“But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you,” 1 Peter 5:10 (NKJV).
To suffer means to feel pain or great discomfort in body or mind. It also means you endure or put up with something painful or unpleasant.
We can look around our world and see the suffering that is taking place. Sometimes life is not fair. It is painful and sometimes it is scary. People have lost their jobs, homes, even their life-savings. In some cases, individuals are better off. They took a detour, not of their choosing, and found a job that they love. Others have learned the dangers of living outside of their budget.
Many are learning to trust God as never before. I believe God has allowed this to happen to get our eyes off of prosperity and back on Him. Suffering is not pleasant, whether it’s a lack of material things or suffering that takes place because of your stand for Jehovah God. In today’s society we are told we must be “politically correct,” so there will certainly be times that we must take a stand for God’s standard rather than man’s.
The rest of the verse says the God of all grace will “...perfect, establish, strengthen and settle you.” Wow, what a prayer Peter is praying over us! He doesn’t pray that we will be excused from suffering, but that suffering will be for a limited amount of time.
We celebrated Father’s day last month. It gave us a chance to let our dads know how we feel about them. For some, picking out that right card for Dad was easy; for others, it was hard. Why? Because there are issues that need to be faced. You may have been abused by him, never encouraged by him or always belittled by him. God is saying, “I see your suffering, your sadness, your hurts.” He is saying, “Give it all to me now.” You are an adult now, so let God strengthen you, establish you and settle you into the path He has for you.
Let’s pray!
God, you see the issues that I am dealing with;
Please forgive me for holding on to them.
You see how it has affected my whole life.
I now forgive everyone that has caused me undue hardship, suffering and pain.
I have been walking through life burdened by these things, so now please give me the strength to live a meaningful life with You fully in charge.
In Jesus Name, AMEN!
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