Thoughts for another day


October 14, 2010

Today's verse: Acts 5:41. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. (KJV)
(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)

What would you say is the best reward for being a faithful servant of God? Is it the power to perform miracles or the power to bring people to God or the power to pray for hours on end or even learn the Word end to end? Maybe all four you might say and most of us would not even consider the above Scripture to delve in its depth and discover the power of the statement in the Word.

The best guarantee of the Lord's approving our Ministry is when He allows us to suffer. Believe me the suffering we have is the power of God to enable us to come closer to Him. We want to eschew this suffering because any suffering is painful and causes much sorrow to the person bearing it. But in God's sight suffering is but a renewing of the filial ties we have with Him and the walking on pathway to be joined unto Him. I won't say you should pray that you suffer, for God knows what's best for each one of us. But I'll definitely say that were suffering to knock at the door, look above and welcome it as God's refining power, coming to heal you.

Now the closer we get to Christ, I can assure you suffering is guaranteed. We may have everything we need, unlike people who suffer for want, but our suffering may be because of some disease or people maligning us or even persecuting us unwittingly and the like. Yet, with certainty I can say that the closer we come to Christ, the more sure we are to suffer and in this suffering we meld ourselves to Christ as no other thing. Glad indeed were the Apostles when they were beaten because they professed the Name of Jesus and indeed glad will we be when we suffer for we stood for the Name of the Beloved. Somewhere in the annals of God, He will take a big marker and write against our names, 'I love this child of mine and wait for His coming home to Me here in heaven.'