Amen, Jim! The Holy Spirit is the one who impresses truth upon the heart as Christ is lifted up! We have an incredible privilege--a privilege which we even now scarcely comprehend--of being able to be witnesses for the God who created all things and who works all things together for our good.
I was deeply moved this morning as I reflected upon the sufferings of Christ in connection with the inestimable privilege that we have to suffer for His sake. We don't even now fully appreciate the experience God is giving us, because our finite minds are incapable of fully grasping all that God is to us and how He has been so good to us--but we can make a beginning, and in that beginning we start the life eternal by surrendering fully to the almost overpowering revelation of the loveliness of Jesus. If we are not being drawn to Him, it is because we are not beholding Him, or, if beholding Him, we are cherishing sin that erects a barrier between us and the selfless love of God (so that we do not realize or grasp how good and loving He really is, and always will be).
Do you realize that where you have been wounded and bruised by sin is the very place out of which Christ's healing flows as you yield fully to Him, and He abides in you?
"The priest had that morning performed the ceremony which commemorated the smiting of the rock in the wilderness. That rock was a symbol of Him who by His death would cause living streams of salvation to flow to all who are athirst. Christ's words were the water of life. There in the presence of the assembled multitude He set Himself apart to be smitten, that the water of life might flow to the world. In smiting Christ, Satan thought to destroy the Prince of life; but from the smitten rock there flowed living water. As Jesus thus spoke to the people, their hearts thrilled with a strange awe, and many were ready to exclaim, with the woman of Samaria, 'Give me this water, that I thirst not.' John 4:15." {The Desire of Ages, page 454, paragraph 1}
Last night I had the privilege of being on a prayer line for medical ministry, and there are a group of people that call in and pray and share together as we read through the book Medical Ministry. One of the young ladies on the line had shared about her brother having bipolar/schizophrenia, and I was able to share with her how God has completely healed me from bipolar (for seven years it has been by His grace that I walk in Christ's healing). As I was sharing with her and anticipating getting to share with her brother as God opens the door, I was given the incredible experiential realization that where I have suffered most keenly in the past is the greatest gift God could give me, for from the wounds that I have experienced Christ is able to work through me to allow His healing grace, His healing love, to flow to others. It is nothing less than the greatest miracle and the most weighty trust God could allow us to pass through. When you and I suffer for being Christians, and even when we suffer in this world on account of mistreatment, poor heredity, and other effects of sin, we need to trust God MORE AND MORE that He only allows in our lives what can ultimately work for good--not for ourselves merely, but to the glory of His grace, that others may be blessed.
Satan's intention in the great controversy has been to dethrone God and cause pain by setting himself up as first. He thought to destroy Christ in smiting Him at the cross--but it is from Christ's death that flows the healing streams of His blood (forgiveness--true justification by faith) and water (transformational washing, the renewing and imbuing of our hearts with His word by the Holy Spirit), so that we can in turn allow those very healing remedies to flow through us where we have been wounded. Satan takes risks each time he tries to hurt you. The risk is that you or I will either come to trust in Christ (or, if we are already converted during the experience of suffering, continue to abide in Christ) and in this very way the intended suffering or affliction will actually allow God through you to bless more souls, save more souls, and give you a closer, more intimate union and communion with Him. Satan is losing the war even as he amps up his final attempt to destroy God's faithful people who "keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus" (Revelation 14:12). We know that "the final movements will be rapid ones" {Testimonies for the Church, Volume 9, page 11, paragraph 2}. In other words, as God pours out His Spirit upon those who are receiving this experiential transformation of character by beholding the loveliness of Jesus, Satan is also setting up his agencies to try to oppose it by misrepresenting the character of God and causing suffering to God's people. Do not fear, but keep rejoicing in God who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. Just as Christ's sufferings brought salvation to the world, so Christ's work in and through us will give a final revelation to the onlooking universe of the sufficiency of the sacrifice of Christ to effect in our life and character all of the fruits of the Spirit, without one missing (which, while this starts at the moment of conversion, it will become a fully "ripe" experience in those who are alive through the time of trouble such as never was, and are translated to heaven without seeing death). Remember that the sufferings you are experiencing right now are only allowed for good and God's glory, and that you need not for a moment disbelieve the goodness of God, which leads us to repentance. Faith is the victory in Jesus!
Romans 5:1-5
1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
How good has God been to you? What is your testimony? What sufferings have you experienced that have proved to be such a blessing as you abide in Christ?