Today,
reply is on forms of suffering among the saved. Having to be
accountable for routine duties and obligations required for
development and survival should not be regarded as suffering.
Included are having to secure food and shelter; having to maintain
ones health; and having to complete aging, maturing, and mortality.
One of the fighters in the “Yahoo! Answers” public forum on
Religion and Spirituality who uses the ID “Anonymous” (no profile
is shared) posted the following:
How
is the suffering of the saved?
Is
that true that the saved suffer even before be saved?
if
a person is not persecuted and suffer that means that she's not
saved?
What
to do when the person is suffering?
What's
the difference of the saved suffering and the wicked suffering?
THE
GOLDEN ARROW: Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the
devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions
are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God
of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ
Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect,
stablish, strengthen, settle you. To him be glory and
dominion for ever and ever. Amen. (1st Peter 5: 8-11,
King James Version, KJV)
THE
DOUBLE DAGGER: Divine Fruit From Suffering? (12/19/2018); Salvation
Must Be Eternal (11/06/2018); Believers Must Become “Ripe”
(09/02/2018); Bereavement, Death and Suffering (11/10/2017); Divine
Wrath Against Sin? (10/17/2017); Sons of GOD Suffer? (09/19/2017);
Existence, Mortality and GOD? (08/31/2017)
“Anonymous”,
suffering does not appear among the saved as condemnation and
punishment. Here are examples and Scripture points that describe
forms of suffering that believers may encounter as aspects of their
growth, sacred service, and spiritual training:
1. Chastening/Correction
— Revelation 3: 17-22, King
James Version (KJV): 17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and
increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that
thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou
mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and
that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint
thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see. 19 As many as I
love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. 20
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice,
and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and
he with me. 21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me
in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my
Father in his throne. 22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith unto the churches.
2. Prophetic
Demonstration — Ezekiel 4: 1-8, KJV:
1 Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee,
and portray upon it the city, even
Jerusalem: 2 And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it,
and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set
battering
rams against it round about. 3 Moreover take thou unto thee an iron
pan, and set it for
a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against
it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it.
This shall be
a sign to the house of Israel. 4 Lie thou also upon thy left side,
and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according
to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt
bear their iniquity. 5 For I have laid upon thee the years of their
iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and
ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of
Israel. 6 And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy
right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah
forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year. 7 Therefore
thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm
shall be
uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it. 8 And, behold, I
will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side
to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.
3. Persecution
— Acts 16: 16-24, KJV: 16 And it
came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with
a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain
by soothsaying: 17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried,
saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew
unto us the way of salvation. 18 And this did she many days. But
Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee
in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the
same hour. 19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains
was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them
into the marketplace unto the rulers, 20 And brought them to the
magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble
our city, 21 And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to
receive, neither to observe, being Romans. 22 And the multitude
rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their
clothes, and commanded to beat them.
23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them
into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: 24 Who,
having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison,
and made their feet fast in the stocks.
4. Chance
— Judges 11: 30-36, KJV: 30
And Jephthah vowed a vow unto the LORD, and
said, If thou shalt without fail deliver the children of Ammon into
mine hands, 31 Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of
the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the
children of Ammon, shall surely be the LORD’s,
and I will offer it up for a burnt offering. 32 So Jephthah passed
over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the LORD
delivered them into his hands. 33 And he smote them from Aroer,
even till thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and unto
the plain of the vineyards, with a very great slaughter. Thus the
children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel. 34
And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his
daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and
she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor
daughter. 35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his
clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low,
and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my
mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back. 36
And she said unto him, My father, if thou hast opened thy
mouth unto the LORD, do to me according to that
which hath proceeded out of thy mouth; forasmuch as the LORD
hath taken vengeance for thee of thine enemies, even of the
children of Ammon.
5. Transition
— Genesis 31: 38-44, KJV: 38 This
twenty years have
I been
with thee; thy ewes and thy she goats have not cast their young, and
the rams of thy flock have I not eaten. 39 That which was torn of
beasts I brought not unto
thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it,
whether
stolen by day, or stolen by night. 40 Thus
I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night;
and my sleep departed from mine eyes. 41 Thus have I been twenty
years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two
daughters, and six years for thy cattle: and thou hast changed my
wages ten times. 42 Except the God of my father, the God of
Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely thou hadst
sent me away now empty. God hath seen mine affliction and the labour
of my hands, and rebuked thee
yesternight. 43 And Laban answered and said unto Jacob, These
daughters are
my daughters, and these
children are
my children, and these
cattle are
my cattle, and all that thou seest is
mine: and what can I do this day unto these my daughters, or unto
their children which they have born? 44 Now therefore come thou,
let us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be for a witness
between me and thee.
There
is far more that should be said, correctly examined, and spiritually
apprehended. (For example, (6) Martyrdom/Sacrifice
— Mark 6: 21-29, KJV: 21 And when a convenient day was come, that
Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and
chief estates
of Galilee; 22 And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in,
and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king
said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give
it thee. 23 And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me,
I will give it
thee, unto the half of my kingdom. 24 And she went forth, and said
unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the
Baptist. 25 And she came in straightway with haste unto the king,
and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by in a charger
the head of John the Baptist. 26 And the king was exceeding sorry;
yet
for his oath’s sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he
would not reject her. 27 And immediately the king sent an
executioner, and commanded his head to be brought: and he went and
beheaded him in the prison, 28 And brought his head in a charger,
and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother. 29
And when his disciples heard of
it, they came and took up his
corpse, and laid it in a tomb.) Even so, I trust this
fragment will be useful. Be it unto you according to your faith.
Washington,
DC
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