I was greatly encouraged this week by reading about the suffering and death of others! That sounds a strange thing to say but its true, my heart was lifted to new joy and my mind gained great peace from reading about those who followed Jesus and were criticised and condemned as a result - even at the cost of their lives.

The Scriptures teach us that suffering will come to our lives if we truly are following God’s will and doing what is right in His sight. The disciples all experienced suffering, of one kind or another, because they were doing exactly what God wanted them to do: which was preaching the gospel and following Jesus. Although some of us may have failed in life to achieve the accolades of the world, we can succeed in becoming qualified to suffer for Jesus.

Living the Christian life is no easy thing. The world dismisses you as being an inadequate person, who is probably feeble minded and of weak disposition and therefore in need of a crutch like Christianity.  Satan will oppose your every step as you endeavour to achieve God’s will for your own life and encourage others to do likewise with theirs. It is even highly likely that fellow Christians, in supposedly an attempt to help, will cause you to suffer as they say or do things that result in you becoming hurt in some way.

When we read the Scriptures we soon learn that suffering is the intended path of the Godly. It refines the soul, digging deep into the recesses of the human heart and removing the dross of indifference, impurity, deception, maliciousness, selfishness, hard heartedness, jealousy….and replaces them with qualities of righteousness, holiness, purity, peace, maturity…. Those who have been tried by suffering gradually begin to realise that our suffering can actually benefit us, and work toward a greater fulfilment of God’s will in our lives.

Jesus said these encouraging words about suffering in Matthew 5:10-11 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ¹¹“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Those words certainly put a new light on suffering - we should rejoice if we are considered worthy to suffer for the Name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ who for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, and sat down at the right hand of the Father.

May you suffer much for His Name for it is the true path to Christ-likeness.

“Something’s going on here?” That’s the feeling and thoughts I get in life when changes take place outside of my control and I can only stand back and watch. We all know the saying, “God works in mysterious ways,” which is a way of saying I don’t understand what’s happening or even why but I believe that God is at work and He will bring about an outcome that will glorify His Name and bless His people.

Often we become nervous when things happen outside of our control, we all like to be in control and be firmly seated behind the driver’s wheel - that’s why some people hate being passengers. It’s also why I’m not really thrilled about sitting on an aeroplane when I can’t see what the pilot is doing. I feel the need to be able to at least see him so that I can keep an eye on him. Maybe I can offer some advice if he gets into a bit of rough weather or if one of the engines catches fire! As ridiculous as this sounds, I think many of us operate that way when it comes to our own lives and ministries. We don’t really want God alone in the driver’s seat - we’d rather be at the controls or at least advising Him on what He should do next. When things begin to head in a direction we never planned for, that’s when we tighten our seat belts and wish we were at the controls of life.

God’s response is always the same – “Trust me, rest in me, focus on me and stop trying to wrestle the controls out of my hands. I know what is best and I know how to best achieve my purposes for your life.” Here’s an example of changing circumstances, recently Lifehouse had its principal sponsor withdraw his support; this isn’t unusual as it has been a regular occurrence over the last year as he helps us to become independent. Each time it has happened finances have all but disappeared including a time last year when we ran out of funds altogether and while some staff left, others remained and worked voluntarily to keep Lifehouse open.

What is unusual this time is that while financial support from our principal sponsor has ceased, applications from women wanting to enter the house have risen dramatically over recent weeks. For the first time Lifehouse, in the coming weeks, will have a full house of women and for the first time we will have to turn women away! It seems as though God is putting us under a different kind of pressure, lack of funds is familiar to us but an overwhelming number of applicants is not.

So while on the one hand we rejoice in the doors that God has opened in blessing Lifehouse with greater responsibility of more precious women to minister to, on the other hand we are thinking: “Lord, how will you provide funds to allow us to continue to minister?” It makes me think and feel, “something’s going on here!” I don’t quite know what it is, but God is certainly active, and is making abundant provision in one way while removing it another. All I can say is “God works in mysterious ways” to achieve His will and purposes. We can but watch and pray which probably isn’t a bad idea. I’d invite you to join me in watching and praying that God’s will is done and His Name is glorified.