.suffering.

Even though it is only Monday, I already know that this week is going to be tough. It gets overwhelming at times, but God reminded me at Bible study tonight that he is still in control and walking with me through all the stress and tough times. I just wanted to share the notes I took from the lecture tonight on 2 Corinthians 1-7. I hope it helps you as much as it helped me.

What do you go to for comfort? Do you look for retail therapy or junk food or a mile run? How often do we turn to Christ first for comfort? Christ is strength in our weakness. God reveals himself through our suffering in three ways. First, he is completely reliable to the person who is suffering. Secondly, he inspires strength in believers who are watching and supporting the person suffering. Lastly, he reveals saving truth to the lost world around the one suffering.

God provides comfort in our suffering. We need to recognize that we are called by God to himself and that we have a personal responsibility to everything that God has given us. Why can we turn to God for comfort in our suffering? No one knows comfort and compassion like God does. Comfort means to come alongside and strengthen the soul and heart. Suffering is the primary way that God reveals comfort in a personal way. No matter what we despair or suffer, nothing outweighs the cross. In order to experience his comfort, we have to press in to God’s presence. We have to read his Word, we have to pray to him, we have to spend time with him. The prayers of others are invaluable and necessary when we are suffering. God allows overwhelming circumstances in our lives to teach us to rely on him. Only the Lord’s comfort is real, sustaining, and transferrable. How do we learn to rely on God through our sufferings? Would we dare to believe that our sufferings will lead others to salvation?

God’s power is shown through our weakness. When servants of God are discouraged, they don’t stay in a state of weakness. Will we be the fragrance of Christ everywhere, everyday? The more we behold Christ, Christ in us transforms us. We are fragile vessels to show the all surpassing power in us is from God, not us. God achieves great things in the world through suffering and sacrifice. Suffering reveals Christ’s power strengthens other believers. Whose life will we captivate and inspire because we are willing to surrender our frail lives to God’s saving power?

We experience joy through reconciliation. Reconciliation means that two parties who were at odds are made one again. Believers’ lives possess progressive holiness. We are ambassadors for Christ. This means that we are representing and speaking for Christ with the authority of Christ. Spiritual maturity endures tough opposition and circumstances but remains faithful to the Lord. True godly sorrow produces a change in mind and a change in behavior. Reconciliation restores and refreshes relationships. Love that reconciles produces eternal joy. True love risks everything to reconcile relationships at odds. Reconciliation requires obedience for both the messenger and the hearer.

 

Life is overwhelming at times, but this is when God wants us to learn to rely on him. He desires for us to learn to walk with him through the tough times and to not desire to be removed immediately from the situation. Suffering is a part of life, however we don’t have to go through it alone. What a wonderful promise!

.unstoppable.

One of my absolute favorite things to do is to listen to country music while driving on a gorgeous, sunny day. Today happened to be one of those wonderful days. I was listening to the radio and Rascal Flatts came on. One of the lines in their song was “Love is unstoppable.” You might think I am crazy, but God revealed another truth about himself to me through country music.

Think about it for a minute: love is unstoppable.

What is love? Have we perverted the meaning of the word so much that we forget that we don’t control love? I am not talking about the world’s definition of love, the ooey gooey emotional mess kinda love. Love in our lives is to be an extension of the love that God has given to us. It may take some time, but when you actually let the fact that God’s love is the source of all of your love, you begin to see how much God truly loves you.

What about unstoppable? How can love be unstoppable? This is where God spoke to my heart. In the book of Acts and all throughout the Pauline epistles, we see that ordinary men ran with the truth and love of God and became a force to be reckoned with. Look at Paul; he was in jail multiple times, beaten even more times, and suffered more than most ever will experience. Yet, he never stopped loving those who were far from God and desiring to simply be a reflection of God’s glory and love.

If love is unstoppable, then why is the world not being turned upside down by God’s love? I think we have never come to the point where we truly relish in the fact that God loves us. We didn’t do anything to earn his love, we didn’t say the right words, we didn’t bring him the perfect gift. He loved us first, even when we were his enemy. When we can come to the point where we understand this with our minds and our hearts, then we become the force to be reckoned with. Then we can start to change the world.

I often forget that the world is so much bigger than my mind can truly conceive. To some, the size of the world is a daunting subject. To me, it is exciting to think of all of the people I have yet to hear their stories and have a chance to share a part of life with. God has been showing me this year that I need to wake up every morning with the mentality that I am a world changer. I don’t know how, when, or where he is going to use me, but I know that with his power in me, I can make a difference for his glory in this world. I know I am just one person and many have tried before and failed, but I pray that God will create a path for my life that I could have not planned any better or more perfectly.

Do you love people with an unstoppable kind of love? Do you desire to be one who is willing to be used by God to change the world in ways you could have never imagined? May you begin to ask God to show you how to love others like he loves you and that he will orchestrate your life in unbelievable ways. Love is unstoppable.