allowing the Babylonians to conquer them and take them captive into exile.
And the job God gave Jeremiah was to go around telling Israel the specific sins they had committed that were the cause of God's coming judgment. You can just imagine how beloved he was every time he rolled into town. And God's other instructions to Jeremiah included, hey, don't marry or have kids, probably because somebody would have killed them. And, hey, if people are gathering anywhere for a party or a good time, Jeremiah, don't go. God's encouragement to Jeremiah was, "They will fight against you, but never prevail over you, since I am with you to rescue you."
And to be clear, that promise was, "Listen, a lot of people are going to try and kill you, Jeremiah, but they won't be able to." That's not a promise of victory. It's just a promise that they wouldn't be able to kill him. "Yeah, they might break some bones and throw you in some holes and horrible places, but you won't die." Jeremiah was attacked by his brothers. He was beaten. He was put in the stocks by a priest and a false prophet. He was imprisoned by the king, threatened with death, repeatedly thrown into a cistern by Judah's officials, and opposed by a false prophet. And the first time people try to kill him, Jeremiah complains to God. And God's response is, "It's going to get worse."
When he's put in the stalks and laughed at and mocked, Jeremiah complains to God because he's miserable. But God has put such a conviction in him to preach. Jeremiah says, "It's like a fire in my bones. I have to do it." He says, "I hate this. I can't stop preaching because you put this compulsion in me, but every time I do, it just makes my life more miserable." And when somebody's finally nice to him, it's Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king. When he seizes Jerusalem in 586 BC, he orders that Jeremiah is freed from prison and treated well. Later, Jeremiah ends up being taken to Egypt against his will, where he lives out his days trying in vain to get the children of Israel to repent and turn back to God. Jeremiah was called by God.
He lived in the will of God and yet lived his life as a preacher that nobody listened to. Did Jeremiah have a successful life? Did he have a successful life? Not by any earthly or human standard, right? I mean, we can't even pretend there's not a ministry conference on the planet that would have invited Jeremiah to speak if he were doing the same thing today.
What have your results been? Well, everywhere I go, people hate me, verbally abuse me, throw me in jail, and try to kill me. Okay, nobody's going, can you teach us how to do that? He would have been considered a nut job failure, and yet, from Heaven's perspective, he fulfilled the purposes he was put on the Earth to fulfill. He did what God asked him to do.
He was faithful till the end. Here's what I know. I know that Jeremiah wouldn't change anything if he could because I know that when it comes to failure and success in life, we're only seeing part of the picture. We have no idea what Jeremiah's life looks like now in eternity, but it's a pretty safe bet that his eternal rewards are incredible. And his assignments to rule and reign with Jesus are going to be incredible.
Why? Because he proved himself to be a man who would be faithful to God even when it cost him everything. Over decades of his life. He could not be dissuaded from obeying God. Jeremiah's life was a resounding success from the only perspective that matters, the perspective of eternity.
God will use suffering to purify and prepare us for eternity. And I guarantee that nobody will ever come up to you in heaven and say, "Man, can you believe how mean God was while we were on the earth?" They'll only ever tell you, "I'm so glad that God loved me enough to prepare me for eternity, instead of being entirely focused on that brief little blip of time I had on the earth." If you're being purified or prepared by God, rejoice. Rejoice because God is doing something of infinite worth and good in your life, our brother James tells us, consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
And let endurance have its full effect so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. So, if God is purifying or preparing you through a trial right now, pray that he would complete the work he's doing in you and that you would yield and submit to it. Now, tune into what I'm about to say right here. It's the next fill-in on your outline. Don't long for the end of the trial; long for the completion of the work God is doing in you through the trial. Long for that. Don't just long for things to be easier. Long to become more like Christ. Say, Lord, I want to come out the other side of this suffering.
It's not fun, but Lord, I want to come out the other side being changed. However you want to change me through this, that's what I want more than I want the suffering to end. I want your work to be done in me. I want your will to be done. In my life.
Remember, the goal is not comfort. It's becoming more like Christ. Lastly, suffering can be caused by being a Christian, by being a Christ follower. We are fortunate in that we still have freedom of religion to a large degree in this country. We have not yet joined the ranks of the millions of believers who have lived under regimes where Christianity was illegal, and Christians were persecuted even to death.
But we are living in a time where you may lose your job for refusing to affirm things you know are sinful, and against what God says in His Word. We are living in a time when you may be prosecuted for hate speech, for merely saying what the Bible says. We are living in a time where the government will do increasingly all it can to lead your child away from becoming a Christ follower and then seek to limit your influence as a parent. I could go on. In John 15, Jesus told his disciples, "If the world hates you, understand that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I've chosen you out of it, the world hates you. Remember the Word I spoke to you - a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you." And while teaching the Beatitudes in Luke chapter 6, Jesus told his followers how to respond when they were called to suffer for him, saying, "Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you, insult you, and slander your name as evil because of the Son of man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy. Take note your reward is great in heaven, for this is the way their ancestors used to treat the prophets."
Being persecuted for loving Jesus is a privilege. It's a privilege. It is an honor to suffer for the name of Christ. It is an act of worship that will resonate into eternity. And we can trust that if we are faced with persecution, the Holy Spirit will provide the strength we need to endure it. For those whose desire is to honor Christ, I'm going to ask the worship team to come up as we wrap up here. Correctly diagnosing the cause of our suffering is critically important, and if we misdiagnose ourselves or refuse to accept the truthful diagnosis, our suffering will likely continue. And if it leaves, we'll likely return very shortly.
Seek the Lord, pray fast, seek wise counsel, get into the Word, and discern why you may be suffering, if indeed you are presently. Remember, the goal is not comfort; the goal is becoming more like Christ. We want to come out of our trials purified, more like Jesus, better prepared for eternity wiser, more free from the control of sin, and full of the unshakable hope of heaven.
We want Christ to be glorified in the way we respond to suffering. So, if you need to repent, repent. If you need to become wise, ask the Lord for wisdom and search the Scriptures with the appropriate level of urgency. If you need to trust God, rest in Him, and cast Your cares upon Him, do that, and no matter what kind of suffering you're going through, praise God for the comfort of his spirit, the power of his blood, and the hope of heaven. With that, would you bow your head and close your eyes.
Let's pray together. Jesus, we are so thankful for the truth of Your Word and for the guidance of the Scriptures. Lord, our first desire, Lord, is that we would not deceive ourselves in any way. And so, Jesus, we want to invite you by the power of Your Spirit to examine our lives, to search the depths of our spirits, and as David prayed, see if there is any impure way in us, any area of our lives that is not submitted to you as it should be. Jesus, please speak to us and please convict us if we are in sin anywhere.
And Lord Jesus, if any among us are stubbornly holding on to sin, Lord, I pray that you would convict them powerfully by our Spirit. Not so that they can feel bad, but so that they can be set free from the power of sin so that they can cease sowing seeds that we know will lead to destruction in their lives. We don't want that for our brothers and sisters. So, Lord, speak to us and where we need to repent, Lord, help us to do that. Give us the faith to do that.
Remind every person here of Your goodness, of Your kindness, of Your grace, and that everything you call us to do is for our good. Lord, I pray as well for anyone who is just wrestling with making foolish decisions, unwise decisions. Lord, help us to be humble in our need for you, in our need for wisdom that comes from Your Spirit and from Your Word. Help us to seek it with the desperation warranted and help us to seek it from those who are wise, Lord, that we might live as wise men and women. And then, Jesus, for those who are suffering from living in a fallen world, for those who have repented and turned away from their sin, but are still dealing with the natural consequences, for those who are being purified and prepared through suffering.
Right now, Lord, I think of Your Word and Peter's exhortation to cast all our cares upon you because You care for us. And Lord, I recognize that so often we just don't know how to do that. We don't know what that means. And so, Holy Spirit, would you minister to us as we seek you in this coming time, and just as we desire to be full of Your Spirit, would you help us to release burdens that we should not be holding on to. Would you help us to receive your comfort, to receive your peace, to find our load lightened as the one who bore all of our sin and shame carries our burdens as well?
Thank you, Jesus, that by Your stripes we are healed. And so, we pray that you would help us to receive that healing and to receive that peace. Jesus, we love you, we bless you. It's in Your name we pray. Amen.