Sufferings...

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert, Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.

After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. (1 Peter 5:8-10)

I think back over the day, the last few weeks, even the last month or so and I cannot help but be reminded of how much the evil one tries to take rule over our life by way working through our minds and hearts in almost every situation, conversation, opportunity, and challenge that may come along. I talk with my friends, I read their blogs, I hear concerns about others, and I even see the pain others are in at times. I am not excluded from this by any means. The evil one tries to take a jab at my self-esteem, my self-confidence, my everything every chance there is. Sometimes I see it coming, but I think I am safe to say that most of the time I am caught blind-sided and fall to the clinch of its teeth. I sometimes can pick myself up and dust myself off to keep pressing on, but other times I get caught up in that land of self, going on to think less of myself, that no one likes me, that I said or did something stupid or wrong or that maybe I'm just not good enough or don't have what it takes.

I know that many people I know go through many of the same things as I've mentioned above and I wanted to share the oh so familiar scripture above because it always brings me so much hope no matter how far down I may seem to be. Don't get me wrong, I don't have it all together, in fact, far from it but I do know and see that God is doing a great and mighty work in my life in this area right now. My own desire for approval, desire to be liked, desire to be accepted - all pretty much meaning the same, hinders my walk everyday. I am not alone. While that simple statement does not sound like it says that much, or even says much at all, it also says everything. From the verse 9 above " knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world" is clear evidence that I am not alone, that I have warriors on both sides of me, going into the very same fight that I battle every day. To some, this may not be of the most comfort, but for me I find great comfort in knowing this. Not to be misunderstood - I don't mean that I'm ever glad that others I know or don't know for that matter are going through a similarly difficult time, but I find it comforting to know that I am not in this battle alone. My brothers and sisters are right there with me, some of them may opening talk about it and some may not, but regardless we are all in this together.

The next verse (10) "After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you."

Stop for a second, read that again...

Basically, no not basically, EMPHATICALLY - He who called me, He who called YOU, to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself PERFECT each one of us, will CONFIRM each one of us, will STRENGTHEN each one of us, and lastly He will ESTABLISH each one of us. These are four of the many promises that God has made for His children and these are four of the very same things that the evil one goes after in full assault when we're not looking. At the beginning of that verse "After you have suffered for a little while" tells me that sufferings do come and they do go, and in each and everyone of those, God is in fact at work in each of us. Don't misunderstand me here, I don't mean this to say anything even resembling that God does this to punish or teach a lesson, but rather I do believe that He allows sufferings to enter into our lives to help us to see more and more clearly our need for Him every day.

One thing before I close this entry tonight. I did not mention the obvious that is found in the scripture above, not directly said, but directly clear; God is with us always and therefore no matter how alone we may feel, We are never really alone. He loves us, He cares for us, He has our best in mind at all times and He knows our every need. So, I leave you with this, "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert, Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."

Amen and good night.