In this study, we’ll continue discussing practical pointers on how to suffer well in life’s difficult seasons.
Transcription (automatically-generated):
So, we are talking about suffering in the life of the Christian and we're looking at some practical pointers that are going to help us navigate seasons of suffering well. And by well, I mean in a way that brings honor to Jesus, which as a natural byproduct produces in us the most peace, joy, and hope possible during the most challenging seasons of our lives. And as I shared last week, if the cause of your suffering is sin, if you're disobeying God, you don't need pointers on how to suffer well. You just need to repent and turn away from your sin. If the cause of your suffering is foolishness and bad decisions that are not necessarily sinful, you don't need pointers on how to suffer well.
You need to gain wisdom and get foolishness out of your life. Wisdom in, foolishness out. And we talked about how to do that a couple of weeks ago. So, if your suffering is being caused by sin or foolishness, those practical pointers are not for you, because we must not view ourselves as victims. If the cause of our suffering is our own sin or foolishness, we're not victims.
But if you're suffering for some of the other reasons we've talked about in this series, then these practical pointers are for you. So, we're just going to pick up right where we left off last week, dive back in, and learn more about how we can practically suffer well in those difficult seasons of life. Write this down. It's going to be your first fill in and then we'll unpack it. Acknowledge the reality of your suffering and the reality of your God, the reality of your suffering and the reality of your God.
Here's what I'm saying. Be a realist, but in the true sense of the word, because we tend to lean toward acknowledging one aspect of reality when we're suffering and not the other. Let me explain again. We'll acknowledge the reality of our suffering, "This is horrible, I'm doomed, this is really bad." But we will not acknowledge the reality of our God at the same time.
Or we'll acknowledge the reality of our God and deny the reality of our suffering. We'll be so down and depressed and discouraged by our suffering that we'll act like our God doesn't even exist, as though he's totally powerless to help us in any way. Or we'll adopt a wrong view of God and deny the reality of our suffering. We'll say, "It doesn't matter what the doctor says. I'm not dying because Jesus rose from the grave!" Or "I'm not going bankrupt. The Lord owns the cattle of a thousand hills. Hallelujah!" Listen, real biblical truth does not deny reality. It simply acknowledges all of reality, the reality of our present suffering, and the reality of who God is and how much he cares about us. When Jesus was on the earth, he received the shocking Jews that one of his closest friends, a man named Lazarus had died.
Now, at the time, Jesus was some distance away in another town. And Jesus didn't rush to Lazarus because the Holy Spirit had told him that he was setting things up for Jesus to raise Lazarus from the dead. Jesus knew that. Nobody else knew that. When Jesus finally reached a few days later, Bethany, the town where Lazarus lived with his family, he was approached by Mary, the sister of Lazarus.
And this is what the Bible says happened: "As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and told him, 'Lord, if you'd been here, my brother wouldn't have died.' And when Jesus saw her crying and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled. 'Where have you put him?' He asked. 'Lord,' they told him, 'Come and see.' Jesus wept."
He wept. That intrigues me, because Jesus knew that he was about to raise Lazarus from the dead, and yet he was moved in his spirit. He was troubled, and he wept over the pain and suffering that he could see being caused by sin in our fallen world.
Jesus, who is the exact representation of the Father, understood that the greater truth of his power over death did not change the pain that death was causing in the moment. Jesus didn't rebuke those people for their lack of faith or say, "You've got nothing to cry about because my Father's still on his throne. All things will be made right." He didn't do that. Jesus understands that even the greater truths about our future do not negate the reality of the suffering and pain we experience as we wait for the fulfillment of those things.
When someone dies or something awful happens, it's okay to be devastated. It's okay to grieve. Jesus doesn't expect you to immediately put a smile on your face and tell everyone you're doing great because you know God's doing something good in all of this. If you know the Lord, then you know those truths will grab ahold of you in the coming days, weeks, and months. But it's okay to grieve first.
It's okay to be devastated. Jesus understands. When Paul wrote to the Thessalonians concerning their loved ones who had recently died, he said, "We do not want you to be uninformed brothers and sisters concerning those who are asleep so that you will not grieve like the rest who have no hope." Paul wasn't saying don't grieve. He wasn't saying, "Why are you guys sad about your friends and family members who have died? They've gone to be with the Lord. What are you crying about?" He wasn't saying that. He was saying, "Grieve, but don't grieve like those who have no hope." He was saying, "Be a realist."
Experience the grief of your temporary loss but remember the full reality that those who are in Christ are with him, and you will be reunited one day in heaven. Don't deny the reality of your situation, but don't deny the love, power, and hope that we have in Christ. Be a realist. Acknowledge the reality of your suffering, but also the reality of the greatness and the goodness of your God.
My next point is simply - write this down - when you're going through a time of suffering, remember that Jesus is with you. He's with you. I get choked up every time I read Matthew 28 20, where Jesus tells his disciples, I'm with you always, to the end of the age, till this world is finished. I'm with you through the Holy Spirit. The very presence of Jesus is with us and in us.
Everything that Jesus did for those closest to Him and everything that he was for them, the Holy Spirit is for us. With one key difference, the Holy Spirit is with us every moment of every day. That's why Jesus told his disciples it was better for them that he leave the earth and send His Spirit. He said, When I'm on the earth, I can only be with some of you some of the time. But if I leave and send the Spirit, he'll be with you all, all of the time.
The Holy Spirit is God and he's wonderful. He is a faithful friend, a wise counselor, the best listener. He's everything. And so, through the Holy Spirit, Jesus is present with us in all of our sufferings. He's gracious when we're a mess, he's gentle and patient, and above all, he's faithful.
Whether you're having the best day or the worst day of your life, you can be sure of this - the Lord is with you. You will never be alone. You are not alone even now.
Next pointer - make a note of this - take one day at a time. When you're going through a season of suffering, take one day at a time. And some of these truths, like this one, they're true all the time for believers, but especially critical to remember in times of suffering. In lamentations.
The verse is on your outline. We read this wonderful promise: "Because of the Lord's faithful love, we do not perish, for his mercies never end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness, I say. The Lord is my portion, therefore I will put my hope in Him."
Do you know why God's mercies are new every morning? It's because they're tailor-made for that specific day. 'That specific day. Your God knew exactly what you were going to need before you woke up today. He knows exactly what you're going to need tomorrow. And he knows exactly what you're going to need on the worst day of your life.
And he will make what you need available when you need it, if you will receive it from Him. Why do we need to connect with the Lord in prayer every day? Because we have new needs every day. We need new mercies, new grace, a fresh filling of his spirit for today. Perhaps you're familiar with this line from the Lord's Prayer, when Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray, in Matthew six, Jesus says, remember to ask your Heavenly Father this: "Give us today, tomorrow's, bread."
That's not right. Sorry. "Give us today next week's bread." "Give us today next month's..."
Right, right. "Give us today our daily bread." Jesus' instruction to his disciples was, "Ask your Heavenly Father to provide what you need for today and let Him decide what you need today and then tomorrow, ask Him for what you need tomorrow, and He'll know what you need tomorrow, and He'll give it to you." If you're not sure that this is really how it works, you might need to be a little more honest about how our days go on the days you neglect going to the Lord, being in His Word, connecting with Him in prayer. I don't have a lot of days where I don't do well when I've actually done that.
I almost never have a day when I don't do well when I've connected with the Lord. But on my bad days, it's pretty consistent. I've neglected the Lord. I've neglected to connect with Him, to go to Him and ask Him for what I need for that day. It's very predictable.
There's such grace in asking the Lord for what you need for today for two reasons. Number one, we leak. We leak. And so, if you think you're still walking around full of the love and grace, hope, peace and joy and strength that you got from the Lord four days ago, you're not. It's leaked out already.
You're running on empty and you're just trying to stir that stuff up in your flesh and just be a good person in your flesh. It's not going to go well. You leak. So, you got to get filled up every day. One of our cars is like this right now where the mechanic's like, "Yeah, the gasket's blown. This would be a really expensive repair. Or you can just top up the oil more frequently." Guess what I'm going to do? We're topping up the oil, baby. Once a week. We're checking the level, we're topping it up. But here's the thing. As we are in frail, fallen human bodies, even though we're saved and belong to the Lord, we're still in these frail human bodies, and they leak every day. You get up tomorrow, there's nothing left over from what the Lord put in you yesterday. You need something new.
You need fresh grace and fresh mercy, because you leak. Secondly, there's so much grace in God telling us to just ask for what we need for today because worrying about the future can be suffocating, man. It can be suffocating. I vividly remember the day I got the phone call from Charlene telling me she had cancer. And I remember those worries about tomorrow rushing into my head at a million miles per hour.
All these hypotheticals what if, what if, what if, what if, what if? So fast that I couldn't get a grip on them, I couldn't control them. Your brain churns out these horrific scenarios at a rapid-fire pace, and it's just overwhelming. And then after those first few minutes, you have to make a choice. You can let your fears dominate your mind, or you can remember what Jesus said.
He said, don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. So, obey Christ and let go of tomorrow. Seek Him as the answer to your needs for today, and then seek Him tomorrow for the needs that you'll have tomorrow. And then keep doing that, because you have not been built to carry the cares of anything greater than today.
It will crush you. That is the Lord's counsel for us.
The apostle Paul. If you've been with us in our series through Acts, then you know this endured all kinds of suffering. Some for the purposes of purification and preparation, like we spoke about on the second week, and some because he was fearlessly preaching the Gospel in a world run by Satan. In his letter to the Ephesian Church, Paul shared one of the lessons that he had learned through all his suffering. His lesson was this write this down.
Paul told the Ephesians that he had learned we are at war. We are at war. And in Ephesians 612, Paul reveals the type of war that we're in, saying our struggle is not against flesh and blood. This is huge. Think on this this week.
It's not against people. You're not battling people. Who are we battling? The rulers, the authorities. Our struggle is against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil spiritual forces in the heavens.
Paul says if you're a Christian, you're in a spiritual war. Whether you know it or not, there's an enemy who wants to destroy you on a spiritual level. Every time we're in a season of suffering, we know that Romans 8:28 tells us God is working to do something good amid our trials. But at the same time, as we also learned, Satan is looking to take advantage of our weakened state, attack us, and bring destruction upon us while we're vulnerable. The Christian needs to recognize the reality that we're in a spiritual war, and the Christian needs to know how to fight in that war.
There are three main areas where we need to focus on being equipped for this war that Paul talks about, three arenas where this battle plays out that all affect our spiritual lives. This could be a whole message series. I'm not going to do that, but it could. I'm just saying. We're going to give a brief summary just to get your brain flowing and thinking on these things.
So, write this down. First and foremost, the most obvious arena is the spirit. It's your spiritual life, and here we're talking when we talk about being equipped. We're talking about the necessities of the Christian diet, the absolutely essential disciplines that we cannot function without on a spiritual level at any time, but especially at a time when we're suffering and it becomes more difficult to stay disciplined, having a daily time in God's Word. Get yourself a good study Bible or a commentary so that you can understand what you're reading.
Or listen to a Bible teacher walk you through God's Word. But whatever you do, get yourself into the word of God every day. That's your food. That is your food according to the Scriptures. Get in the habit of talking to God.
That's what prayer is every day. Praise him for who he is. Why? Because you need to remember who he is. Because we're forgetful.
Praise him for his faithfulness. Why? Because we forget that he's faithful. Share your needs, your fears, your concerns, and thank Him that everything in His Word is true. You'll find there's incredible strength and peace and comfort to be found in sharing what's going on in your heart with the counselor, the Holy Spirit.
In earlier messages, we talked about inviting your church family into your suffering. We talked about why isolation is so dangerous and so foolish and has such predictable negative outcomes. You need to be here with your church family on Sundays. Be part of a home group. Stay connected to your church family in the week.
Every Sunday, you have the chance to take Communion. And when you do that, you're reminded that you belong to Jesus. You're reminded that he loves you. He's got you. He's with you.
The only way Satan can make you forget that his to isolate you. If we want to be able to fight well in the Christian life, step one is that we cannot neglect the spiritual essentials. They are vital disciplines - the Word, prayer, fellowship with the saints, and worship.
The second arena that is going to profoundly affect our spiritual lives. The second arena where this battle is going to play out write this down is the mind.
You must equip your mind for battle. You must understand that whether you recognize it or not, your mind is in the battle already. The battle is playing out in your mind in 2 Corinthians - again on your outlines - Paul wrote, "The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every proud thing, every proud thought that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and this is the big one, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ." Do you understand that your mind does not naturally gravitate toward Godly thoughts?
We must train our minds to do that, and we must discipline our thinking. Many people I was thinking about this this week. If you've been in the church, you're like, "Yeah, whatever." I don't think we have any idea, if you've been in the church a while, gow many people who are even Christians have no concept of this. The average person has almost no discipline over their thought life at all. None. Whatever thought comes in can just do whatever it wants. That thought comes in, and it can go wherever it wants. That thought comes in, and in your mind, you're just like, okay, let's see where this thought is going to go.
This isn't going in a good direction. Yes, still going. Still going. And that thought just runs wherever it wants. Just goes wherever it goes.
And then we're shouting at someone in a fictional conversation in the shower. Why? Because we just let that thought go wherever it wanted to go. And now we're yelling at people about things that aren't even true. Why?
Because we just let our thoughts go wherever they want. That's our norm. We don't even know that there's this option. What do you mean? I could take that thought captive.
That's what I mean. Paul describes Christians taking control of their thoughts, actually capturing that thought that disagrees with the Word of God, that goes against the Word of God, and forcing that thought to instead obey Christ. Stop. We're not doing that.
We're doing this. Bow down to Christ. A thought comes into your mind. It doesn't line up with God's word, and so you don't let it do whatever it wants. You grab ahold of it and you say, that's not true.
And then you say, this is what is true, and you speak the Word of God to yourself. But that's hard to do if you don't know the Word of God. You have to know the Word of God first to identify a lie that goes against the Word of God. How are you going to know what the truth is if you don't know what the truth is? And then you also have to know the Word of God to know what the truth is.
That needs to replace the lie. If you want to win the battle for your mind, you've got to gain control over your thought life. You've got to teach it to behave and think differently. It's patterns. It's patterns.
And that's how the brain works. With synaptic pathways. You begin to practice thinking a certain way. You train your brain to think differently. You can do it.
You also have to fight for control over your meditation. What I mean by "meditation" is where does your mind tend to go when it's in a rest state? Perhaps if you're a man, the answer is literally nowhere. Nothing going on.
No cars just sitting here in neutral idling. Nothing going on. I know women don't believe that, but it's really true. It's our superpower.
But even men, your mind can gravitate in certain directions. Everybody's mind can go in a certain direction based on what you most frequently meditate on. And our meditation is affected deeply by what we allow our eyes to see, what we allow our ears to hear. Our meditation is affected by what thoughts we allow to run their course in our minds and what thoughts we take captive and choose to say, you're not going any further. The Bible says the mind that meditates on Godly things is the mind that knows peace.
So, if we're at war hear me on this - understand the implications. We have to be at war with the things that fill our minds with ungodly thoughts. We have to be at war with the things that lead our minds in directions contrary to the word of God. We're going to have a hard time meditating on Godly things if we're constantly putting things before our eyes on our TVs, on our phones, and on the Internet that we know are not Godly and we know are going to play back over and over later on that's, setting ourselves up for failure. We cannot feed our mind's ungodly content and then expect to have a Godly mind that knows peace.
We must be ruthless about what we consume and about what we allow our eyes to see, what we allow our ears to hear, what we feed our minds. Again, this should be true for believers at all times, but it's especially critical in seasons of suffering because when that stuff is stored up in your mind, you will run to it for relief when you're anxious or stressed and it becomes a mental drug. I can sin in my mind. If you want to do the opposite, if you want a mind that runs to Jesus and thinks of him, do what Paul told the Philippian Church to do whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there's any moral excellence, and if there's anything praiseworthy dwell on these things. Listen.
There's stuff that I don't watch, I don't listen to. Not because I'm scared of it, not because I'm not allowed to, but because I don't want to train my mind to think a certain way. I've experienced the life of Christ in my mind, and I've experienced the destruction of sin in my mind. This way is better. A mind that is at peace is far, far better.
And I want my mind to think a certain way. So, it's not about laws. It's not about commands. It's about how I want my mind to think. What do I want the rest state of my mind to be?
What direction am I trying to go in? I want to be somebody who runs to the One who brings me life rather than the one who brings death and destruction. And the best way to do that is to fill your mind with the word of God. Tape verses you want to memorize to your bathroom mirror. Turn off the music that's filling your mind with things that are wicked.
Start filling your mind with things that glorify God and fill your soul with faith. Be ruthless about the media you consume. Be ruthless and set your mind on those things of God, and you will know his peace. That's not my promise. That's what the word of God promises.
Now, thirdly, I want to talk about equipping your body. And you might think, isn't this spiritual warfare we're talking about, Jeff? It is. But if you haven't realized this yet, the body can have a huge impact on the mind. The mind can have a big impact on your spiritual life.
If you or I met somebody who told us, "Oh, pray for me. I think I'm under attack. I just feel lethargic, wiped out all the time. Struggle to get out of bed." We say, "How much are you eating?" And they're like, "About 500 calories a day." Would any of us say, "The answer is obvious: You need more time in prayer and the Word." None of us would say that. Why?
Because what they need is a burger. And we would say that because we all understand the body works in a certain way and needs certain things to function properly. And so if we're going to fight well, if we're going to equip ourselves well mentally and spiritually, then we need to recognize that sometimes the way we care for or the way we don't care for our physical bodies can make it easier or more difficult to fight well in those mental and spiritual arenas. If you're too depressed to get out of bed and read our Bibles, hear me on this. Do whatever you need to do to get in God's word and pray.
Do whatever you need to do. Take your meds, eat a burger, eat less burgers. Go out and exercise. Change your diet, but do whatever you need to do. It's not a coincidence that things like exercise and sunlight release chemicals in our brains that change our mood.
It's not a coincidence that moving and getting even sunlight can help relieve stress. It's not a coincidence that too little sleep can negatively affect our minds, how we think. This is how our bodies work. And sometimes we're asking for prayer when the truth is that we just need to change our diet. We just need to rest properly.
We're like, you know those joke meme of the person who's got the giant four-patty cheeseburger that's got deep-fried onion rings and cheese dripping off it? And we're like, Lord, bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies. Amen. God's like, Are you kidding me? Look at what you're eating.
Look at what you're eating. But we do that. We treat our bodies like trash, and then we're like, oh, just pray for me. I just feel lethargic and discouraged. God's like, maybe you should go for a walk.
We should try that. You know, our mood and our mental health, whether we like it or not, are affected by our physical health. But whether we like that or not doesn't make it any less true. And yes, I understand that some people literally cannot exercise in those cases. We trust God to provide what is needed for joy and peace in those situations.
But don't lie to yourself where you can take care of your body. You should, because our bodies are affecting our minds, and some of our thinking really should be, I don't want my neglect of my physical body to impede my walk with Christ in any way. We need a lot more of that thinking if we're honest in the church, not working out to be jacked or to be Instagram-worthy, but so that we don't allow our physical bodies to unnecessarily impede our walk with Christ in any way so that we don't have to battle negative thoughts and emotions unnecessarily. And I'm telling you this because I don't want to be a pastor who tells you that you just need to pray more and read your Bible. If the truth is that you really also need to take your meds.
Or exercise or change your diet, because that is affecting the quality of your time in the word and in prayer more than anything else. We're at war. It's no joke. Are we equipping our spirits, our minds, and our bodies to fight victoriously? Or are we sabotaging ourselves?
Are we ignoring the daily disciplines that are essential and then wondering why we feel beat up all the time? When you're suffering, keep doing the right things, keep practicing the right disciplines. And remember what Paul told the Galatians. He said, "Let us not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don't give up." If we don't give up.
So, I'm going to wrap up with this. Remember what we talked about. Be a realist. Don't live in denial about your suffering, but don't live in denial about the greatness compassion, power, and love of your God. Our Heavenly Father will give you your daily bread.
Have you asked Him for yours? He loves it when you ask, and he loves to give it. Have you asked Him to fill you with his spirit today? Are you guilty of the sin of worrying about tomorrow? You're commanded not to let me say that again.
You're commanded to not worry about tomorrow. So, when you do, what are you doing? You're saying, I don't really believe that God is going to be faithful tomorrow. That's why it's a big deal. Trust tomorrow to the Lord and let it go.
He holds tomorrow, not you. Remember that Jesus is with you right now and always to the end of the age. You're never alone. And then lastly, remember what we talked about. Be disciplined.
Feed your body, your mind and your spirit, the daily essentials. Take control of your mind. Take care what you feed your mind and take care of your body. Don't pretend it doesn't affect your mind. It does.
And so, with that I'll ask the worship team to come up and let's pray together. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for the wisdom of Your Word, and thank you for your love for us. Jesus, I just thank you that you are a God who cares intimately about the details of the lives of Your people.
You know everything about us, so you're never rolling your eyes at the things that affect us deeply. Instead, you invite us to bring them to you to cast our cares upon you because you care for us. So, Lord, we continue to pray. Help us to do that. Help us to know what that means, Lord, to release our burdens to you.
Help us to ask, to humble ourselves, and realize and freely admit, lord, I don't have what I need for today. I don't have in My flesh what I need to be the man or woman that you're calling Me to be today, and I want to be. But, Lord, I know that by your spirit, the spirit that is in me, the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead, I know that through you, everything I need is available to me. For today, everything I need to walk in victory over sin, everything I need to experience your joy, your peace, your rest, your hope, and your life, it is available to me. So, Jesus, help us to freely admit our need for you to freely ask, because you're a God that loves to freely give.
So even now, Lord, we ask you would fill us with Your Spirit, fill us with everything we need for today, and then help us to come to you humbly tomorrow, to receive everything we need for tomorrow. Thank you that we're never alone. Thank you that we're never alone. And thank oYu that even though our sufferings may be very real, greater still is the reality that we have. A Heavenly Father who loves us.
A heavenly Father who cares for us. A Heavenly Father who holds the future in his hands.
A Heavenly Father who holds us secure in his hands. A Savior who says not one of them that was put in his hands has ever fallen through you. Hold us, Jesus. You're the one who brought us into your kingdom. You're the one who holds us there.
And so thank you that we can rest on you. Help us to accept the invitation to do so. And then, Jesus, I pray. I pray especially for Lord, especially for our minds. May we fill them with the truth of Your Word.
May we take captive every thought that does not line up with the truth and with Your Word. And I pray right now for any brothers and sisters who are struggling on the mental level. Jesus, I pray for Your grace to erase things that they have repented for that keep coming back to haunt them or to tempt them. Jesus, I pray for freedom from those things. Jesus, I pray for them to experience the power of capturing thoughts that are contrary to you and Your Word and bringing them in submission to you, ordering them to bow down to you.
May they experience the reality and the power of doing that. May you fill their minds with rest right now, in the name of Jesus, we speak peace over our brothers and sisters who are carrying troubled minds. Thank you that you love us, Jesus, even as we worship you. Now, would you just cover our minds like oil being poured from our head to our feet? With Your grace and with Your truth, Jesus, may it permeate our souls and our thinking as we lift up Your name, as we make You everything, as we put You at the center of everything, Jesus, would you renew our minds?
By your spirit and by your word? We love you, Jesus. It's in your name we pray. Amen. Amen.