As we live the Christian life we do well to remember that there will be sufferings, afflictions, difficulties, trials, hardships and troubles. It is by the strength of the Lord that we are able to persevere and endure when under spiritual attacks. 2 Corinthians 4:7,8 says: “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; “
In all this, Christ will never leave us nor forsake us. Our sufferings are no indication of our spiritual condition or how much God loves us or values us as a child of God. Psalms 34:19 “Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” Man looks on the outside, but God looks at the heart.
We are in a spiritual battle and need spiritual armor to stand Firm in the battle. Ephesians 6 outlines the armor that every Christian is commanded to put on and is needed to be fruit-bearing, obedient, and committed in serving the Lord. One of those pieces of the armor is having our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Eph.6:15.
The Christian is a soldier in the battle. No soldier goes to war without first being prepared to fight. This is why the study of Scripture is so important. The scriptures train us in how to be prepared and aware of the enemy that seeks to destroy our witness and our faith. There is warning in the bible of false teachers, Impostors and false brethren. We are not unaware of Satan’s devices (2 Cor. 2:11) and the schemes of the devil. Eph. 6:11.
C.H. Spurgeon wrote well of this:
“He who marches meets with rough terrain, or if as a warrior he dashes into the thick of conflict, he is assailed with weapons, and therefore he needs footwear suitable to meet his perils. The active and energetic Christian meets with temptation that others do not meet. Idle persons can hardly be said to be in danger; they are a stage beyond that and are already overcome. Satan barely needs to tempt them; they rather tempt him and are a fermenting mass in which sin multiplies exceedingly.
But earnest, laborious believers are sure to be assailed, even as fruit-bearing trees are certain to be visited by birds. Satan cannot tolerate a person who serves God earnestly, such a person does damage to the archenemy’s dominions and therefore must be incessantly assailed. The prince of darkness will try, if he can, to injure the person’s character, to break his communion with God, to spoil the simplicity of his faith, to make him proud of what he is doing, or to make him despair of success. In one way or another he will, if possible bruise the worker’s heel or trip him up or lame him altogether. Because of all these dangers, infinite mercy has provided gospel shoes for the believer’s feet, shoes of the best kind, such as only those warriors wear who serve the Lord of Hosts. "
In the New Testament, “Sufferings” is used both of Christ’s sufferings and of believers’ sufferings for His sake. In 1 Peter 5:9 Peter admonishes; Resist Satan; ”But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.” But, self-centered Christians who serve the Lord halfheartedly and for their own interests and comfort seldom have to pay a price for their faith. They are of little threat to Satan’s work, thus they are of little benefit to Christ. They do not stand firm on the truths of scripture and defend the faith.
Our being born again, and being given hope through Christ by His resurrection, and obtaining an imperishable inheritance with Him and our protection by God’s power gives us reason to greatly rejoice.
