Prospering through Suffering like Jesus

During Bible Study this morning, i was sipping my coffee and was reading Romans 8 when i came upon this verse—“The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” (Romans 8:17)

we like the first part of that verse, but tend to skip that last part—i mean who likes to suffer???  No one!!!  And yet we are told that we must walk as Jesus walked. (1 John 2:6)

So how did Jesus walk?  Sarcastically, we could say He put one foot in front of the other. But realistically, Jesus walked in full dependence upon God the Father. Jesus said that He could do nothing on His own, but only that which He saw the Father do. (John 5:19-47)  And yet we see Jesus doing things that we would never walk into of our own choice. Isaiah 53 describes the suffering Servant and foreshadows the horrible cruelty that Jesus would have to endure on our behalf.

Jesus suffered through betrayal, deceit, rejection, unbelief from others, horrible crucifixion and death, separation (albeit temporary) from the Father, cruelty from others and so much more. All without a word of complaint. And yet we go through one event and cry out that it’s not fair!  We call God cruel and unloving and say He doesn’t care about us.  “What kind of  loving God would allow this!!” we scream out.

And yet none of us have suffered like Jesus. Never once did Jesus doubt the Father’s love and plan for Him. Why?  Because His relationship with the Father superceded any circumstance He endured. He KNEW the Father loved Him. He KNEW that this was God’s plan and He KNEW that greater things were in store for Him after He walked this path. He obeyed the Father, even to the point of death because pleasing the Father was His ultimate goal. He carried His cross, no matter how painful it was, walked the path laid out for Him and came out triumphant!!

The next time our circumstances threaten to overwhelm us and tempt us to question the Father, may we remember Jesus!!

Prospering through Honoring Others

As I had posted in the past, my god daughter went to be with the Lord at just 20 days old. I miss her terribly and the grief has truly shattered my heart. While I have been praying, reading my bible, fellow-shipping with the body of Christ, worshiping God and pouring my heart out to Him, I desire to take this heartache and turn it into something good. We are told to give honor where honor is due and I want to honor my god-daughters short, but precious life. So after praying, I am starting a ministry called HATS—

Honoring Aprhil-gone Too Soon

“I would like to honor Aprhil…her family and me would like to find and purchase a headstone for her—For every hat I sell, 90% will go into an account for her. If you would like to purchase a hat, please contact me—these are small (for newborn babies), but are very cute and comfy! —

  I will be donating ALL profit to her honor—I must keep the cost of making the hat so I can continue purchasing material to make more hats… once the headstone is purchased, all profits will then be donated to a charity in her honor.

they are $5 each.
you can choose what colors you would like to have—hat color and trim color (for boys I will take the flower off) and I can make them quickly—pay upon pick up.  Thank you for helping us honor her!!”

We can honor our loved ones by remembering them—our grief can at times threaten to take us over—

Psalm 38:17
“For I am ready to fall, And my sorrow is continually before me.”

Psalm 6:6
“I am weary with my sighing; Every night I make my bed swim, I dissolve my couch with my tears.”

However, God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)

And we can channel our grief to do good and honor the ones who have gone on before us.  And remember that Isaiah 61:1-3 says- (speaking of Jesus)

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
Because the Lord has anointed me
To bring good news to the afflicted;
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to captives
Andfreedom to prisoners;
 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
 To grant those who mourn in Zion,
Giving them a garland instead of ashes,
The oil of gladness instead of mourning,
The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting.
So they will be called oaks of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.“

My friends, this is true prosperity!!!

Until Next Time, Keep Prospering in the Lord!!