Introdcution
In this life, men must suffer to bring Glory to God. I thank Jesus for allowing me to be Fathered by Him, but I am here to say, this road has not been easy. Man, some of you haven’t even been whooped before, imagine being spanked by God. All seriousness, this morning I became weary to the point of crying out angrily to the Lord. I even called him a backstabber, for which I am sorry. I won’t say that my flesh is the most pleased with God’s will, as He has been causing the flesh distress and really taking away its authority in my life.
So many people hate God because they don’t understand His tactic of discipline. They don’t understand that in Christ Jesus we are Spirit (John 3:5-6 CSB), so the discipline He brings upon our flesh isn’t personal; in fact, it’s the greatest act of love imaginable (Hebrews 12:5-6). Jesus got on a cross and allowed God the Father to cause utter destruction upon His flesh so that we can live in the Spirit.
pause to dwell on Isaiah 53
Isaiah 53:3-12 CSB
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from; he was despised, and we didn't value him.
4 Yet he himself bore our sicknesses, and he carried our pains; but we in turn regarded him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds.
6 We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the LORD has punished him for the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not open his mouth.
8 He was taken away because of oppression and judgment, and who considered his fate? For he was cut off from the land of the living; he was struck because of my people's rebellion.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, but he was with a rich man at his death, because he had done no violence and had not spoken deceitfully.
10 Yet the LORD was pleased to crush him severely. When you make him a guilt offering, he will see his seed, he will prolong his days, and by his hand, the LORD's pleasure will be accomplished. 11 After his anguish, he will see light and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous servant will justify many, and he will carry their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him the many as a portion, and he will receive the mighty as spoil, because he willingly submitted to death, and was counted among the rebels; yet he bore the sin of many and interceded for the rebels.
in christ jesus
We now, in chrsit Jesus, act as mirrors, mimicking the life of Christ Jesus by default, allowing Him full access to our flesh (vessel) by nature, so He can squeeze out every bit of life in the Spirit.
I say all this to say, as men, we are the very beacon of suffering in the assignments that we steward over. I will suffer more than my wife and my children because it is my job to lead them into righteousness (Ephesians 6:4), (Ephesians 5:25-26). It is my job to wash them with the word of God, so I will suffer in preparation for that call. For Men to lead, men must suffer to understand what true obedience is.
Let’s take a moment to read Hebrews 5:7-9
Hebrews 5:7-9 CSB
7 During his earthly life, he offered prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the one who
was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.
8 Although he was the Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered.
9 After he was perfected, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,
How can we lead a body of people into a right relationship with God if we are still playing around with Sin! We must suffer in place of sin to be a living sacrifice, producing good works of faith in Christ Jesus! (Romans 12:1-2 CSB)
This season for me has been a living hell. I do not like to boast in circumstances to try to make me seem like a super warrior in the Kingdom of God, but the weight of this season has been heavy. By the grace of God, this weakness has been covered by Jesus, as he has already overcome the world, but the fight for my faith has been tough.
33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”
immense suffering
I’ve been experiencing body pains in my jaw and neck due to TMJ, my shoulder, and lower back have been hurting due to lingering injuries from sports. I’ve been experiencing mental exhaustion with all of the anxiety. I haven’t been led to work a 9-5 as I’ve been living in my convictions and doing the Lord’s work in other ways, but in doing so, it hasn’t come with as much income, and I have no control over how much income I do receive.
I’ve dealt with the mental, physical, and emotional toll of starting a ministry, while stewarding over a pregnant wife, watching her suffer, and coming to the understanding that I have no control in this situation. I’ve had to accept allowing my wife to suffer so that the Lord can produce righteousness in her life. We’ve had just enough to get us through certain days. Actually, today we are down to our last 10 dollars, and I put all 10 in the tank, and they were all 1’s.
In the flesh, I am exhausted, but I’ve gotten to know the power of God through His Spirit in the vessel He has given me. Yes, at times I’ve been weary, but in this season of suffering, it hasn’t crushed my soul. I still wake up joyful, ready to attack the day. I still fight for my wife in the Spirit and cater to her well-being in a season where I don’t even know how I am catering to my own. This season has shown me what a true man of God is.
willingness to suffer
1 Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same understanding — because the one who suffers in the flesh is finished with sin —
2 in order to live the remaining time in the flesh no longer for human desires, but for God’s will.
A true man of God is willing to suffer for eternity. He is willing to suffer for righteousness to be produced in His life. He is willing to suffer for His family to be renewed in their faith. He is willing to suffer and allow the Lord to discipline without falling back into sin. He is willing to suffer because he now knows what the treasure of life is. The treasure of life is knowing Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:7-8). Nothing compares to knowing Him, so we suffer because of it! Jesus’s Disciples were willing to suffer excruciating deaths, because they knew nothing compares to knowing God. They knew the eternal glory that they were heading into, so they gave their lives to build the faith of many.
1 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us,
2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
lay down your life
How do we then apply this to our lives as Men of God? We must first lay everything down at the altar. The idols that we have, even the ones we view as small, produce sin in our lives. Finding life in my family and not the Lord produced sin in my life. I ran to my wife for pleasure, and when I didn’t get it, I cursed her and made her feel bad. When my family dealt with anything health-related, my soul crumbled because I feared losing them. The enemy still had control over my life through sin and death because I hadn’t given up the things in the flesh that he could attack. We must be fully detached from needing anything outside of God!
Then we must accept long-suffering so the Lord can show us He really is all that we need. If you want to break an addiction, you must accept a small period of suffering. All sin is addiction, and it must all be broken free from suffering. In suffering, you start to realize you would rather sit there angry than speak harshly at your loved ones. That you would rather sit there horny than sin against your wife and watch porn. That you would rather get persecuted than not trust in God’s word and seprate your self from Him in unbelief.
I am here to reassure you that after a small bit of suffering, the Lord will restore, renew, and strengthen you (1 Peter 5:8-10 CSB)! That, on the other side of all suffering, is a key to a door of becoming more Christlike. And that life is righteousness. Life is righteous living. Life is Holiness. Life is without Sin.
suffering in love
So we die to ourselves, and we love the people who hate us. (Mathew 5:43-48 CSB) We love because we won’t allow their sin to separate us from God. We love because we know where we are going for eternity, and we don’t want them to suffer in hell. We know God, we know life, why carry out wrath on God’s creation before the allotted time (Psalm 37:8-10)? So we love God’s creation unconditionally because that love is what drew us to Him in the first place.
In suffering, the Lord has broken lust out of my life. In suffering, the Lord has shown me how deceitful the sin in my life has been. Through suffering, I now get to love my wife as Christ loved the church. I do because through suffering, I now know my identity is through Christ and Christ alone. I no longer look to myself to carry out righteousness because all the times I have, I failed. Jesus Christ is the only faithful one. He is the only one who can truly save us from sin and death.
Men, we have a different anointing, a different power in Christ Jesus! Stand up for your families, stand up for your loved ones, Stand up! Be courageous, be strong, act like men, stand firm in the faith, and love all people (1 Corinthians 16:13-14 ESV). And suffer, if you want to prove your faith, accept suffering.
Embrace suffering
25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
If you want to make sure you are truly Spirit-led, embrace the suffering in your life. So many of us work hard to prevent suffering. We live to try to maintain life in the flesh. What if God needed to take your life, what if He needed to take your health, to take your loved one, or to take some of your belongings?
Yes, that is probably an extreme case, especially in America, but in this country, we are soft! How many of us really will stand up for Christ? How many of us really trust the Lord our God with our lives? How many can look family members in the face who persecute them and say Jesus is King? How many can accept the suffering of being judged in the flesh and really exalt the one true King! How many truly love the Lord with all their heart, soul, and strength?
4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD [is] one!
5 “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
Final exhortation
Let’s pray because I can talk for days. Jesus is my everything. He has brought me so much life. He has blessed me with a wife and a son on the way. And He has blessed me with so much suffering that it has birthed a man of righteousness. Yes, my life was once full of greed, and eating disorders, and pornography, and anger, and depression, and deep anxiety, but immense suffering stripped all of it away.
The bible says that our God is a consuming Fire (Hebrews 12:28-29 CSB), so I move out of His way and give Him full access to my life because I trust and believe that He has consumed my life with His love! So many people scream Jesus as savior. We have to first come to the understanding that He is the author and finisher of our Faith ( Hebrews 12:1-2 NKJV), and you have to make the decision to give Him access to your life to save you!
I pray that no one falls off from the faith. That we don’t just hear God’s words with joy and go back into the world, but we remain steadfast. I plead for the souls of many and say hold on. The suffering will end. Allow him to shape you, and mold you, and then He will nurture you. He will bring you into a land flowing with milk and honey, but you must remain faithful. You must hold on!
prayer
Father God, I pray for the reader, I pray for the one who just clicked and didn't stay long, I pray for anyone dealing with a season of endurance. I pray that you allow the Lord to prune you and squeeze you into His image. I pray that we trust in the Lord to deliver us through seasons of long suffering, as there is life for your souls. God, I pray that your will be done, that your Kingdom come in our lives. That you hold these Men close and equip them to walk in obedience. That you give us a heart to see everything you do as good because you are a good Lord. Lord, I thank you for suffering, I thank you for the righteousness and hope produced in suffering, Lord God. I pray that as we grow in history with you, we learn to enjoy suffering. That we welcome it with open arms, trusting in you to produce correctness in our lives. Lord God, we love you, and we thank you, and we ask all these things in the name of the Son, Christ Jesus, Amen!