We Are in Good Company

Before I go to bed each night I listen to the Bible on my phone for 15 minutes. Many times one earphone is in my ear and the other in my son's ear. I must say it is one of my favorite times each day. About a month ago while we were listening to the Bible this verse was said; “Father, if you are willing remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.” Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground. Luke 22:42-44. I must admit I did not hear much of the remainder of the reading after this verse was written because upon the reading of this scripture I immediate felt the Lord speak on to my heart saying, “My son suffered, are you above my son?” suddenly the thoughts of everything that the Lord endured for me, for us, entered my mind. He did not just die for us. He was tortured for us, He suffered in the depths of hell for us. My mind was flooded was verses of suffering, with the suffering of the saints in the Bible, with the suffering of our Lord. So here I am the Lord has put this on my heart, but what do I do with this?

So, I asked the Lord, “Lord if this is coming for you and you mean for me to share this then please have Pastor Richter say that he feels that I should speak.” However, patience is not a gift that I have a lot of and so I told him I wanted to speak and he kindly agreed to allow me to do so. When he left though I let the thought of speaking go because my impatience did not allow for the Lord's timing. The following Sunday however Pastor said that sentence and it caught me such surprise that I did not know what to say, then he announced to all of you that I was working on a sermon. I felt that the Lord could not speak any clearer at that moment and so I went home and wrote my first sermon praying and hoping all the while to say what He wants me to say and no more.

Once I sat down to write the first thing that came to me was "In Our Suffering We are in Good Company." What an odd thought. "We are in Good Company.” After all, when it comes to suffering there is not anything good about it. As a matter of fact, it can make us feel isolated and distant from God. The devil’s weapons are not only, temptation, sin, anger, and lies, but also suffering. How many of us know someone or are the one that in a moment of suffering blamed the Lord, felt distant from the Lord, walked away from the Lord, and/or blasphemed.

I read an article by Dieudonne Tamfu, a professor at Bethlehem College and Seminary. In it he wrote: “We are never alone in suffering because in it we join other saints in the pattern of righteous suffering that has been going on from the inception of salvation history.” In essence what he is saying with this statement is; 'in suffering we are in good company.' As so often happens with anything in my life my thoughts went to my mom. She used to tell me all the time. “Dime con quién andas y te diré quien eres.” Translated this means “tell me who you surround yourself with and I will tell you who you are.” So, who are we in company with in our suffering.?

Joseph was sold by his brothers for being his father’s favorite and were further angered by the messages his prophetic dreams had. John the Baptist was imprisoned and then beheaded for telling Herod that it was against God’s law that he married his brother Phillip’s former wife Herodias. Job he lost everything he owned, loved, and lost his health as well. “The Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the Lord increased all that Job had twofold.” Job 42:10 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were thrown into a fire heated seven times more than it was usually heated and it was so hot that it slew the men tasked with throwing them in the fire yet they did not perish and when King Nebuchadnezzar looked into the fire he astounded said “Was there not three men we cast bound into the midst of the fire?” They replied to the king, “certainly O king.” He said, “Look! I see four men loosed and walking about in the midst of the fire without harm, and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!” Daniel 3:24-25 What stands true for all of these, our companions in suffering is that through their suffering they remained faithful and not only were they faithful to God but they were a Blessing to others. Although he suffered Joseph through remaining faithful he was able to, later, during the famine save his family from starvation. Through their faithfulness in the face of suffering Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego allowed for King Nebucchadnezar to experience the greatness of God and thus make a decree that if “any people, nation or tongue that speaks anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses reduced to a rubbish heap, inasmuch as there is no other god who is able to deliver in this way.” Daniel 3:29 So not only did King Nebuchadnezzar proclaim the greatness of God, but he also made it possible to worship God. They had the Lord's peace within them at some of the hardest, if not the hardest time they faced. Even at the face of death they did not turn away from God. I realized not long ago after Mack was born that the easiest and hardest thing I will ever have to teach my son is that when faced with the literal choice of die for God or live by denouncing God choose death because only that way will you find eternal life. Thankfully there are many examples through the Bible for me to share with him, of choosing God no matter what he may face.

Many of us in a time of trial/tribulation/suffering are bombarded with the question "why me Lord?" When the moment of “why me Lord” comes upon your heart remember the suffering of Jesus Christ who suffered for our sin! He was sinless, yet He lived, was tortured, died the worst death imaginable, and was resurrected for our Salvation. Not once did He say “why me?” because what will we gain by asking that question? It is in prayer and supplication that we will find either the cup of suffering removed or we will have an Angel sent from above to strengthen us.

We must also be aware that we can be at fault for bringing the suffering upon ourselves due to the choices we make. Much like Jonah ran away from the Lord when He asked him to go to Shechem, thus Jonah ended up being swallowed by a whale. Life is busy and overwhelming at times. We can get so caught up on our earthly responsibilities that we let our time with the Lord fall away saying “I will read the Bible tomorrow. Or, I don’t have time right now, I will pray later.” Or we simply forget altogether. What we sometimes fail to see is that this in itself is the work of the devil attempting to further us from our Lord and Savior, because the further we are from the Lord the easier we will fall into temptation. This is because we stop listening for His voice, when we stop listening for His voice of guidance we tend to listen to voice of the flesh. We see examples of this every day. Once in this place of distance from the Lord and of following the desires of the flesh we can become very comfortable in that place. Oh what a horrible thing comfort can be.During the dinner with Pastor and Mrs Janell I brought up the thought that had entered my mind after reading Luke 22:42-44, and I don’t remember exactly what I said that led to the statement that has not left me since it was uttered. Mrs. Janell reminded me that “the Lord is preparing us to be soldiers for his army.” This stayed with me and I thought about the way soldiers are prepared for war.I thought about the evils soldiers face as they go to war and how they are prepared, immediately I saw the parallels between an earthly soldier and a Spiritual soldier.

Both an Earthly Soldier and a Spiritual Soldier must come to the decision to "join." It is a calling put upon their heart. One to serve his/her country the other to serve his/her Lord and Savior: Military Soldier

*Choose to become a Soldier

*Sign up to join a certain branch in a certain field

*Choose to become a Christian.

*Become a member of a church

*Basic Training

*They enter not knowing what to expect and have a time of intense training and learning, they meet others like them and become “brothers and sisters in arms.”

*They serve POTUS and those in danger or in need completely.

*They stand out in a group. They are forever changed by this choice and they walk, talk, and dress differently

Spiritual Soldier

*They enter not knowing what to expect and have a time of intense learning of the Bible, which never ends, learn hymns they may never have heard, learn about ways to serve the Lord, they meet others like them and become “brothers and sisters in Christ.”

*They serve Christ and those in danger or in need completely.

*They stand out in a group. They are forever changed by this choice and they walk, talk, and dress differently

Military Soldier

*They must wear their fatigues or their dress uniform in a certain way as to adhere to the dress code.

*They wear a hat while outdoors and as per protocol and head gear to protect them during war

* Their bullet proof armor to protect them

*Their boots that I saw my dad spit shine for years.

*Their weapon which they expertly carry and use to protect themselves and the weak

Spiritual Soldier

*the belt of truth buckled around your waist

*the breastplate of righteousness

*our head wear is the helmet of salvation

*our feet are fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace

*our protective gear is the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

*the weapon we brandish is the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

​Military Soldier

*letting go of the time I use to have just for fun.

*the longer I am in and the more I am promoted the less time I have for myself

*being away from family and friends for long periods of time

*losing brothers and sister during times of war, but also saying goodbye when they are so affected by the suffering they endured that they lose their faith in what they are doing as soldiers.

Spiritual Soldier

*letting go of the desires of the flesh and habits you may have had that were not of the Spirit

*having less time for yourself as you dedicate more time to the church you may be a part of and be more aware of the suffering of the world and being moved to dedicate time from your life to helping others

* depending on the way the Lord moves you, you may spend time away from your family as you go out to the mission field to serve the Lord. It may also distance you from your family if they are choosing to live an un-Godly life and because of your choice to follow Him they may distance themselves.

* everyone loses someone they love throughout our life on earth and we suffer because of it and miss them although we know and are comforted in the thought that they have gone home to be with our Heavenly Father. However, we suffer even more when someone we love chose to turn away from God or to never have a relationship with Him. We also endure the loss of our brothers and sisters in Christ who fall away from the faith and we suffer for them because many of us have experienced life without Christ and we know how very painful, lonely, and sad it is.

Military Soldier

*There are the moments during war when soldiers are having "downtime" doing anything they can to enjoy themselves and try to forget if for a second where they are and why they are there. Suddenly there is gunfire and bombs coming at them and all around their camp. They have to run for cover and prepare as fast as possible to defend themselves.

*There are also the missions they have to go on. Having to use the gift of discernment to determine whether someone is friend or foe. Constant thoughts of protecting yourself from the enemy whom only wants to make you suffer and claim your life.

Spiritual Soldier

*As Spiritual Soldiers everyday we are bombarded with desires of the flesh, with temptation from the devil. They fall around us like gunfire trying to pierce through our armor and bring us into a sinful choice. We like them run for cover and prepare to protect ourselves. We are covered by the Blood Christ and we are protected by His word.

*As Christians, we also go on missions to help those around us, sometimes into territory that is unwelcoming to Christians and we must also use the gift of discernment not only in a case such as this, but also as to who we call friend. Not every friend seeks to help us grow in Christ. Much like the serpent tricked Eve causing her to sin so can those we would call friend.

Military Soldier

*Whether a soldier makes it home from war or goes to his/her Heavenly home he or she is victorious if he/she stood by her beliefs, never turned his/her back on a fellow soldier in need.

Spiritual Soldier

* As Spiritual Soldiers we are Victorious if we remain Faithful through every trial, every suffering, every temptation and enter into the Glory in Heaven.

A suffering that we all experience in this life is grief. I have experienced grief through the loss of my grandfathers, my grandmother, my step-mother, and my mother, However, the suffering that I experienced at the loss of my very first pregnancy is a suffering that caused such a fierce awakening within that it forever changed me. I personally experienced this feeling of loneliness when I had my miscarriage. In reality 15-20% of women experience a miscarriage, my mom was among that number of women. Through the fog of sadness and grief left behind by our loss I could not accept my mother’s attempts to reach out to me. I felt she could not possibly understand my pain. I later realized that she was one of the only women around me that could truly understand the pain I was experiencing, but the darkness of suffering can truly alter your perception. It was during this time I drew nearer to God, but it was also a time that I had moments of fury with God. In the end, my desire for the peace His presence in my life gave me overpowered any anger I had and lead me to the altar at Riverview Pentecostal Church. My brothers and sisters in Christ there prayed over me to try to save my pregnancy, they prayed over me after Kaycee left my body, and they prayed over and led me to my Lord and Savior. The Lord may not take away the suffering or hardship you are facing, but He will never leave you. He will fill you with His peace. A peace so powerful that you may have difficulty comprehending during that time and He will surround you with His children, your brothers and sisters in Christ, to support you, pray for you, and love you through your suffering.

As a woman, as a Spiritual Soldier, remember that we are covered by His blood. Our strength is found through Him Who died to save us. Have no fear and lean completely upon our Lord, He will never forsake you. “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So, death works in us, but life in you. But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, ‘I believed, therefore I spoke.’ We also believe; therefore we also speak, knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God. Therefore, we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not are eternal. –2 Corinthians 4:8-18

We must keep our eyes on the Lord through our suffering and allow his peace to abide in abundance within our soul during our trials and tribulations, because it is in this way that we rise up and do not allow any seed of bitterness or anger the devil may be trying to plant in our hearts as a way to distance us from our Lord and Savior to grow. Instead we should lean on each other, we should pray for each other, and if it becomes too difficult to stand we should fall upon our knees together. Always choosing to lift each other up and Praise Him who died for us through every Storm, that we may become strong soldiers of faith fighting off every evil and fighting for each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.

If in suffering you forget everything else I hope you remember these two verses that they may bring you hope and remind you that through it all that God is with you and so are we.

“If the world hates you, you know that is has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you,” John 15:18-19

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Romans 8:18