What if...I Took The Dangerous Road
What if we took the dangerous road. What if we decided to not go back to business as usual. What if we decided from this moment on to return to the most dangerous side of the path so we could share in the suffering of our sisters, our brothers as if we were chained to them? Scripture actually talks about this!
Sharing in the suffering of our brothers and sisters does not nullify the freedom that God has already given us, but IT DOES position us to share in the suffering of the Lord. He then is not only King of our lives, but now we become partners sharing the same journey-the same joy and the same pain in areas where His justice is absent.
God may invite you back into the painful places (Not as a slave or prisoner of those dark aspects of our lives,) but as one who discerns, surrenders, carries great authority in this area, and helps others walk toward Jesus. All of this is done in order that we might share in the Lord's suffering and His work in others' lives.
What if those of us who have escaped the deception of the porn industry took the dangerous road...this time - knowing the authority and victory we have in Jesus. Would you dare to go back on the same road - not as a participant to grow a damaging industry, but as one who helps others walk toward Jesus? It would definitely be sharing in His suffering with the mark of His love.
I am just asking questions-the same questions I have been asking myself for a while now.
Comments
Going back into the darkness to bring God's light to our brothers and sisters who are blinded by the devils schemes is an awesome rush of many different emotions and spiritual awakenings. I love it!! It isn't an easy load, but indeed God makes the burden lighter by always and I do mean always sustaining me and lifting me above any and all circumstances, maybe not the way I wanted or in my timing, but HIS mercy truly does endure forever.
I have to disagree however that God doesn't give us more than we can handle. If HE didn't how would we ever really be tested?? If God gave us tests within our own scope of understanding how would we ever learn?? That's a debatable subject. God always promises us to be there in all things, but just the same because we choose to follow HIM we are persecuted,(Matthew 5:10)(2 Corinthians 4:8-9) put through the fire to burn away the flesh and refine us, that is definitely not an easy or comfortable process because God needs us to step out of our comfort zones and into HIS likeness. I am praying that more people decide to step out of the box so to speak and move on God's behalf.
Love and Blessings,
Jan
"So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless."
1 Corinthians 15:58, NLT
Jan,
Your post really struck a cord in my heart. It seriously brought to mind our future. I actually have been asking Daddy about future suffering / persecution and its link to our declaration and faith in Jesus and the great falling away. Having spent sometime in the war torn parts of the M.E. and preparing to serve over there again among those who have been trafficked, if the Lord wills, has been in the forefront of my mind. I think about my own Chinese sisters and brothers in underground churches who have suffered beyond comprehension.
Jesus NEVER promised that we would not have trouble. John while deserted on the island of Patmos writing Revelations had already lost all of his disciple friends. They had been killed for their faith. Jan, your response made me realize that sometimes He allows us to go through things beyond our scope so that He power is fully displayed as He supernaturally strengthen us and work in ways that break all notions of what we think of Jesus / God and His Holy Spirit. I cry though quite often - and realize I am still learning what that will cost. Oh how I need prayer.
I often ask myself am I ready? Am I able? God reminded me of Stephen - though I may not be ready, the Lord at key times will give me the words and strength when I lost need it. It states that His faithfulness reaches higher than the heavens and I am resting on that fact.
My hearts cry within the last year to Daddy has been "help us endure to the end...Help us to overcome. We are so weak - so prone to leave you."
Actually as I think of it - Those who have escaped or been rescued from the sex industry and are learning to walk with the Lord have KEY learnings and understandings that will help them in the future when persecution increases.
We must also not only expect to go and teach and give help to those in darkness, but we must learn from our brothers and sisters who suffer....They have much to show us...even areas where we are blind.
Faithfully Loved -- Praise God for the work that He is doing in and through you.
I am grateful for people like you, who are willing humble themselves and make sacrifices both to further God's Kingdom and that it may be realized in the hearts of our brothers and sisters. I pray every day that is what I am doing in my own walk with and service to Him.
I really appreciate both of your insights regarding trials and afflictions. Indeed, the apostle James tells us to count it all joy when we fall into various trials -- not because trials are an enjoyable experience, but because of the fruit that they produce in us.
Even so, I do not believe that the Lord will put upon is any trial or temptation that we will not be able to endure -- not through our own strength, of course, but through the Lord's strength. Indeed, as Paul said in the book of Phillippians: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
1 Cor. 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make a way of escape, that you may bear it. That is a promise from the Lord. The word temptation here can infer either a temptation or a trial.
I have been doing an in-depth study in the book of Romans, and one of the verses that I encountered really stuck out at me: Rom. 3:4 Let God be true and every man a liar. That stuck out at me, because Paul is basically saying every opinion which he and all others held; every doctrine which had been defended; should be at once abandoned, if it implied that God was false.
This was powerful to me, and makes perfect sense in light of the 1 Cor. verse. God promised that He would put no situation in our path that we cannot bear.....as long as we rely on God's strength, and not our own. God promised that whatever comes our way, that no only would He give us the strength to ovecome it, but that He would also make a way of escape should things become too heavy -- but now I ask myself, do I really want to "escape?"
Indeed, when we are in the heat of a serious trial, the promise that God will not give us more than we can bear reminds us that, in His strength, we can bear all that He has set before us...just as Christ endured and suffered for the joy that was set before Him.
The Bible tells us that our sufferings build character -- Christ-like character -- and that our sufferings bring us into fellowsip with Him...the kind of character that God can use if we keep the faith and the patience to endure them. We could ask the Lord to remove our trials from us, or we can perservere in them and keep our eyes and faith fixed on Jesus.
I agree 100% that we must learn from our brothers and sisters who are suffering. There is so much that God can teach us through their example. You look at the persecuted curch, and you see the joy and fruit that comes out of their lives, even in great hardship, and you realize that the trials that are set before us really are minimal in comparison. I have some missionary friend who work with prostitutes and sex trafficking victims in Israel. I hope to go on a short-term missions trip with them one day. I know that God is still working in me...I am definitely not there yet.
You have a wonderful heart and God will bless and use you. Just don't get discouraged, as is so easy to do. Everything that happens happens for a purpose, and God will not allow you to suffer beyond that level at which He has empowered you to endure.
Beloved Branch
Moderator/Admin
Pink Cross Forums
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ps. 108:13 Through God we shall do valiantly, for it is He who shall tread down our enemies
Such a road involves much pain and sacrifice, but oh, the spiritual rewards which ensue -- the most precious of which is intimate fellowship with Christ Jesus our Lord.
There is nothing which brings a person into deeper fellowhip with the Holy Trinity than sharing in the sufferings of Christ. It can be a heavy load to bear, but the Lord promises He will never give us more than we can carry.
On the other hand, what you have touched on takes amazing trust and spiritual discernment. Too often people go into missions work with great zeal, but they do not count the cost. Such a willingness to sacrifice everything for the Kingdom requires not just love, but trust.
So many people dive headfirst into something that they have great zeal for, but have not taken the time to pray over and make sure that it is God's will. It is not always God's will that a person abandon his/her family to do missions work. Such decisions take much prayer and spiritual discernment...but God is faithful, and will lead us exactly where He wants us to go.
Beloved Branch
Moderator/Admin
Pink Cross Forums
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ps. 108:13 Through God we shall do valiantly, for it is He who shall tread down our enemies
Thank you so much for your words of love and wisdom. You are right. I have spent many nights on the floor weeping...allowing Daddy to do His work. I have not always had a soft heart towards what He wants. I am asking Him to keep revealing to me what the true cost is. When I surrendered the most important things in my life, I knew that He was strengthening me in ways I couldn't even begin to comprehend. I have lost a lot in these short few years, but have gained what I now understand I cannot loose.
I laughed a little when I read that portion of your post about zeal cause I often can be a tad passionate - I share out of love and a deep awareness of my failings and weakness and His unlimited strength. I am one story of many.
It is definitely true that not everyone is called to release family members or their job or other important parts of life. God often allows us to do ministry within those arenas. In my case- it has been a little different. As for my family- I have had a history of family that have understood the cost and have also done the same thing-so we have a mutual understanding between us. That is not always the case though.
You're right also that God always leads the right way - again, I might add that His leading is never delinquent or premature. So I am learning to take steps - according to His time frame. The waiting is just as significant as the immediate send off.