Spiritual Growth / Suffering

  • The Spirit of Glory

    1 Peter 4:14

    The work of the Holy Spirit is extensive, and we will explore further how we may walk in the Spirit next week. We should note today, however, that the Holy Spirit does not tend to make a fuss about Himself ...Read More

  • Our Final Rescue From Affliction

    2 Thessalonians 1:5–10

    At His return, Jesus “will take me and all his chosen ones to himself into the joy and glory of heaven” (The Heidelberg Catechism, A. 52). What greater comfort could there be than to know that we will live before ...Read More

  • Patience in Trials

    Job 1:20–22

    When we are suffering, we are often strongly tempted not to praise God. Matthew Henry notes that Job adored the Lord when he was blessed and when he suffered. “When all was gone he fell down and worshipped… . Weeping must ...Read More

  • Not the Gift but the Fruit

    Philippians 4:14–17

    Paul’s desire to have the Philippians get a blessing by giving to his work is an illustration of what we should think when faithful churches and ministries ask for our support. When our local churches, gospel-preaching ministries, faithful Christian ...Read More

  • Blessed are Those Who Mourn

    Matthew 5:4

    Though Jesus was a man of sorrows, He was able to endure suffering and pain because He knew that “out of the anguish of his soul” He would “see and be satisfied” (Isa. 53:11). We will never have to ...Read More

  • Dying in Faith

    Hebrews 11:13–16

    Do you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ as one of His sheep, or are you counted among the goats who serve another master? If you trust in Jesus alone, then you can be sure that He will receive you ...Read More

  • Surprised by Suffering

    Genesis 50:15–21

    At the outset of our look at suffering, we must realize that Scripture does not give us all the reasons for our pain in this life. In fact, we may never understand why we suffer the way we do on ...Read More

  • Belief and Suffering

    Philippians 1:29–30

    If we are surprised when persecution comes, then we will find it more difficult to endure it and experience the grace of God in our suffering. Yet as we remember that both belief and suffering are granted to us by ...Read More

  • A Sign of Destruction and Salvation

    Philippians 1:28

    We do not earn our place in heaven through the consistent endurance of persecution and harassment. Rather, such endurance proves that we have the faith that can alone lay hold of the benefits of salvation, for “the one who endures ...Read More

  • Paul’s Chief End

    Philippians 1:18b–20

    One evidence that we are truly in Christ is that we make His glory, and therefore the glory of the triune God, our chief end in life. As we pursue His glory and seek to lovingly obey Him in all ...Read More

  • The Advance of the Gospel

    Philippians 1:12–13

    Our suffering for the sake of Jesus is actually an occasion for great joy, not for the pain in itself but because it is at our weakest points that God decides to show Himself the strongest. As we consider those ...Read More

  • Suffering and Glory

    Ephesians 3:13

    We are not discouraged when we suffer, not because we deny our hurt and pain, but because we know that suffering for Jesus proves our faith — the path to ultimate glory. Each time we endure scorn or injury for being ...Read More

  • Imprisoned for Christ

    Ephesians 3:1

    We do not often stop to consider just how offensive the message of the cross is to unconverted hearts. Which sinner could possibly imagine that the omnipotent Creator would save His people through the weakness and ignoble death of the ...Read More

  • Enduring Love

    1 Corinthians 13:7

    To speak of suffering as a loving expression of God’s discipline is not to say that there is always a one-to-one correlation between a specific sin we have committed and our trial. Such a correlation may be true in ...Read More

  • Filling Up Christ’s Afflictions

    Colossians 1:24

    We may not always think of it in this way, but our suffering for the cause of Christ actually brings us closer to the day of His return, for God has ordained that the day of Jesus’ victorious coming would ...Read More